Elegance Coral

Have been thinking about adding one of these to my DT and almost picked one up at a lfs until I saw flatworms on it. Anyways, decided to come home and research it to see about future purchase of the coral and am a little skeptical now.
It seems there is a lot of information stating they used to be really hardy but for an unknown reason newer specimens imported today are extremely delicate and usually do not survive in a reef tank. Is that still the case today or has the success rate improved?
Also it seems that finding an Australian elegance is far superior to an Asian elegance, at least in terms of survival. Is there a way to tell the difference between the 2? The store had 2 and said was was an Aussie and the other was not. The Aussie had a flat bottom with shorter fatter tentacles and the colors seemed lighter where the other one had a cone shaped bottom with longer thinner tentacles and more contrast in the colors. Can I use these observations for future purchase and look for a flat bottomed elegance vs a cone bottom elegance?

 

bump

 

usually, Aussie ones look like they have been fragged. That is one good sign that they are aussie. They get much bigger there so they are fragged before sale.

 

thanks for the advice.

ANybody else have any experience with these?

 

There is definitely a lot of debate. Some evidence it is a disease, as it seems to be transmittable through water, to previously unaffected specimens, when a new one is added. Eric Borneman did some research, although never identified an exact pathogen. Some people still think it is too much light and such, but I tend to believe that it is a pathogen. If it survives for a month or so, usually they are pretty easy. Aussie ones seem to be a bit safer.

The Elegance Coral Project by Eric Borneman - Reefkeeping.com

Elegance Corals: Sustainability and Disease Impacting Catalaphyllia jardinei (Wells 1971) in the Aquarium Trade by Eric Borneman - Reefkeeping.com