I've noticed that basically every single Pocillopora coral sold and traded in the hobby is labeled Pocillopora damicornis. The genus has many species of coral widespread and common throughout the ocean, why are no other species seemingly available to the hobby? Meanwhile Acropora, the genus that is similar to Pocillopora in it's reef building power has many different species available in the hobby. Part of this is due to the visual appeal of the different species of acropora, but there's gotta be more to it. Does anyone know of someone who is in possession of a non damicornis Pocillopora?
Does any other Pocillopora exist in the hobby?
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BloopFish
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I found Pocillopora verrucosa sold by tidal gardens, that's good to know. Would be nice to know if anyone knows of any other species available to the hobby, such as if Pocillopora meandrina is aquacultured.
P. Verrucosa and P. Elegans are commonly seen in the hobby as well. I know a few stores local to me that have P. Verrucosa and frags thereof.
IIRC/IME, the most common species are damicornis, verrucosa, eydouxi, and meandrina. The first three can be found from like the (super heavy light and flow) reef crest all the way down to mesophotic depths, IIRC. Damicornis is adaptable to all kinds of water conditions and is a first colonizer coral. The remainders require generally a lot of flow; eydouxi gets really really big (and IMO is not so good looking as a frag; it really needs a decent size colony to look good, which requries a big tank). Verrucosa doesn't need something quite so big, and also (like damicornis) does not get so big.
@PacificEastAquaculture occasionally has verrucosa. I may ask them someday if they have eydouxi. I know Garrett's Acropolis in LA (does not ship) has eydouxi, as does Bali Aquarium in Bali (can't ship right now). I'm sure some of the coral importers can get specimens from AUS, Tonga, etc. for a substantial price.
@PacificEastAquaculture occasionally has verrucosa. I may ask them someday if they have eydouxi. I know Garrett's Acropolis in LA (does not ship) has eydouxi, as does Bali Aquarium in Bali (can't ship right now). I'm sure some of the coral importers can get specimens from AUS, Tonga, etc. for a substantial price.
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BloopFish
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Thanks for the info!
I was mostly wondering this because to me Pocillopora meandrina looks more visually appealing to me, and is the species that I most associate with the genus due to it being so common in places I've dived in. Due to this, it made me confused as to why nothing really comes up when I search about P. meandrina in the hobby. P. eydouxi also sounds like an interesting coral to grow if one could acquire it aquacultured. I guess you hit on the point on possibly why these species are uncommon - I'd imagine they look quite lackluster as frags
Meandrina, IIRC, is a small (0.5m max) shallow dwelling species that requires a lot of flow.
Verrucosa looks very similar, but is more adaptable. (and, contrary to corals of the world, IIRC it's been found down to mesophotic depths). I'd email Pacific East for a frag; I will do so once I can take more corals.
As an aside, the Corals of the World entry on damicornis has multiple pictures; not only is it probably several species, but also it lives in almost every reef environment and it looks different in many of them. I know someone who had a basketball sized "lagoon" form from his relatively low flow tank. My damicornis is in fairly high flow (but not the highest in my tank - at least not yet..... ;Doctor) and looks like a mix of cauliflower and verrucosa.
That being said, no Pocillopora looks better than an well grown out Eydouxi.
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P. Meandrina was recently pushed towards protected status, so wild harvested Cauliflower Corals of this species may not be being collected right now. I, for one, would like to see a good colony harvested for a stable aquaculture lab capable of saving some of this coral species for future hobbyist propagation.
encrustingacro
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P. eydouxi is now classified as P. grandis.Bought myself a pocillopora eydouxi
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