If you've been following our journey from the "Top 10 Beginner's SPS" to "Top 10 Intermediate SPS" in the mesmerizing world of SPS corals, you're in for a treat. Today, we're taking it a notch higher. Welcome to the culmination of our SPS series: a carefully curated showcase of the top 10 SPS corals from Top Shelf Aquatics. Each piece, grown with dedication in our farm, represents the pinnacle of coral beauty and resilience. These are not just corals; they are a testament to how far your aquarium can evolve, from the basic to the truly spectacular.
10. TSA Heisenberg Acropora
The TSA Heisenberg is a relatively new piece to our vast collection. This acropora showcases a myriad colors, starting with the deep blue stalk with hints of pastel green and coralites and continuing on to the purple and pink polyps.
Orignally harvested in Australia, then imported by ACI Aquaculture, and finally grown in our farm, this piece has traveled a very far distance before it eventally settled into our tanks. Although it looks similar to a majority of maricultured Acropora Tenuis, it isn't the same species.
Heisenberg was the name chosen for this piece in reference to the hit series Breaking Bad based off of the crystalline blue hues displayed by the coral.
9. Walt Disney Acropora
The Walt Disney is one of the most well known piece's of Acropora Tenuis in the hobby and commonly one of the pivotal piece in a reef keepers journeys which enable them to want to keep acropora in the first place.
We orginally collected this piece from Mike also know as Big R, where he kept many show stopping pieces. Although he is no longer with us, his memory lives on in the acropora's he grew, and shared throughout the hobby.
This piece helped set the stage for more rainbow tenuis to enter the acropora scene. It show cases blue, yellow, and pink coralites, with bright yellow and green polyps making it radiate color in any tank.
8. TSA Flowerbomb
Recently featured on Reef Builders, the TSA Flowerbomb is another striking piece that we've grown to love and aquaculture in our farm. This piece was orginally imported from Australia, similar to the TSA Heisenberg.
This acropora is perfect to place on the side of a rock so it can grow outward into a tabling shape. It's important to have a long term goal with the placement of this acropora, because once it starts to grow, itl'll be harder to manage.
7. TSA Forbidden Fruit
TSA's Forbidden Fruit is one of the brightest corals we've ever released. With firey reddish orange tips and a bright green/teal stalk, this piece can be spotted from a mile a way.
Although speciosa can be finicky to finally get to grow, once they've settled, there's nothing else like it. One of the tips we have for growing these pieces is keeping stable temperatures under 78 degrees
6. TSA Rocky Balboa
We orginally acquired this piece from a hobbyist while attending Reef Stock Denver as an unamed acropora tenuis. Co-owner and farm lead Kevin Burda saw something special within this piece and as time progressed, it has become more and more vibrant with a variety of colors.
This tenuis has a bright yellow and blue coralite, with two tone red and yellow polyps. This is another one of those pieces that stands out from a mile away.
5. TSA Mind Melt
After spending a year trying to merge a variety of montipora and having failure after failure, we were finally able to create a montipora with 3 distinct colors. Dark green, neon green, and bright red.
In order to truly have a triple grafted coral, we had to grow and cut the Mind Melt through multiple generations so that it can truly show each color.
4. TSA Raspberry Splice
The Raspberry Splice was a grafted coral that we were able to create and nurture from a small green speckle on piece of Raspberry Limeade. Similar to the Mind Melt we were able to grow and nuture the green portion to balance out with the Raspberry Limade.
As time progressed the deep purple became even darker and we were able to create the first splice that was both green and purple.
3. TSA Fruit Swirl
Another one of our triple grafted corals is the TSA Fruit Swirl setosa. Setosa corals are rarely imported so we had a goal to create a brand new coloration. The TSA Tequila Sunrise was the foundations for this project, which already showed a great blend of green and orange.
The last color we had avaible to try and merge together was purple. Which began the long and arduous to try and get a grafted piece that had an even blend of each color. Following the same process of creating the TSA Mind Melt, we took different generations in order to prune and control the coloration of the coral.
2. TSA Bubbleyum
One of the most sought after corals that we grow here in our farm is the TSA Bubbleyum. This piece was imported years ago and has been aquacultured at Top Shelf Aquactics before we created our current farm.
This acropora is know for the yellow, teal, and blue coralites as well as the two toned yellow and pink polyps that are quite long and fluffy when it's happy.
1. TSA Fruity Splice
At the pinnacle of our collection lies the TSA Fruity Splice. This piece orginally started as the TSA Fruity Pebbles which sprouted a little spot of green in the middle of the colony. From there we were able to bonsai the colony to an extent and choose which colors we wanted to grow more of.
In this case we wanted to show off the true splice, the division between purple and green. After waiting and waiting for that tiny speckle of green to grow out, we eventually had what we know today as the TSA Fruity Splice.
As the main colony grew out we then shifted from a division of green and purple to have both colors swirl together between coralites and polyps creating an incredible blend of colors to showcase in a tank.
From the TSA Heisenberg's deep blue hues to the TSA Fruity Splice's mesmerizing color blend, each coral in our top 10 list represents not just the pinnacle of coral beauty but also the potential of aquaculture to create living masterpieces. These corals, each with their unique story and journey, highlight the endless possibilities within the hobby and the impact of careful cultivation and passion. As your aquarium evolves, let these examples inspire you to explore the depths of what you can achieve, pushing the boundaries of aquatic beauty and resilience. The journey doesn't end here; it's just another chapter in the endless adventure of reef keeping. Embrace the challenge, and let your aquarium be a canvas for these stunning expressions of life.