Brain Coral Identification

[briankclark13]

Picked up this guy because the wife liked him but the guy that bagged him for us wasn't sure what he was other than some type of "phyllia". Anyone know for sure, or have a solid guess? I have searched and found some similar but nothing that gives me any confidence that I have truly identified him. TYA!

 

[Hubert J. Farnsworth]

its probably going to take a while for you to decide lol

could be a lobophyllia, which is what my first reaction or closest guess would be. other possible phyllias would be oulophyllia (maybe my second guess), acanthophyllia, symphyllia or trachyphyllia thought i don't think it looks too much like any of those.

beyond that, i wouldn't rule out favia, acanthastrea bowerbanki or even a chalice if you think there are more than one mouths.

i'm probably missing some options too. always fun to play coral roulette because it looks pretty. best of luck with it.

 

[briankclark13]

Yes it is fun. Well, as long as we figure it out I should say. lol

I thought of the lobophyllia and actually have seen a couple symphillia that looked very much like it. I am not sure about the mouths though, as it doesn't eat with the lights on and I didn't think to check for mouths. Next round of feeding, I will have to see if I can make out any. Now, when the lights go out though, it has feeders and sweepers that come out all over it though and it looks very cool. It makes me think all the ridges/rings are surrounding mouths. Oh, and it definitely likes the shaded part of the tank for sure.

We started with it where it is in the picture, but we moved it due to some rock flower anemones making their claim to that location (hence the sexy anemone shrimp all over it) and the wife (it is her nano tank by the way) didn't want to find out who would win that fight. My money was on the RFAs, as there are 4 of them, but I kept telling her, you never know. We could be surprised - nature can often be unpredictable. lol

Well, the new location is a more open shaded spot, almost like a large cave and, despite the fact we have only had this guy for a little over 2 weeks now, it looks like it has grown since we moved it! Plus, when the lights go out, you can see it seems to love the slightly lower waterflow. It's feeders aren't stretched out as far.

I also thought of the acanthastrea bowerbanki, but we got one of those when we got this guy, and they don't look even remotely close to each other. I didn't think about a favia though, he seems bigger than the favia I've seen. Although, I haven't kept any favia and I am definitely not an expert. That's why I came here.

Thank you for the input, I am very interested in what other ideas/suggestions we get on this one.

 

[briankclark13]

If it helps, here is the full size version of the picture above. This will give you a better idea of size. Plus, you can see where the RFA was getting real close - lol. Now, there are 4 RFAs right there with one exactly where the "phyllia" is/was.

 

[briankclark13]

Anyone else have any ideas? It does have multiple mouths. Here are 2 more pictures, one from the front and one from behind. Unfortunately, I don’t have any filters for my phone so the picture is kind of washed out with blue but, they do give you a good idea of what it looks like all around.

 

[briankclark13]

Anyone else have any guesses? Or, know for sure?

 

[briankclark13]

Did I post this in the wrong spot? I honestly expected more guesses.

 

[Hubert J. Farnsworth]

you could try the lps forum...

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