Aquaculture in Bali!

One of the main aquaculture areas of Bali is the famous Sarangan beach, on Turtle Island. There is a turtle nursery, (thus the name) and the whole island is a nature park. It is about 30 minutes away from Kuta. Again as a promotion to support the locals, the government has allowed this area to be used to grow corals. Other locals also grow seaweed here as well.

I hopped on a styrofoam box and the local fishermen took me to where the corals were growing. I still got wet, when I jumped in to look at the corals. It was almost low tide and waist deep. My wife took these pictures as I went to get the sample pieces. Cheers - Eddie.

More Acro Pictures!

Here are some more pictures of the deepwater acros. Enjoy -Eddie.


This a closer shot of an Acropora Granulosa. Steve Tyree's Purple Monster and my Purple Monster is probably a variant of this species. Another similar coral people get confused is the loripes, which has more corallites and more polyps.



A couple of nice Suharsonoi's. When they have color, it is typically yellow to green, unless they are brown (and most are). Some rare specimens that have a sky blue color also exists, but are extremely rare.

Sorry for the blurry picture again. I just wanted to show you guys the edge color of these deepwater gems. They are light blue to purple. One day I will culture these. The problem is that they must be grown at deep depths, otherwise they bleach.


Here's another shot of that crazy stag along with a carolinia (on the right) and a plana up at the top.



And here is me, carefully selecting for color, species, and size for export. I know I know, it is a dirty job. But heck someone has to do it ha! ha!!.

Acros and Montis!

I was just talking to one of my good old customers back from the Tropical Paradise days, and he was asking about sps. His name is Roy (Radiolunatic was his handle on RC), and he was especially excited about me working in his native homeland. We are going to hook up when he comes back to Indonesia, should be a lot of fun. But for now, here you go Roy, some pictures of sps that I've encountered during my "coral adventures". Most of these corals have been exported already. Please keep in mind that all of these corals will morph into different colors under artificial lights. Rarely do we see wild acros and montis looking like the pieces in our tanks, even if they are the same coral. Cheers - Eddie

One of a kind acropora! It is a deepwater species. At first glance, it looks like an echinata but it isn't. It actually is an Acropora Speciosa. It was light yellow - green with purple polyps - another incredible acro from Bali.


This picture does not do justice! This little beauty had three intense colors. The picture was taken at night with flash (same with the speciosa above). I can't imagine what colors it would have turned under some 400 watt 20k's, definitely a limited edition piece!

Some typical Superman Montis. You can't see the polyps from the picture, but they are orange. The polyp colors range from dull orange to bright orange (almost red). Some of these actually can morph into the rainbow monti under halides, although I've seen some wild ones and cultured ones too that have this color. I wonder how much I could have sold an eight inch colony piece for back in my old TP days? hm...... Notice the undata piece on the right corner? You can see two other pieces below.


Take a look at these babys! These are Montipora Undatas. I took this picture out of water while waiting for the corals to be packed. The pieces already had purple rims with greenish purple base. Awesome!!!


This little gem is a tenuis, most dark purple I've ever seen. Again under natural lighting. I really need to get some halides over here!


Sorry for the blurry picture. This a true Bali echinata. It was collected at around 60 feet. Typical of deepwater acros the base color was brown, although it did sport some light bluish tips. I think it would have turned into a truly spectacular piece under artificial lighting. Most of these bottlebrush type of acros are very delicate. I actually broke some corallites when I picked this piece up for a picture. Note that most echinatas in the hobby are not true echinatas. For marketing and money making purposes, any coral that has long elongated corallites are being called echinatas. A good example of this is the Bali aquacultured blue echinata. This actually is a gomezi species. Even to this day, people still sell them as echinatas. For most people, it wouldn't matter, but for true sps geeks like Roy and I, it still matters. A true echinata is a very fragile and very rare acropora. One day I will culture these and have a limited edition of my own. The only true echinatas that are floating around the hobby are the ones from the South Pacific. These are typically found in shallow water and are yellow or green. A really common looking coral that gets nobody's attention. I think I was the only one excited when I found them in Tonga, back a few years ago.

Some of the acros available at a supplier. These suppliers buy corals from fishermen and sell them to the exporters like me. The only difference is that I take the time to go to these remote places and hand pick my own coral, instead of just ordering and relying on them to send. I do pay a higher price, but it is well worth it. I market these corals as " eddie's hand picks", or ehp corals to my customers. Can you imagine the excitement! Even after doing this for a long time, my adrenaline still pumps when I walk in to a supplier because I never know what I will find. Who knows, I might find a large colony of my true undata (Steve Tyree's limited edition that he got from me). But getting back to the picture. The green acros at the top are Sunharsonois while the others are granulosas, carolinias, loripes, subglabras, and a few others I did not recognize offhand. All of these are deeper water acros, unlike the one below.

Ah yes, the old favorite - Acropora Millepora. These come in all kinds of colors, blue, pink,purple, green, yellow, red, and orange. Some of them have multiple colors and are very striking. This large tabling millepora colony came from around 15 feet of water in nutrient rich waters around the main island of Java.

Another stunning piece of a small millepora colony. Again wish had some halides!
Another highly potential montipora undata. This one came from the very deep. It was collected with the deepwater acros. The color was slight purple, but more brown. But again when I got my true undata, it also was brown, chocolate brown, but look what is turned into.

More cool corals!

Here are some more pictures of corals that I've encountered in my coral adventures. Enjoy - Eddie.


Check out these gems! I took this picture while on a collecting trip with local fishermen in one of the other islands. All the corals were metallic in color. The lobophyllia was insane. It was aquamarine green - blue with an orange rim! The Cynarina Desheysianas were brick red, while the Lacrymalis were translucent red. However, the coolest coral collected that day was a yellow green fungia. I had never seen this color morph before. It had blue polyps! I had a chance to look it under actinics back at the holding facility. It was amazing.


The same corals and more back at the holding facility. There are no lights, only natural sunlight from the ceiling. They do have a portable actinic that I was playing around with, so you can imagine the colors I saw. Note the special red carpet on the left corner. It actually has green inside. For you carpet anemone fans, red haddonis (like this one) is rare. Only one out of 20 carpets that I see are actually handdonis. The rest are Giganteas and they are huge. On the average, each specimen is two feet across. This little cute guy was only about 10 inches, perfect for the aquarium at home.


Some cool rainbow Acanthastrea Echinatas from Makassar, Sulawessi.



Fantastic favia/montastrea from East Java.



This is a typical Acanthastrea Lordhowensis that I export. Also from Makassar, Sulawessi. For some reason, many of the best color morphs of corals (not just the acans) come from this area.



Blastomussa Wellsi! Note the blue centers. I can't imagine what it will look under some halides!



A unique trachyphyllia from Sumbawa. Check out the purplish color in the center.

Check out this Rhodactis Inchoata rock, typically known as bullseye mushrooms. Blue center with orange rims is a very rare color morph. Typically they are green or light purple. There is the very sought after dark purple morph of this mushroom, called the Tonga purple bullseye. We do have them here in Indonesia but not common. I saw more of them in Tonga.

Cherry picked corals!

Here are some pictures of corals recently acquired for export. Keep in mind that I really don't know how to take pictures, except to point and shoot. All photos are taken under natural lighting in a warehouse, so you can imagine what they would look under some halides! Enjoy - Eddie.


A beautiful metallic orange (echinophyllia) chalice!


Amazing favia with large orange eyes!

Metallic red - purple cycloseris fungia!

14 inch red carpet (Gigantea) eating a damsel!


Cool purple centered, white mouthed, greenish blue skirted zoo!