Well, it's certainly been a while since I actually just wrote about specific corals, not just some opinion on the absurdity of the coral world, right? So, I decided to blend my love of bashing on stuff with my love of some specific corals, as well as some actual blatant commercialism..."Whoah? Fellman is talking about corals that HE sells? What next, Snow in August? World Peace?" Yikes.
Ok, simmer down. I still have the disdain for all of those things, and I'll get back to dishing on that kind of stuff soon. Time for something more informative today.
I just figured that it would be cool to touch upon some of our most popular and interesting corals- the trio of species that carry the popular moniker of "Shortcake"- because we've receiving so many inquiries about them lately. First off, let's touch on a little back story about the name "Shortcake" for a second. It's one of those stories that shows both the absurdity and usefulness of developing popular names for corals. It's a name that seems to have been around for quite a while, and it sort of "stuck" in hobby vernacular. The interesting thing is that my business partner in Unique Corals, Joseph Caparatta, is popularly credited with coining the name. It came about when he secured a beautiful specimen of Acropora microclados for his store in Manhattan a bunch of years ago. He was blown away by the color combination, and in a moment of inspiration, started referring to it as the "Strawberry Shortcake" Acro. He came up with the name because the colors reminded hymn of his favorite frozen confection, the "Strawberry Shortcake." So, when it came time to frag the darned thing, everyone kept referring to it as the "Strawberry Shortcake", and a legendary and durable popular coral name was born. "Shortcake" seems to be used in coral circles to describe just about any coral with the red/yellow/green/pink color combo...
Mama.
Fast forward to 2012, and the founding of Unique Corals "v2.0" here in Los Angeles. Among the corals that we knew we needed to offer was the now-almost-legendary "Strawberry Shortcake", Acropora. We started with some great "mother" colonies, and have been working with it virtually non-stop since.
Acropora microclados, as those egghead scientist-types call the "Strawberry Shortcake", is a truly variable, sometimes frustrating, and always desirable Acro. Hailing mainly from Australia, this prize coral has relatively straightforward care, but does require some specific condition in order to thrive and show its best colors. First off, the coral truly loves really intense light. We grow them under 400 watt, 20,000k Radium metal halides on light movers, about 22" above the waterline in the raceway that we keep them in. If you move them into lower light areas, they really don't show their bright yellow and pink colors, and sort of revert to a brownish-purple color with a few flecks of brightness here and there. A lot of reefers ask me how they do under LED , T5, etc., and I can tell you from both personal experience and the experiences of our clients, that they do okay under all of these regimens...but they just seem to have more "pop" when kept under halides. Yeah, they look nice under multi chip LED's, too, but the color seems to take a bit longer to "arrive", and the growth is a tad slower than under halides, IMHO. Same story with T5. You'll end up with great looking colonies under all three regimens- but, in general, it's my opinion that you'll categorically have just brighter colors when you keep them under halides. Again, this is only opinion- I love LED's; just think we need a bit more experience with them in order for us to have a broader sampling of successful reefers using them and making specific observations about what is doing well under different settings, etc.
That's what a best-seller looks like, folks.
Microclados loves strong, intermittent flow, and does really well under such conditions. It seems to develop thick, bushy growth in stronger flow, and the polyp extension is noticeably greater as well. IF you give it weaker water movement, it seems to develop sort of skinny, spindly-shaped branches, and loses that robust look that makes it so distinctive. This coral, when first fragged, tends to "protest", looking a sort of dull-purple-brown color, and spending most of the first few weeks post-fragged encrusting on the new plug to which it was secured. If left undisturbed under the aforementioned bright light and strong water movement, this coral will encrust its plug rapidly, and begin new branching growth. However, the colors will take every bit of 3 or more weeks to return to former glory when displaying this coloration. In other words, this beauty doesn't take as kindly to the fragging process as we'd like it to in many cases. Sure, there are exceptions, but the majority tend to recover slowly. So, as I've stated before (and it bares repeating), when you see an amazingly colored "Shortcake" on a pristine white frag plug, maybe even with a bead of clear glue underneath, there's a good chance that this "frag" was simply hacked off of the tip of a mother colony, glued to a plug, and offered for sale as "propagated."
Oh, I almost forgot: As many of you know, this coral is not a big fan of air travel, meaning that it can lose significant color during the shipping and acclimation process, so you need to accept this, and understand that it will come back if kept under the proper conditions. The key word to this species is PATIENCE. Nothing nice happens quickly with this coral...
