CB Maleficent coloring up

[bobnicaragua]

I’ve been growing out this Maleficent frag for 6 months, and it’s the brightest red acro I’ve ever seen!

Anyone have a colony grown out?

 

[Smite]

Wish I took more pictures of it since I lost it. It is by far the reddest acro I've kept so far. I basically bought a polyp at RAP, questioned it and after about a year it was absolutely stunning. This was about 3 years in before I transferred tanks.

and a macro shot from around the same time.

 

[ScottB]

That species has been a tricky one for me. I have acquired two over the years and neither lasted longer than 3-4 months. Mean while 40-50 other acros ran wild. I dunno sometimes.

 

[i cant think]

Wish I took more pictures of it since I lost it. It is by far the reddest acro I've kept so far. I basically bought a polyp at RAP, questioned it and after about a year it was absolutely stunning. This was about 3 years in before I transferred tanks.

and a macro shot from around the same time.

That’s beautiful, is it redder than a red planet? So far the brightest red acro I’ve ever seen was an aged colony of Red Planet.

 

[bobnicaragua]

That’s beautiful, is it redder than a red planet? So far the brightest red acro I’ve ever seen was an aged colony of Red Planet.

Yeah, more red than red planet. Mine has been an average grower and it’s not hard to color up.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I kinda struggle with this one. Picked one up from DivingTheWorld months ago and almost lost it. It didn't do much for a while but is now starting to color up. I think its gonna be awhile before I really start to see it take off

 

[Smite]

That’s beautiful, is it redder than a red planet? So far the brightest red acro I’ve ever seen was an aged colony of Red Planet.

CB Mal was very red for me, some pinks in there. It's been a long time since I kept Red Planet so it's hard for me to give a good opinion on that.

 

[Smite]

I'll say mine took well over a year to settle in and start to grow but then grew very fast once multibranched. It's one of those pieces that needs to get some surface area before it really starts to do anything in my experience with it.
Here it is after it finally started to encrust and color sometime in 2019.

 

[NeutronMan]

How about par? Do they like getting blasted as I have mine in around 400par and thinking of moving it’s rock a little closer in for some others that I have that like high par.

 

[Natural_Reefer]

Picked up this CB Maleficent from a local reefer 6 months ago. It was browned out but has regained colors and starting to branch out.
Moved to this spot about 2 months ago, about 425 PAR with very high flows.
It is more pinkish than red.

 

[gatorbait01]

Took a pic of mine tonight.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I am guessing this is acropora anthocercis, some of the wild colonies showing green, pink and red are absolutely beautiful. I have always thought the nicest red acropora always have a nice contrast somewhere in the coral, normally it’s green and pink. Red planet was one that people had very good contrast with greens early on but after it got old it just turned all red. The growth form of the maleficent acro I like much more than the red planet. I would love to see some more pictures.

 

[Hugo’s_Reef]

This is My CB Malificent. It took a while to get going but once it did it grew fast. Unfortunately I put it too close to other coral and it grew a trunk at the base and now I can’t move it .

 

[NeutronMan]

This is My CB Malificent. It took a while to get going but once it did it grew fast. Unfortunately I put it too close to other coral and it grew a trunk at the base and now I can’t move it .

What par do you have that in? Seems that lower par brings out more orange colors?

 

[sculpin01]

I am guessing this is acropora anthocercis, some of the wild colonies showing green, pink and red are absolutely beautiful. I have always thought the nicest red acropora always have a nice contrast somewhere in the coral, normally it’s green and pink. Red planet was one that people had very good contrast with greens early on but after it got old it just turned all red. The growth form of the maleficent acro I like much more than the red planet. I would love to see some more pictures.

I thought the same but no incipient axials makes me wonder.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I thought the same but no incipient axials makes me wonder.

Yea Hugo’s colony (cb lineage) is certainly different than what I am referring too and now I see the original post is the same lineage. Smite and gatorbaits pics are closest to what I was mentioning.
Some of the pictures looks almost like acropora clathrata, especially Hugo’s, but I feel like In time they will all start to resemble anthocercis. I believe the Tierra deal fuego was the first time this type of acropora came on peoples radar.

 

[Hugo’s_Reef]

What par do you have that in? Seems that lower par brings out more orange colors?

That one is at about 300 par. I haven’t moved it around much to see if colors change in different par , but I’ll put some frags in my frag tank at both high and low par and see what happens.

 

[SFREEF3R]

I'm so impressed with all of your bright red CB Maleficent! Mine is mostly very light white/tan with just hints of red. I get a little more color in some of the shaded parts with the orange/green coming out but none of this bright red.

PAR is quite high, ~700, which I thought might be the cause. Though I've placed some frags lower without significant improvement. Really curious to know in what conditions you all are growing these bright red ones!

I purchased this one from @Coral Euphoria several years back. Abe - not sure if you're monitoring this account but interested if you have any thoughts on the coloration. I've been getting good growth but just can't get it to color up.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think that's CB Maleficent. It can take some time to color up, but once it starts branching out (your's is basically a colony) it should be super bright red. I also don't think it's a parameters issue because the acros behind it have color. I just don't think it's the same coral.

I keep mine around 350-400 PAR, but I don't think lighting is your issue either.

 

[SFREEF3R]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think that's CB Maleficent. It can take some time to color up, but once it starts branching out (your's is basically a colony) it should be super bright red. I also don't think it's a parameters issue because the acros behind it have color. I just don't think it's the same coral.

I keep mine around 350-400 PAR, but I don't think lighting is your issue either.

Was afraid of that! I wonder if the frags got mixed up somehow. If so I have no clue what this is.