Acanthestrea ? Please help ID

blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Ok so i got this from the lfs today for 40 and they said was acanthestrea but i couldnt really tell and they wasnt positive either so if anyone could let me know what it is and how best to take care of it i would greatly apprecaite it. i have it in my 24 gal jbj nano right now :) it has beautiful colors of like blueish purple outer edges and reddish pink in the mouth area.


 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Thanks SpiderWoman for the comment and the super fast response time. Yeah i look at many pics and cant find one that looks like these. But it appears they look like Acans i dunno though since i have never had one. But i think they look beautiful also thats why i grabbed em :) And the guy told me they would do great in my tank so thought it'd be something different to have.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
they are acan echinata. most don't have a name. a few do, but they aren't much prettier than the un-named ones.
they will color differently after you've had them in your tank for a while, but they will keep the orange mouths. i have some with orange mouths that when i put them in my one tank, they have a blue base, and in another tank, they look kind of maroon based.
if you like, we can call them "orange explosion acan echinata". sound cool?
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Nice. Thanks MR.X you seem knowledgable about em. So we call em Orange Explosion Acan Echinata. Sounds good to me. Do i need to feed them or anything like that or what ? Do you feed yours ? Thanks if you can give me any insight on em. And thanks for the help you have given already. Glad to know what kind of coral it is.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
they don't require feeding, but they do so well when you feed them meaty foods.
i love feeding all of my lps.
wait till the lights go out, and get a flashlight. load up some meaty foods(misis, cyclo-peeze, or similar) into a syringe, or turkey baster and turn off all flow. then gently dump some on top of the coral. try to spread it out so alot of the mouths get some. then hit all the lps the same way. they look so happy the next day, that i go out of my way to hit them at least once a week. this is what i use-
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Cool i got some frozen Ocean Plankton and also some mysis but they are the large version. Ill try to just feed it a few pieces of the mysis tonight when the lights go out and see how it goes. I have a turkey baster btw. Thanks for the input.
 
chilwil84

chilwil84

Active Member
def a good price and as mr x said while they dont require feeding they grow quick with it, and will have no problem with the large mysis
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Thanks for the comment chilwil84 & Paintballer768, Yeah i thought it was a steal so i had to have it. I think i am gonna try and feed them tomorrow night. Let them kind of get a little more settled into their new home and all. Dont want to feed em tonight as i already fed my tank so tomorrow i'ma lightly feed my tank and then when i shut the lights out i'ma turn off my ph's for a little while and then spotfeed em some mysis like mr x said. So thanks for the comments guys. I love these things. They look so much more nicer in person as pictures never give the exact beautifulness if thats a word. LOL.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
btw- give them 15-20 minutes to take in the food. it's an interesting, but slow process.
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Yeah Mr X , i must say it is the slowest eating coral i have ever seen. HEHHE. But very very interesting and wow what big mouths they have. I would never imagine to be able to see a mouth like that. 1 Head ate about 2 lg mysis shrimp and a few others got 1 but alot of em didnt get anything. I'ma try to feed the ones that didnt get anything later on tonight. Thanks for the advice btw. Also you said i could feed em cyclopeeze ? Whaat about Ocean Plankton ? Would that work as well ?
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
i use the frozen cyclo-peeze mixed with misis, or some other ground up food.
what is the size of the animals in your plankton solution? are they clearly visible? if so, i'd say yes, that will be a good food, but take into account that i have seen an acan consume a piece of fish the size of a pea.
that would add up to alot of plankton! seems cheaper to use a larger food
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Yeah the ocean plankton is clearly visible but ill just try and place a piece of mysis on each polyp but when i do that it seem alot of it will fall off and only a few polyps get to eat. but yeah they seem to consume a piece of large mysis with no problem at all :) Great little coral. I LOVE IT. want more.
 
chilwil84

chilwil84

Active Member
the hikari ocean plankton i had was plenty big to feed, bigger than regular mysis. my lps ate it just the same as everything else
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Well i've noticed with feeding this acan it is very difficult for the ocean plankton to stay put on the coral so i am going to just stick with the mysis shrimp. The ocean plankton just seems to float away from it even with the ph's off. So i have a question for any of you or MR X. maybe you could help. Would it hurt if i placed the pieces of mysis on top of the mouths with my finger or is it bad to do that ? Because it doesnt seem to bother the coral and i can actually place it in each head if i do it this way.
Well here it is now looking happy since ive had it.

 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
i guess, if it doesn't stress the coral. i have tried this , but my big clumsy fingers always seem to bump the corals and freak him/her/it out.
 
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