Acropora nasuta, known popularly as the ORA Shortcake", is distinctly different than the Microclados. It has a much less thick, far more "delicate-looking" branch structure. ORA started working with this coral around 2009, from Australian wild colonies, making it one of the few ORA pieces that was not originally started from captive-propagated specimens. It is significantly slower-growing than the Microclados "Shortcake", and has a much deeper red base coloration, with the branches displaying the luminous white and green colors that make it so distinctive. It tends to fare better under lighting that we'd call "moderate", which means that it can do really well under T5 or LED, if you dial it down a bit. It responds well to a variety of flow regimens, tending to favor moderate to strong movement. It will really display a nice delicate branching structure when provided with strong flow. Like so many corals, this one also doesn't travel all that happily, often losing some color en route and taking a while to regain it once it acclimates to new surroundings. That being said, when it's in full "bloom", it's a stunning coral, with loads of potential, and a distinctive look that deserves a place in any ORA fan's- any Acro fan's- collection.
Like everything from ORA, their "Shortcake" is simply great.
Enter the newbie of the bunch, Acropora latistella, the much ballyhooed "Bali Shortcake." This species, although fairly common in the Indo Pacific, develops the distinctive multi-hued "Shortcake" coloration in Bali. The maricultured pieces really do well at about 20 feet, although the most incredibly colored wild ones are found at depths up to about 45 feet. It is red along the lower part of the branches then becomes bright yellow on the radial corallites towards the tips. The axial coralites are normally blue. It's a stunning combination with a beautiful bushy, branched morphology. This one has become somewhat of a sensation of late, and we've been lucky to have brought in beautiful maricultured mother colonies from the source. Our recent participation in the Fluval Flores Sea Expedition, led by Jake Adams, gave us many new insights on this and other Indonesian corals. In nature, this species and morph occurs in somewhat turbid waters and areas protected from super heavy currents.
"Hi. My name is Acropora latistella, but you can call me 'Bali Shortcake'."
In captivity, this species takes a while to reclaim it's beautiful color. When it's in full growth mode, given moderate to bright lighting and moderate to strong water movement, it will really start to color up. The reddish body color takes even longer to come out, but when combined with it's yellowish base color and blue and yellow growth tips, this coral has "awesome" written all over it. It's another one that you just can't rush...you'll know from the start if you're getting a "chop shop" piece, or something that you can truly enjoy watching grow out. It will take the proper conditions, time, and a significant amount of patience to see this one take off. We just started shipping this coral this past week, so quite honest, we're not 100% certain how it will travel. We do know that these corals, when fragged, tend to grow rather quickly, although the color takes longer. As one observer mentioned, "They don't waste time encrusting...They just start branching."
So there you have the quick and extremely dirty rundown on three of our favorite corals. The "Bali Shortcake" is a sort of "ground floor" opportunity for hobbyists to try their hand at a species that's new to the scene, with everyone's input being valuable and relevant, as we learn more about this variety.
"OK, everyone pose for a group shot!"
Hope you find this at least a good intro to the fascinating world of the corals we call "Shortcakes!"
Until next time...Love your corals, feed your reef, and...
Stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
Ok, simmer down. I still have the disdain for all of those things, and I'll get back to dishing on that kind of stuff soon. Time for something more informative today.
I just figured that it would be cool to touch upon some of our most popular and interesting corals- the trio of species that carry the popular moniker of "Shortcake"- because we've receiving so many inquiries about them lately. First off, let's touch on a little back story about the name "Shortcake" for a second. It's one of those stories that shows both the absurdity and usefulness of developing popular names for corals. It's a name that seems to have been around for quite a while, and it sort of "stuck" in hobby vernacular. The interesting thing is that my business partner in Unique Corals, Joseph Caparatta, is popularly credited with coining the name. It came about when he secured a beautiful specimen of Acropora microclados for his store in Manhattan a bunch of years ago. He was blown away by the color combination, and in a moment of inspiration, started referring to it as the "Strawberry Shortcake" Acro. He came up with the name because the colors reminded hymn of his favorite frozen confection, the "Strawberry Shortcake." So, when it came time to frag the darned thing, everyone kept referring to it as the "Strawberry Shortcake", and a legendary and durable popular coral name was born. "Shortcake" seems to be used in coral circles to describe just about any coral with the red/yellow/green/pink color combo...
Mama.
Fast forward to 2012, and the founding of Unique Corals "v2.0" here in Los Angeles. Among the corals that we knew we needed to offer was the now-almost-legendary "Strawberry Shortcake", Acropora. We started with some great "mother" colonies, and have been working with it virtually non-stop since.
Acropora microclados, as those egghead scientist-types call the "Strawberry Shortcake", is a truly variable, sometimes frustrating, and always desirable Acro. Hailing mainly from Australia, this prize coral has relatively straightforward care, but does require some specific condition in order to thrive and show its best colors. First off, the coral truly loves really intense light. We grow them under 400 watt, 20,000k Radium metal halides on light movers, about 22" above the waterline in the raceway that we keep them in. If you move them into lower light areas, they really don't show their bright yellow and pink colors, and sort of revert to a brownish-purple color with a few flecks of brightness here and there. A lot of reefers ask me how they do under LED , T5, etc., and I can tell you from both personal experience and the experiences of our clients, that they do okay under all of these regimens...but they just seem to have more "pop" when kept under halides. Yeah, they look nice under multi chip LED's, too, but the color seems to take a bit longer to "arrive", and the growth is a tad slower than under halides, IMHO. Same story with T5. You'll end up with great looking colonies under all three regimens- but, in general, it's my opinion that you'll categorically have just brighter colors when you keep them under halides. Again, this is only opinion- I love LED's; just think we need a bit more experience with them in order for us to have a broader sampling of successful reefers using them and making specific observations about what is doing well under different settings, etc.
