Acanthastrea lordhowensis, or as we like to call them: Lord Howie Acans 
Whatever you call them, they have been around for a while. First reported scientifically in (Ehrenberg, 1834) this little Acanthastrea keeps reef keepers in awe today. As sessile invertebrates go, they really are remarkable, becoming available in the 1980′s few people had the knowledge to care for live coral, let alone the specific needs of an Acan. That’s just it though. Its their ability to endure less than perfect (to say the least) water quality and there Diversity of coloration that has made them so popular.
Its very difficult to find two of the same color (unless your buying frags). The diversity is so broad it can quickly turn’s into I’ll take that one that one that one…….The wife walks away….That one….The wife divorces you and marries a professional juggler in Boise. None of which help you out. I recommend you buy frags. As large colonies can be very expensive and you’ll be able to get much more diversity of color. All while knowing you didn’t rob a reef. Most “Lordhowensis” is of Australian origin, An already over fished and exploited region for the coral trade. Its not hard to seek out 100% aquacultured Acans. With there popularity bigger than ever many places offer stunning Acan frags “Be warned some people exploit the hell out of good coloration to the tune of excessive pricing” I’ve seen Acans marked up to as much as $250.00 U.S. for a 1″x 1″ frag. That’s just stupid. How can They justify so much for just a polyp or two. Easy you the consumer keeps paying it, Its that simple.
Caring for Acanthastrea Lordhownsis isn’t really different than most L.P.S.. Moderate lighting seems good around 150-250 par for best coloration 200-350 par seems to provide the best growth rates for ours. All of our acans are grown under 400w MH in the 14000k spectrum. My acans have always done well from the sand bed to mid water in the tank with good flow and current. I know its difficult to explain good flow as our tanks and yours have different requirements, they like it when the current is fast enough to jiggle them slightly. This helps promote full inflation of the mantle and make’s them more capable feeders as more food is moved by them thru the course of the day. This gives the tentacles more chances to feed naturally. Acans readily accept most “prepared foods” i.e. oyster larva, brine shrimp (yes they will eat live food) to every now and then we will see one catch a lose copepod. They are voracious eaters and I can’t recall ever seeing one not take food.
They can be gruff neighbors. Quite frankly they can stop star polyps in there tracks. Ample care should be taken when choosing the home for your acans. Because of there superior grasp on biological warfare they can potently overwhelm a small to medium 1-100g aquarium much faster than you think. A customer told me about how he had a acan colony of about 100+ heads that over time had grown “Near!!!!” not touched just NEAR! a colony of blue montipora digitata and over a agonizing month of trying to determine what was killing his tank once the digitata was dead the tank went back on track. So he assumed it was his error and that water changes and so on had solved it. Like anyone else he replace the lost corals….. you guessed it over the coarse of a few weeks with another coral in that spot again the tank began to crash. Now to my knowledge no one sells a saltwater venom & toxin test kit (bet yer ass API is making one as we speak). So how do you know whats to close? No one really knows, but I can say this, I never place them closer than two times the width the colony. So if your acan is 4″ wide at its widest you want at least 8″ of space before you reach the next coral. Once more, if your acan is a 1″ frag leave 2″ around it or more. Remember they grow.
On that note, growth seems fairly steady unless you run a primarily S.P.S. tank. Acans don’t generally thrive in lower ph systems. Anything under 8.0 seems to slow them down. I’ve found somewhere around 8.1-8.2 seems to be about as hard as you can push there bicarbonate consumption. Anything lower or higher seems to slow growth or affect coloration and overall heath of the coral.
This was a single polyp frag I was able to get at a local swap. It will likely be a year until its reached a sufficient size to Warrant culturing a frag or two. You can see along with the small aiptasia anemone a juvenile head with mini feeders. I will remove the aiptasia once I feel the juvenile will be ok with the proses.
So in conclusion whether your new to reef tanks or an old salt, Acanthastrea is a fine addition to any reef so long as you understand that the resilience that we have grown to love it for comes at a price. Nature believes in survival of the fittest, and Acans are the fittest. Respect their personal space, give them lots to eat, and enjoy. Next time your at a swap or ordering some coral on line grab an acan frag if you don’t have one already. You’ll see the reasons other reefers go crazy for them.
John B.
Big-Dog-Reefs.com