Acan coral vs Brain Favia

[Tourpicks1]

I was thinking of purchasing an Acan brain coral Aussie or an Aussie Brain Favia coral- being that they are both easy and aggressive corals would it be ideal to place it on the bottom - and can i place it on the top, also would would anyone recommend if i had to get 1 is there a difference between a brain acan or a brain favia ? lets say they are both nice colors and preference of color was all the same basically what im asking is whats the diifference if any between a brain favia and a acan brain coral ?
also how much room should they be apart from other LPS corals ?
and 1 more thing can they hurt a corcea clam ?
Thanks so much to everyone for the info-
Joyce :wavehand:

[chuckdallas]

Do you have an Emperor Angelfish as is seen in your avatar? I had the very close relative (as far as coloration goes), the Koran Angel. We had to take him back to the LFS becuase he kept nipping and eating the soft and hard corals, as thousands of years of genetic programming have taught him. I have a Flame Angel and he (or she) is doing well with the large mixture of corals I have, so it depends on the type of Angelfish and even on the individual fish and how much you feed the fish.

[Tourpicks1]

thanks for the concern i cant chagne that avitar i had a changing emperor angelfish that has been moved from my 150 RT to my 240 gallon FOWLR tank- i just couldnt take a chance of losing corals to this fish and overfeeding so we wouldnt, so i removed him a while ago and cant figure out how to change my avitar- everytime i resize an image it says file is to big-
the question on hand is being that an acan brain coral and favia brain coral or both essentially brain corals-lps corals is there a difference why i would by 1 over the other in regards to easy to care for or any other reason rather than just i like one better than the other as a personal liking- anything major difference between an acan brain coral and a favia brain coral ?
2-is there a difference between and acan brain coral and an acan lord brain coral ? so they have the same latin (im assuming thats the language) name ?
3- since ill be purchasing most probably an acan,acan lord and favi brain corals within 2 weeks is the best place to place them on the SB or substrate my sb is premium florida keys sand and 4" deep.

thanks for all the help
Joyce :)

ps: on the quick stats from the farm i purchased it from it said low flow, medium lighting and bottom placement- although i think the brain favia was slightly different that it said -placement-all, i have many caves and overhangs in my 150 RT and a nice clean substrate that has 2 corcea clams on it 4 inches and 5 inches 2 chili corals on it and some zoos and a 6 inch purple and green aussie plate coral- im hapy to say all seem to be doing very well- i have 18 inches of spcae on the sb for these 3 brain corals 2 aussie acan lords and a brain coral favia and can safely place them 4-6 inches away from everything- now i know the plate coral can move but i do once a week feed it mysis nano frozen small cube i dont want to start any fighting or chemichal warfare but being that i have very solid strong lighting icecap mh fixture with 4 actincs and 2x250w MH lamps phoenix 14k (looks like 20k) and i have a 30x flow turnover- would the sand bed be the best spot or some creveces on LR that are like a small not deep bowl on the bottom of the tank ideal spots for these brain corals ? any info help or suggestions would be fantastic- as i only have a few brain corals all dif. types in my 125 RT- andi only cared for 1 acan brain coral but never an aussie lord- if thats different. they are pretty hardy from my experience. but again any info on these aussie brain corals the acan favia and acan lord corals from care/getting them to thrive to feeding them if needed to placment and intial acclimation (i was going to float them for 40 min to temp acclimate them and then gently place them on the SB) to keeping them not at war with other corals would be great any info at all i would appreciate so much- thank you all in advance and have a great night! :))

[betamed]

Hi, No such thing as an acan Brain coral. Acan Lord is an abbreviation for the scientific name.

Brain coral is a common name used for many fleshy LPS like favia, favites, lobo, trachy etc. Never heard an acan refered to as a brain coral, but I guess its possible.

[chathomas]

acan doesn't have long tennacles. the favia does.

[The Velvet Sea]

Brain corals generally belong to the family Faviidae (Favia, Favites, Platygyra, etc.)

Acans belong to the family Mussidae (Acanthastrea, Scolymia, Cynaria, etc.)

I would not refer to acans as brains but debating common names is fairly useless because there are so many different common names for every coral depending on who you are talking to. Acan lord refers to a species of acan (Acanthastrea lordhowensis). These acans do not have long sweeper tentacles and can be placed relatively close to other corals. Not all acans are acan lords though. Acanthastrea echinata is another very common species of acan and it can have very long aggressive sweeper tentacles and requires more space than acan lords.

