Acropora loripes

Acropora loripes is an Acropora with a highly variable shape: it can form bushes, cushions or overlapping plates. The branchlets are short; their tips often look bare and polypless, while just below them the tubular radial corallites are packed so densely they touch each other. In the wild it is pale blue or brown with light-colored tips; in the hobby there are pastel, purple and green-tipped forms. Trade in stony corals is subject to CITES Appendix II; choose an aquacultured frag.

• Light: High light; roughly 250–400 PAR, with gradual acclimation.
• Flow: Strong, random flow; no detritus should remain between the dense corallites.
• Placement: The upper part of the rockwork, on a solid base.
• Water parameters: Salinity 1.025–1.026, temperature 25–26.5°C, KH 7–9 dKH with daily swings below 0.5 dKH, calcium 400–450 mg/L, magnesium 1300–1400 mg/L, nitrate 2–10 mg/L, phosphate 0.02–0.08 mg/L.

It is photosynthetic; light and zooxanthellae algae provide most of its energy. Very fine powdered food or plankton given occasionally can help; monitor nutrients.

It is not aggressive; keep it 10–15 cm away from LPS, soft corals and spreading Montipora. Dwarf angelfish may pick at the polyps. Acropora-eating flatworms (AEFW) and red bugs are its main pests; put every newly arrived piece through a coral dip. Sudden changes in KH or temperature can lead to rapid tissue necrosis (RTN).