Echinopora lamellosa (blue chalice)

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

I know there are “prettier” and more colorful chalices out there, but this sure looks good for being only shades of blue. It also plates similar to plating montipora, making it a bit more unique than the other chalices. This particular piece has exploded with new growth recently.

A friend gave me “3-4” gonzo golden dragon mushrooms that were all attached to a chunk of this stuff that was covered in algae a while ago. I ended up getting 11 mushrooms and made quite a few frags of what I could salvage of the chalice. You can see how bad of shape it was in originally. I have them in a few different areas in my 40b AIO to see where they would do best, and the one above seems to be in the best location.

 

[Tahoe61]

That's gorgeous. Getting those true blues is so rewarding.

 

[thamnasteroid]

I honestly don't consider Echinopora to be chalices, as they were never in the family Pectiniidae.

 

[Steven Garland]

Getting them to stay blue is the challenge and you seemed to have won that battle. Blue in any coral is pretty hard to keep.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

This is what the one piece I kept has turned into. It’s about the size of my hand now.

 

[Science/G]

Not a lamellosa, but my Avatar Chalice is finally happy and showing all of its colors.