One of the most beautiful Non-Photosynthetic Seafans

[Northwest_Scapes_]

I first saw this coral a few years at the Steinhart Aquarium (California Academy of Sciences) in San Francisco I remember correctly in their Twighlight Zone Exhibit. I was astonished by how colorful it was. Then I saw it in someone's tank and that's when the hunt began. After about 3 years since adding it my bucket list, I finally got what I believe is Acanthogorgia isoxya!
I've been told by someone else that it might not be A. isoxya so I'll ask some friends that are much better at IDing octocorals than me but it's still beautiful nonetheless.

This piece came from ACI Aquaculture, Chris Meckley was kind of enough to hold onto a few for my LFS who I asked if they'd be able to order one for me. It came in super chunky. a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It's trade name on the invoice was "Pink Warty Gorgonian" but I had it ordered as Acanthogorgia isoxya. From talking to other people who have it, it's a fairly moderate NPS to take care. Right now I'm feeding it a mix of PhytoFeast, OysterFeast, and RotiFeast, it's polyps are pretty small so it won't take ROE as it's too big for the mouths.
It's currently shedding since moving between 3 systems + an overnight flight all in 24 hours definitely stressed it a bit but it seems to be adjusting really well the past few days I've had it. This is truly one of the nicest species I've ever seen and I'm super amazed to have it. (ps Checkout my Non-Photosynthetic Tank under my profile if you want to see more of it)

A small colony came on the same rock so I snipped it off and it's growing on the other side of the tank. It seems really happy and most likely I'll be growing it out to take to the Seattle Aquarium for our own Non-Photosynthetic display after talking to the other staff since it would look amazing in there. A color combo were missing imo.

Camera: Sony A6100
Lens: Sony 90mm Macro
Post production: Lightroom; mainly making the background darker + sharpening

 

[blaxsun]

Absolutely stunning!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Something really cool I discovered was I was interested in what polyps look like on the areaas where the branches go from Purple to Yellow. Were some of the polyps grafted / half & half? It turns out they kind of mix and make this really neat shade of Orange. So the colors go from Dark Purple to a Purple-ish Orange to Bright Yellow. This coral continues to surprise me!

 

[Reefing102]

Beautiful. I need one of those lol

 

[Lavey29]

Will it maintain the bicolor after it acclimate to your tank?

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Will it maintain the bicolor after it acclimate to your tank?

It should, so far its kept the same color and I've ever noticed some of the 'nub' branches start to take on that orange-purple color which should be a good sign it could be growing.
It's not like SPS where it'll brown out or change color under different parameters . Here's a picture I just took a few minutes ago, super happy!

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Wow! Puts photosynthetic species to shame.

 

[Troylee]

Is your tank brand new? That’s some clean rock! What’s involved in the care for these?

 

[bluemon]

Wow! Puts photosynthetic species to shame.

I think that is almost always the case. The best looking species in the hobby tend to be NPS.

like blueberry sea fans and sun corals just to name a few. Definitely "rarer" colors in NPS compared to corlas in similar groups

 

[Slocke]

I love your fans!
For those who don’t this is a great build thread to follow!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Is your tank brand new? That’s some clean rock! What’s involved in the care for these?

The tank is a little over 5 months old so it's pretty new-ish but it's been stable so far. I've been pretty slow at adding corals so the system has time to adapt to the heavy feedings.
I only keep the light on for whenever I'm feeding or taking pictures so I'd say it's only on for no more than 1 hour a day, plus it's in the corner of my room so it's pretty shaded which I think those 2 factos definitely help with limiting algae growth especially with how much food I'm putting in.

So far I'm feeding heavy on PhytoFeast, OysterFeast, and RotiFeast. The polyps are really small so I've noticed ROE is too big for them (they'll actually let go of the ROE after a few seconds once they realize they can't eat it which is super fascinating). I haven't tried PE Calanus yet but I'd imagine that will work too which I'll try and add to my feeding regime soon.

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

I love your fans!
For those who don’t this is a great build thread to follow!

Thank you so much Slocke! One of the first people to check it out so I really appreciate it.
I'm looking forward to adding some more fish / oddball inverts. A Tube Anemone is definitely on my list but I haven't seen one in a while so that might be another special order I'll put in.

 

[Rubymoon286]

Oh that's gorgeous!

 

[Lavey29]

It should, so far its kept the same color and I've ever noticed some of the 'nub' branches start to take on that orange-purple color which should be a good sign it could be growing.
It's not like SPS where it'll brown out or change color under different parameters . Here's a picture I just took a few minutes ago, super happy!

Super cool