
On the Coral Spotlight blog posts I'm going to pick a few corals that are in store and online. Some will be new arrivals and some are just nice pieces that I like or think deserve a bit of the limelight for a minute. Either way, here's a few corals for this month that I think are worth a look at, just click the coral name and it will take you to the RockNCritters online listing, enjoy!
1. Ultra Blastomussa. I've mentioned before that I quite like Acans so it's probably no surprise if I told you I'm a fan of Blastos. It must be the colony shape and polyp type of these sort of coral. Unlike Acans, there are a more limited colour variation of Blastos regularly on offer which is why I wanted to highlight these Ultra Blastos. There is both a colony size (as seen in the main picture) and frags in store but it is the colony that first grabbed my attention. The bright red contrasting against the luminous inner green on the large polyps is a real eye grabber.
Blastos aren't particularly demanding care-wise. They tend to better in lower or indirect lighting and low to moderate flow. Their large, fleshy polyps don't do well in high direct flow. The large polyps are capable of catching and digesting food such as Mysis shrimp and other finer coral foods will be readily accepted. I've used both Reef Roids, Mysis, SPS food and have new polyps growing on my pastel colony after just a month so I would say this is coral will grow at a moderate pace. Fast enough to keep you happy and slow enough so as to not take over the space in which they're placed.

2. Rainbow Pocillopora Frags. This is a really frustrating coral to try and get a decent photo of. I've tried over and over with my phone camera and different lenses but it's just one of those corals that refuses to photograph well. That is exactly why I've included it in this months spotlight because I think the coral is really quite nice and isn't fairly represented. The frags on offer in store are a good size too, don't be put off by me saying it doesn't photograph well because they certainly look good to the eye.
As for keeping this coral, I would group it in with the hardy SPS lot. Being an SPS coral, you'll need to be on top of your alkalinity, calcium and magnesium whilst also offering strong lighting and flow. Pocillopora is actually one of the main reef building corals so as long as you keep things stable it should grow well in your home reef tank. It's not going to be extending any sweeping stinging tentacles either to attack neighbouring corals but, when it gets going it could start to overshadow neighbouring corals so if you're adding it be sure to give it some space to grow into.