Coral of the Month (August '06) - Rainbow Acanthastrea Echinata

August Coral of the Month - Rainbow Acanthastrea Echinata!​

Scientific Name: Acanthastrea echinata
Type: Long Polyp Stony (LPS)
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Common name(s): Rainbow acanthastrea, Rainbow acan, acan echinata, Pineapple coral
Family: Mussidae
Temperament: Semi-aggressive

Aquarium Needs

Lighting: Low Intensity
Water Quality: Moderate
Current: Low to Moderate
Supplemental Feeding: Brine shrimp, cyclopeeze, cyclops sp., zooplankton, squid. Any meaty food will do as long as it's chopped to meet it's mouth size. =)
Growth Rate: Slow. When fed regularly, it can expedite it's growth rate rather quickly.
Frag Difficulty: Easy
Tank Placement: Bottom or substrate


Personal Observations

This coral is extremely hardy and can bounce back from demise rather easily. Of course, given that it has no serious infection or any type of fast tissue loss (necrosis). Providing good water quality and regular feedings along with good lighting will help this coral keep it's luster and overall health.

I have observed that, like any other Acan Echinata, it loves to eat! It is recommended to keep regular feedings to keep this coral thriving! Of course, it is not necessary as this coral has the symbiotic algae: zooxanthellae. Providing this coral with sufficient light will suffice in keeping it healthy.

This coral spreads by budding or lateral extension. It will overlap rock or old skeleton and build a new polyp. Boy have I noticed this already. ;D When I first got this coral, it was on a downward spiral. Two healthy polyps, two half way dead and one so on the brink of death, that it had a tiny bit of mouth with two sweepers. When I acclimated the piece, the echinata didn't even wait to acclimate to the light, it opened up the very next day! It accepted foods right away as well! I did notice that they were extremely weak and their sweepers werent as sticky and could barely hold food. I had to hold the food on their tentacles for a while before they got the strength to hold on to it themselves. I have had it for a little over 2-3 months and both polyps that were 1/2 dead have now developed a complete mouth with a central disc and are now working on their outer tissue. They are now overlapping an old skeleton from a previously dead polyp. Now, they eat foods like crazy! They have even swallowed squid the size of an eraser on a no. 2 pencil!!

If you come across this coral, dying or living: it's well worth it. Really easy to care and extremely beautiful! If you want a coral that you want to feed every now and then and can survive without the feedings, this is your coral! Also, this coral is pretty pricey. It is usually sold as small frags due to it's expensive price tag, but again, it's well worth it! A must for any Acan fan!

 

Great article rickzter ;D

 

ditto, great job, i just hope mine is half as good.

 

Oh man you are giving me the acan bug again rickzter! ;D

I set you up with the 3reef Contributor badge and 100 karma for your effort - fanatastic job! :clapping:

 

I have one correction, lighting/placement.

Many acan freaks have great success under higher PAR bulbs (not low intensity). They do fine under lower light, but they also can be just fine under high light. Depends on the mother colony.

 

I agree Gresham, I have mine placed high to the side. I failed to mentioned that. But I've noticed one thing, mine is losing it's intense orange coloration due to the intense light. Although it can thrive under high intense light, you risk having it lose some of the beautiful color. I still dont know what color mine is wanting to turn, but it is losing it's intense orange. grrrrr :-/

 

NICE! good job Rickzter. I would like to have a piece of that. Beautiful stuff.

 

I need new lights.

 

Huh, mine has picked up more color since putting it under my150de, but, I feed heavily with Arcti-Pods, so the color could be sourced from that

 

Nice job! I have seen it once at my local pet shop. For a frag about 2 inches by 2 inches it costs about $70.00! Not as pricey as some of the vivid Montiporas or Acro's but costly just the same...