Depending on how much space you have, you can definitely keep acans and favia in the same aquarium. They can be placed on your sand bed, but that will affect their growth shape and rate. Acans can get irritated by sand if they are regularly being dusted with it due to current or other tank inhabitants so they may prefer to be on the rock work in these cases. Also your lighting and flow will affect where you want to place these corals. They typically do not like high light and high flow. They can easily lose their impressive coloration under high lighting and reduced polyp extension under high flow. For those reasons, I have my acans and favias close to the bottom of my aquarium. Overall, they are hardy beginner friendly corals.

[Palting]

Hi, velvet. I do have a question for you. I have an acan lord stitting on my substrate in the lowest flow area of my tank (corner), and it seems to like it there. Do they need a rock to grow into, or do they make their own rock skeleton? I can bury a rock into the substrate and set it on that if I need to. Don't mean to hijack the thread, but the OP may be interested in the answer as well. Thanks!

[The Velvet Sea]

Acans do build their own skeleton and do not need a rock to grow onto. That said, if you give them a rock to grow onto, they almost always grow out from their margin faster than if their margin is in contact with sand. If their margin is in contact with sand on all sides, they will generally grow massively in a ball shape opposed to radially out from their margins. It is my understanding that massive growth is almost always slower than marginal growth in all corals like acans. So while it will do fine on your sand bed, the colony may expand and grow faster if given a rock to grow onto. Growth rate isn't the only consideration though. Some people may prefer the acan to take on a more spherical massive shape by keeping it away from rocks. Anyhow, that is my general understanding of these corals, most of it gained from reading and not from practice mind you. I hope that helps.

[Palting]

Yes. That helped a lot. More than my own readings :). Thank you.

To kinda make up for maybe hijacking, here's my attempt to answer the OP. You can have both acans and favia. If you only had to chose one, I guess it would depend on the acan or favia available to you. Which one appeals to you more? I have both acan and brain. You chose :D.

Acan:
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab71/Kalawing/Aquarium/IMG_0526.jpg

Lobo brain:
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab71/Kalawing/Aquarium/IMG_0225.jpg

Here's my crocea clam sitting right up against the acan. It was actually further away, and the crocea just kind snuggled up to the acan. So, to answer part of your question, yes, acan and crocea can be close to one another.
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab71/Kalawing/Aquarium/IMG_0532.jpg

BTW, favia "walks". Maybe one reason to not get a favia.

[Mike Ordner]

I think you may be thinking about Fungia plate corals "walking". Not aware of favia or favites doing this.

[Palting]

I just checked my source, Borneman's book on Coral husbandry, and you're right. Favia don't walk. My bad.

[Tourpicks1]

i got 2 acans corals nice red and blue and nice red and purple 20 polyps each 1-
i placed them 1 on a circular crevice i just hope when it grows it grows on the rock and its in the low flow and on the bottom they were both originally placed on the SB- the other is in the middle with medium flow but on a rock and it can grow - how long do they take to grow a noticable amount ? and why are they so expensive $130 each because i got acan lords from australia ?

[Tourpicks1]

here is my new brain coral- the exact name of this coral is- "Aussie Brain Coral Goniastrea " it's about 6 inches and is one of the nicer brain corals i have ever purchased. and was a pretty penny but i fell in love. its mostly blue with sky or lighter blue mouths and the other part is a vibrant neon green with neon green mouths- not a great picture it doesnt do it justice its also not growing as a sphere but more like a slice of pizza its shapped like a small slice of pizza or a bit of a triangle or so- i used a cell phone 3g- not the iphone 4.- i placed it oon the bottom of the tank on a large piece of LR with a medium flow not that much as there an overhang above it. whats the best way for this coral to grow and how will it grow ? i also made sure to move the ricordea florida corals 6 inches from this coral and they are also 6 inches higher on a rock so i think well protected- and the radioactive red and green neon zoos are 7 inches on the SB to the right. thanks for all the help. :)

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg148/allone26/BRAIN1.jpg

[The Velvet Sea]

Yeah, that definitely looks like a goniastrea which is a member of the Faviidae brain coral family. They can grow marginally by encrusting along any rock that they touch. It will extend feeder tentacles (usually at night). It isn't mandatory, but you can spot feed these guys at night and that can help them grow a bit quicker. When parameters are stable, they can have pretty quick marginal growth. I have two Goniastrea frags and I can already notice growth where they have encrusted down the frag plugs in just a few short weeks. Granted it isn't a lot of growth but definitely noticeable.

[shannon97]

anyone knows what kind of brain this is

[shannon97]

i guess no one knows

[webslinger]

brown ;)