Acro Identification - ORA Red Planet? Christmas Mirabilis?

SkiCatTX · Jun 13, 2019

I have this acro that mysteriously started taking off a few months back. It is growing like crazy, but I swear I didn't buy it...and it must have lain dormant for a year or two since it just came out of nowhere. When working in the tank recently I accidentally knocked off two pieces, so I put them on plugs and they are already encrusting.

I had no idea what is was, but recently saw some pics that look quite similar. I was hoping that someone who has this, or anything similar might either verify if you think it is Red Planet (or at least related) or something else? Unfortunately I just have iPhone pics, so not the best.

The two frags:

The parent colony with polyps extended:

They quickly retract if disturbed and expose a lot more green and yellow:

SkiCatTX · Jun 13, 2019

Some images I found online which claim to be Red Planet. Looks pretty similar:

(These are NOT mine, just copied from a Google search)

MnFish1 · Jun 13, 2019

Its a pretty coral - hopefully it will get bigger - and you can frag it... IMHO - there is no way to say (for sure) that it is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Perhaps if it keeps looking as good as it is now - in a year - you can start fragging it - and selling it for big $$$ - with a name of lets say. Princes Purple Reign...... IMHO - the pictures do not match for a 'red planet'. THAT said - im not a coniseur of rare corals.

Yours is a beautiful specimen - awesome coral.

DSC reef · Jun 13, 2019

Looks similar Christmas mirabilis

madweazl · Jun 13, 2019

None of those look like my red planet.

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

MnFish1 said:
Its a pretty coral - hopefully it will get bigger - and you can frag it... IMHO - there is no way to say (for sure) that it is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Perhaps if it keeps looking as good as it is now - in a year - you can start fragging it - and selling it for big $$$ - with a name of lets say. Princes Purple Reign...... IMHO - the pictures do not match for a 'red planet'. THAT said - im not a coniseur of rare corals.

Yours is a beautiful specimen - awesome coral.

Thanks, I do like it, and my pictures don't do it justice. The way it's growing now though, I could totally get lots of frags of it in no time...

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

DSC reef said:
Looks similar Christmas mirabilis

Hmm, that could be, it does look similar. The main difference in both the Red Planet and the Miribilis are that the polyps on mine are pretty long, at least in the parent colony, it actually looks 'furry' at full extension, almost like a milli. Mine also has a bit more yellow in the vertical than most of the other pictures, though that could be just the lighting differences. It seems the more light it gets the more green.

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

madweazl said:
None of those look like my red planet.

Yeah, just a Google search shows wide variation, so who knows. Any pics?

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

In fact I should try taking some pics in heavy blue so I can match the online images better. The pics above are white with decent blue, but not full UV, and I could have dialed up the saturation, but I tried to match as closely as I could to what it looks like mid day under normal AB+ Radion lighting.

Leadfooted · Jun 14, 2019

DSC reef said:
Looks similar Christmas mirabilis

+1. This is often debated but I'm leaning towards Xmas. I have both of these.

Graffiti Spot · Jun 14, 2019

Red planet is one of those corals that everyone thinks they have but a ton of them probably are not. There are a lot of pieces that look similar. Nice color on the frags though!

MnFish1 · Jun 14, 2019

I think it would be interesting to put known pictures of some of these corals in a row (like a line-up) and have people choose the answers. To me - some of them look so similar - and my guess is that under varying light it would be really hard to say. I dont know the 'names' of any of my coral - if they look nice I buy them

.

29bonsaireef · Jun 14, 2019

I would say that's something very similar, possibly Red Planet. Growth, PE, color all seem to resemble a typical RP at an early stage. As well as it being a pretty bullet proof acro that comes back from nothing. It can have different looks/colors depending on lighting, flow, nutrients.

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

MnFish1 said:
I think it would be interesting to put known pictures of some of these corals in a row (like a line-up) and have people choose the answers. To me - some of them look so similar - and my guess is that under varying light it would be really hard to say. I dont know the 'names' of any of my coral - if they look nice I buy them.

Yeah, that was me. Prior to the few I just bought last month, I hadn't bought corals in a couple years. Been neglecting the tank with work and travelling.

As of last December everything was brown or green, then I decided to get serious again, moved all the rock around, cleaned everything up, started testing, dosing, feeding, etc. and everything turned around. That's when this coral and a few others started growing like crazy out of nowhere.

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

Leadfooted said:
+1. This is often debated but I'm leaning towards Xmas. I have both of these.

Thanks. So they look different in your tank? I'd just about say these two are the same, only with different conditions and lighting, but if you both and they are clearly different it's probably the case.

BobbyOtto · Jun 14, 2019

I do not believe it's an ORA Red Planet. The PE on your piece is different then my ORA Red Planet (I got mine from ORA), RP tends to be really hairy on its branches. Still a very nice piece

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

Pedoconfuego said:
Red planet is one of those corals that everyone thinks they have but a ton of them probably are not. There are a lot of pieces that look similar. Nice color on the frags though!

Thanks! I am surprised myself at how bright they are, my first acro really, along with another green one that's growing slower. Still waiting for that one to branch a bit and I'll try to identify as well.

Didn't realize RP was so popular, just happened to see the pics and thought it looked similar. Ultimately, I suppose it's worth whatever people want to pay, but so many people now seem to focus on the names for values...

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

29bonsaireef said:
I would say that's something very similar, possibly Red Planet. Growth, PE, color all seem to resemble a typical RP at an early stage. As well as it being a pretty bullet proof acro that comes back from nothing. It can have different looks/colors depending on lighting, flow, nutrients.

Yep, the amount of yellow, and the polyp extension are the things that seem slightly different, but growing conditions could affect those. I don't have any angels...

SkiCatTX · Jun 14, 2019

BobbyOtto said:
I do not believe it's an ORA Red Planet. The PE on your piece is different then my ORA Red Planet (I got mine from ORA), RP tends to be really hairy on its branches. Still a very nice piece

PE is longer or shorter on yours? The frags definitely have shorter polyps than the colony. When they are full extended you almost can't see the green and yellow, it's just reddish brown polyp 'fur'. It's cool to see the flash of green when they all retract suddenly to a disturbance.

madweazl · Jun 14, 2019

The colors look opposite to my red planet when it was small and in lower light; it had a green growing edge and a red base, this appears to be the opposite. I'll try to dig up a pic.

Edit: found one