Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: Acanthophyllia Temperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100 Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
Name: AcanthophylliaTemperature: 24-26C Flow: low-mid PAR: 50-100Water parameters: Nitrate 5-10 mg/l, Phosphate 0,05-0,08 mg/l Feeding: They are adept feeders that can grab and consume a wide variety of foods ranging from coral-formulated sinking pellets to frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis, and krill. Care level: Easy
Location
Acanthophyllia are found throughout Indonesia and Australia. The specimens from Australia are predominantly that greenish blue mint-chocolate chip appearance. The specimens from Indonesia are mostly red and blue, but there are rare color variants that are all the colors of the rainbow. Those are the most desirable.
Lighting
We primarily keep Acanthophyllia in low to medium light intensity here at Wild Corals which is around 50 to 100 PAR. We have kept them in higher lighting but they did not appear to appreciate it and were always at risk of bleaching out. If you have a colony of Acanthophyllia and want to experiment with higher light, remember that it can be a risk, so be prepared to move it into a shadier region of the tank at the first signs of trouble.
As for placement, almost every tank I see these corals in keeps them at the bottom of the tank regardless of whether it has a substrate or bare bottom. They settle in nicely down there are when they are happy will extend nicely and take on that Chili’s lava cake appearance. I suppose there isn’t a good reason that they couldn’t be put up on a rock scape, but it is much less common. Perhaps the thinking is that higher up on the rock scape would expose the coral to more light and more flow which might not be the best combination for this coral.
One other thing about placement to consider is to consider how much it will spread out once it settles into your reef tank. Acanthophyllia do not grow fast AT ALL, but they can swell many times larger than their skeleton so you want to avoid a situation where this coral reaches out and covers its neighbors.
Water Flow
Let’s move on to water flow. We touched on it briefly in regards to placement, but I would prioritize finding an ideal location with regard to flow more so than lighting. Being such a fleshy coral you don’t want to give it too much flow to the point that the skeleton starts to poke through the flesh. It can absolutely happen if the Acanthophyllia is getting hit continuously by a strong laminar flow.
As a general recommendation, I would keep an Acanthophyllia in a low to medium flow area and preferably one with variable flow patterns so one side of the coral doesn’t get hit constantly. Normally I would be concerned about a coral placed on the bottom collecting detritus, but that is more of an issue with small polyp stony corals or large polyp stony corals that grow into a bowl-like shape. Acanthophyllia don’t have any difficulty shrugging off detritus that settles on them so they can be kept in lower flow than most without issue.
The lower flow also makes it much easier to feed.
Feeding
If you enjoy spot feeding your corals, you are in for a treat. Acanthophyllia exhibit one of the most dramatic feeding displays when it opens up. They practically turn themselves inside out to completely transform into a giant seafood receptacle.
They can be fed a variety of foods, so I wouldn’t overthink it too much when selecting something to give them. LPS pellets or full sized krill would work fine. We’ve even fed them larger items like silversides in the past.
What is kind of strange is how Acanthophyllia reacts to different food. One behavior I’ve seen is that it reacts the most enthusiastically to really small planktonic foods especially frozen rotifers. The colony opens way up but it is hard to tell if it is actually eating anything. I have a feeling that they are taking it in through their mucus coat it is just that their tentacles are not engaged in prey capture during that time.
