Acan ID, echinata? Favia? Thanks!

[ntsianos]

Hi Reef Team,

This is one of the first frags I got from my LFS when I was establishing my aquarium. At first I thought it was an acan echinata. Now that I'm more familiar I think it may actually be a favia? Color is turquoise, entire frag is about 2" long. Not fleshy like a Micromussa/Lord, harder skeleton.

Struggling to figure out where I want to place it in my tank. As you can see from the photo I'd prefer to have this rock be a zoa garden/rock. If it's a favia it will probably be too aggressive with it's sweepers?

Any guidance is appreciated, thanks!

 

[theishkid]

Looks like Favia to me but I’m no expert. Have you seen any sweepers on it? I have a couple with very short sweepers that don’t bother anything next to them.

 

[Kelly Hutto]

Hi Reef Team,

This is one of the first frags I got from my LFS when I was establishing my aquarium. At first I thought it was an acan echinata. Now that I'm more familiar I think it may actually be a favia? Color is turquoise, entire frag is about 2" long. Not fleshy like a Micromussa/Lord, harder skeleton.

Struggling to figure out where I want to place it in my tank. As you can see from the photo I'd prefer to have this rock be a zoa garden/rock. If it's a favia it will probably be too aggressive with it's sweepers?

Any guidance is appreciated, thanks!

Micromussa Lord

 

[Kelly Hutto]

Hi Reef Team,

This is one of the first frags I got from my LFS when I was establishing my aquarium. At first I thought it was an acan echinata. Now that I'm more familiar I think it may actually be a favia? Color is turquoise, entire frag is about 2" long. Not fleshy like a Micromussa/Lord, harder skeleton.

Struggling to figure out where I want to place it in my tank. As you can see from the photo I'd prefer to have this rock be a zoa garden/rock. If it's a favia it will probably be too aggressive with it's sweepers?

Any guidance is appreciated, thanks!

Tomorrow when my lights come on, I’ll show you a pic of my echinatas

 

[thamnasteroid]

Definitely not a favia as all favias are from the atlantic ocean and almost all corals in the hobby are from the pacific ocean. It is probably a coral in the family merulinidae.

 

[Gqch]

i got same one with 4 heads, i know it is not acan,echinata or Favia, more looks micromussa lord as i see the pics from google.

 

[thamnasteroid]

I'm probably wrong but I think it is a dipsastraea.

 

[ntsianos]

I'm probably wrong but I think it is a dipsastraea.

Did a google search, there is definitely a strong similarity with the shape. I see that dipsastraea is in the family merulinidae as also suggested.

I personally haven't noticed any feeders. I also have lords but it's not "fleshy" as those are which led me to reevaluate. Maybe in a 2D picture they would appear the same, but really it's a very different shape and texture.

I'll monitor to see if they do sting the zoas (or have anything hidden that can sting for that matter) and what the growth rate is.

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

I’d guess that it is a standard favia moon coral. I’ve seen a lot of grayish favia just like this. if you look up What a favia looks like in the wild this is pretty much what you will see. I thought maybe it was favites at first but each corallite has its own walls surrounding them.

but hey I could be wrong I hope it does well for you tho! Keep us posted with the growth :)