That's what a best-seller looks like, folks.
Microclados loves strong, intermittent flow, and does really well under such conditions. It seems to develop thick, bushy growth in stronger flow, and the polyp extension is noticeably greater as well. IF you give it weaker water movement, it seems to develop sort of skinny, spindly-shaped branches, and loses that robust look that makes it so distinctive. This coral, when first fragged, tends to "protest", looking a sort of dull-purple-brown color, and spending most of the first few weeks post-fragged encrusting on the new plug to which it was secured. If left undisturbed under the aforementioned bright light and strong water movement, this coral will encrust its plug rapidly, and begin new branching growth. However, the colors will take every bit of 3 or more weeks to return to former glory when displaying this coloration. In other words, this beauty doesn't take as kindly to the fragging process as we'd like it to in many cases. Sure, there are exceptions, but the majority tend to recover slowly. So, as I've stated before (and it bares repeating), when you see an amazingly colored "Shortcake" on a pristine white frag plug, maybe even with a bead of clear glue underneath, there's a good chance that this "frag" was simply hacked off of the tip of a mother colony, glued to a plug, and offered for sale as "propagated."
Oh, I almost forgot: As many of you know, this coral is not a big fan of air travel, meaning that it can lose significant color during the shipping and acclimation process, so you need to accept this, and understand that it will come back if kept under the proper conditions. The key word to this species is PATIENCE. Nothing nice happens quickly with this coral...
Acropora nasuta, known popularly as the ORA Shortcake", is distinctly different than the Microclados. It has a much less thick, far more "delicate-looking" branch structure. ORA started working with this coral around 2009, from Australian wild colonies, making it one of the few ORA pieces that was not originally started from captive-propagated specimens. It is significantly slower-growing than the Microclados "Shortcake", and has a much deeper red base coloration, with the branches displaying the luminous white and green colors that make it so distinctive. It tends to fare better under lighting that we'd call "moderate", which means that it can do really well under T5 or LED, if you dial it down a bit. It responds well to a variety of flow regimens, tending to favor moderate to strong movement. It will really display a nice delicate branching structure when provided with strong flow. Like so many corals, this one also doesn't travel all that happily, often losing some color en route and taking a while to regain it once it acclimates to new surroundings. That being said, when it's in full "bloom", it's a stunning coral, with loads of potential, and a distinctive look that deserves a place in any ORA fan's- any Acro fan's- collection.
Like everything from ORA, their "Shortcake" is simply great.
Enter the newbie of the bunch, Acropora latistella, the much ballyhooed "Bali Shortcake." This species, although fairly common in the Indo Pacific, develops the distinctive multi-hued "Shortcake" coloration in Bali. The maricultured pieces really do well at about 20 feet, although the most incredibly colored wild ones are found at depths up to about 45 feet. It is red along the lower part of the branches then becomes bright yellow on the radial corallites towards the tips. The axial coralites are normally blue. It's a stunning combination with a beautiful bushy, branched morphology. This one has become somewhat of a sensation of late, and we've been lucky to have brought in beautiful maricultured mother colonies from the source. Our recent participation in the Fluval Flores Sea Expedition, led by Jake Adams, gave us many new insights on this and other Indonesian corals. In nature, this species and morph occurs in somewhat turbid waters and areas protected from super heavy currents.
"Hi. My name is Acropora latistella, but you can call me 'Bali Shortcake'."
In captivity, this species takes a while to reclaim it's beautiful color. When it's in full growth mode, given moderate to bright lighting and moderate to strong water movement, it will really start to color up. The reddish body color takes even longer to come out, but when combined with it's yellowish base color and blue and yellow growth tips, this coral has "awesome" written all over it. It's another one that you just can't rush...you'll know from the start if you're getting a "chop shop" piece, or something that you can truly enjoy watching grow out. It will take the proper conditions, time, and a significant amount of patience to see this one take off. We just started shipping this coral this past week, so quite honest, we're not 100% certain how it will travel. We do know that these corals, when fragged, tend to grow rather quickly, although the color takes longer. As one observer mentioned, "They don't waste time encrusting...They just start branching."
So there you have the quick and extremely dirty rundown on three of our favorite corals. The "Bali Shortcake" is a sort of "ground floor" opportunity for hobbyists to try their hand at a species that's new to the scene, with everyone's input being valuable and relevant, as we learn more about this variety.
"OK, everyone pose for a group shot!"
Hope you find this at least a good intro to the fascinating world of the corals we call "Shortcakes!"
Until next time...Love your corals, feed your reef, and...
Stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
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