Acanthastrea lordhowensis

Veron & Pichon, 1982

Acan

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Southern Japan, Solomon Islands and Australia.

Natural Environment: Inhabits shallow reef slopes and lagoons and seen at depths between 6 to 40 feet (2 - 12 m).

General Husbandry: These are heavily tissued reef building corals containing interconnected corallites of uneven heights, and having a thick fleshy mantle.

Best maintained in medium to bright light, with gentle water movement, with mid-level placement in very brightly lit aquariums highly recommended.

Benefits from once or twice a week feedings of various plankton-like foods, such as Oyster eggs, cyclops, baby brine shrimp, Spirulina, enriched adult brine and mysis shrimp, and placed directly on the center of the polyps, which will then engulf the food within a few seconds.

Feed only a small number of polyps, as food taken in will be shared by adjoining polyps.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cnidaria

Class: Anthozoa

Subclass: Hexacorallia

Order: Scleractinia

Family: Mussidae

Genus: Acanthastrea

FYI: Cultured frags widely available and if one surfs the web, a variety of specimens with almost unbelievably gorgeous colors can easily be found.

There are two 'groups' in this genus with each containing species with certain size corallites:

Group 1 - Species with corallites 8 - 15mm

bowerbanki; brevis; echinata; faviaformis; hemprichii; lordhowensis; regularis; rotundoflora; subechinata

Group 2 - Species with corallites over 15mm

hillae; ishigakiensis; maxima

Experience with this species has shown that if pH is maintained at 8.3, growth appears to accelerate.

Experience Level: Beginner

Diet: Photosynthetic/Plankton feeder

Temperament: Semi-aggressive

Aquarium Environment: Reef or fish-only aquarium

Coral Safe: With caution

Fish Safe: Yes

Invertebrate Safe: Yes

Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+

Aquarium Hardiness: Hardy

Calcium (Ca): 380 - 430 mg/l

Alkalinity: 2.5 - 3.0 meq/l

Phosphate (PO4): <0.05 mg/l

Magnesium (Mg): approx. 1350 mg/l (relate to specific gravity)

Strontium (Sr) 8 - 10 mg/l

Temperature Range: 74 - 83°F (23 - 28°C)

Minimum Tank Size: 50 gallons

Lighting: PAR 350 - 450

Water Movement: WM 1 - 2

Specific Gravity: 1.023 - 1.025

pH: 8.0 - 8.4

Iodine/Trace Elements Monitor/as necessary to maintain quality seawater.