TSA mystery LPS coral?

[Opotter]

Hey guys and gals!  

 

I was looking for some low light corals for a couple of indirectly lit shelves I have in my reef and came across something TSA is calling obscurial?  Doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen.  It’s listed as low light/low flow?  I will probably end up with a couple of nice Leptoseris pieces (don’t like corals I haven’t researched to death), but I just couldn’t figure out what this was and it was bugging the crap out of me.  There doesn’t seem to be anything out there on the web about what this is.

 

 

[OldManSea]

Looks like a Galaxia.  If it is, they are nasty buggers with long powerful sweeper tentacles.  They are beautiful though and can get enormous over time.

[Opotter]

I wondered.  I also thought maybe it could be a hydnophora?  The low light and low flow was throwing me off though, because on their site even blastos are listed as medium/medium (and my 2 blastos like the shadiest low flow spot in my tank).

 

But yeah I will def pass on having galaxia in my tank!!  Lol!  And that is why I don’t buy anything I haven’t researched to death.

 

Thanks though!  That was driving me crazy.

[A.m.P]

TSA themselves isn't sure, they feel it may be a cousin of either platygyra or hydnophora. Apparently it grows well for them, though they don't describe its' aggression levels at all.
"Its actually some type of platygyra/ hydnophora thing. We've been debating what it is for months now.
It came in as a favia which its def not"

[Opotter]

Huh, well that’s super cool.  Not everyday you see something brand new in this hobby.  I would be very interested to hear if anyone has one in their tank and if it has sweepers?

[Opotter]

 

@Top Shelf Aquatics Very cool little coral you guys seem to have come across.  Would you mind giving us the scoop on what you know so far about this coral?  How does it play with others?  What’s the growth rate like?

[Natereef]

2 hours ago, OldManSea said:

Looks like a Galaxia.  If it is, they are nasty buggers with long powerful sweeper tentacles.  They are beautiful though and can get enormous over time.

I agree it looks like a Galaxea or a micro goniopora.

[ninjamyst]

Anyone know the actual color?  TSA photos suck and is never realistic color.  I am guessing this is just green galaxea?

[A.m.P]

It doesn't really look similar to a  goni to me at all, galexea is a bit of a stretch as well looking at all the shots they've provided as the coral's base and head structure don't seem to fit the bill. That said it certainly could be galaxea, though I've no idea why people propagating it would instead chose to compare it to otherwise flat or heavy-branching-encrusters.
I was never really able to find any shots of it in more neutral spectrums.
 

[Top Shelf Aquatics]

On 8/13/2019 at 10:09 PM, Opotter said:

 

@Top Shelf Aquatics Very cool little coral you guys seem to have come across.  Would you mind giving us the scoop on what you know so far about this coral?  How does it play with others?  What’s the growth rate like?

We do not know the exact species of this coral yet. Since we can not find anther specimen to compare it too. As Amphrites mentioned we think it could be related to platygyra but that is still to be determined. We have not seen any sweeper tentacles killing any surrounding coral. So it does not appear to be aggressive and it encrusts at the same rate as a chalice. The tentacles stay out 100% of the time regardless if lights are turned on or off. It's so unique that we love having it in our collection. 

[A.m.P]

The growth pattern alone may mean I eventually have to pick up a frag, would be kind of fun to show it @ different color spectrums too; AB+, 16k, 18k, 20k, Super-actinic.
It almost looks and sounds like a very bulbous litho plate without the deep channels in it lol. You don't have any problems with it sheathing off mucus or other chemicals and injuring corals downwater from it like with hydnophora?

[Opotter]

Thanks for the reply!  That is really stinking cool!!!  Rare day you come across something totally new in this hobby!  I was mostly worried about the aggression level.  

 

I’m planning on coming down to Orlando for the day in a couple of weeks (2 hours north of you and I won’t lie.. plan to hit up WWC’s new store opening ;).  I will def add your store to my stop list for the day.  If you still have any in stock I may just have to try it out and let everyone know how it goes!  

[A.m.P]

At the very least some more eyecandy is always lovely, hope your trip goes well!