ORA Blue Echinat. Does anyone know?

I special ordered some frags from my LFS. 1 ORA Hawkins Blue Echinata and 1 ORA Brett's Purple Rim Monti Cap.

When I came in today the Hawkins was green. The LFS employee who was not there when I made the initial order said it was Hawkins Echinata and failed to acknowledge the blue in the name. He said that they always came in that color.

Im confused. Isnt Echinata from ORA only Blue? Tomorrow I have to go up and decide if I want to take the coral or not because I told the employee I wanted to research it first. The coral is not in bad condition mind you. Actually looks really good. Its just that it is green and not blue. Anyone have experience with this coral?

The other coral was a purple rim monti. it came in all broken. 2 peices the sixe of a small potato chip. I was told usually the frag should be atleast the size of the disk its on which I think is like 2" if you look in the liveaquaria pic of theres youll notice that the monti is growing beyond the disk. Mine wasnt even half this size.
The LFS acknowledged this as an ORA blunder and told me he would give it to me for $25 instead of the $65 that I would have paid. Deal?
Either way he is not making me buy either coral, just giving me the option. If I dont like I can wait for the next ORA shipment in a couple weeks.

This is what I ordered
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Hawkin's Blue Echinata, Aquacultured, ORA


Drs. Foster and Smith Diver's Den® - Montipora capricornis

 

I see green in the picture on Liveaquaria.

Did it have a ORA plug?

http://www.oracorals.com/ora-hard-c...ns-blue-echinata/ora-hawkins-blue-echinata-9/
you can't always trust pictures online, somepeople/site use ridiculous amount of actinics

 

But it's called "Hawkins Blue" The description says blue as well.

The plug was a black frag plug so im assuming it was ORA.

 

I think that was a bad light shot.


This is how the Hawkins blue should look.

Amazing ORA Hawkins Mini Colony | ORA Corals

 

Corals vary in coloration under different lighting.

I see just as many pictures of it being green with a blue hue as really blue after doing a search.

 

yeah, I seen a few descriptions of it described as green with blue tips so i guess your right. I was kinda lead by liveaquaria it was all blue though. thanks. I got answer on the first coral. as for the monti..

 

I think the monti is a good deal at 25. I bought one of these 6 weeks ago and it has grown .375" on all sides. My lfs called it Xfactor. Looks the same.

 

Here is ORA's website. http://www.orafarm.com/products/hardcoral/acropora/hawkins-blue-echinata.html
I have a Hawkins blue and yes that is what thy look like. You can't trust that other site, they Photoshop their photo's very bad. If you ever want to know what they look like go directly to the Ora website. Also, the purple monti is a great deal. It probably broke during shipping. The reason you're getting it so cheap is because ORA is going to be sending your lfs a new one for free on their next order. ORA is awesome and always replaces broken corals. I would buy both.

 

As you get more into SPS, you'll find there can be a thin line between blue and green...

And deal on the monti cap. Monti's grow so fast anyway...

 

Can I just state that there are many reasons why your coral could be the way its colored...?

Shipping Stress?
Type of Lighting?
Acclimation?

People make cracks at many sites saying they photoshop. Till you have their exact lights, and age of lights. I would probably not comment about any company.