Coral of the Week- Euphyllia

[cheeks69]

Here's my collection although this was before a severe fragmentation







I wasn't allergic to anything until my Hammer decided to change that

[Cougra]

I've always liked the Euphyllia spp and would have loved to have one in with my softies but alas I didn't feel I had enough lighting at the time. They were the only Stoney corals that really drew me to them. Maybe someday in the distant future I'll start another reef tank with them in it but I'll enjoy my fish only tank for now.

How hard are they to frag? Do you need to have a saw to cut them or do people generally just brake a branch off the main colony?

Robert:
Thanks for posting that last picture! It's a very good reminder that our tanks do pose risks to us and that these corals have their own way of fighting back for survival!

[XBwlr]

Here's my Frogspawn.

[bluespotjawfish]

Though the photos are fun to look at, I'd also like more discussion about these guys. Anyone?

[XBwlr]

The way I got my frag was the guy just clipped it off with some bone cutters.

Mine still has the white "flesh" towards the bottom of the stalks so I can't frag mine yet. I read somewhere that it isn't a good idea to cut through the "flesh"... it opens the coral up to infections and such.

I've got another type of euphyllia (I haven't figured out which type yet) in my tank that is the same way... nice and bushy, but not big enough to frag.

[cheeks69]

How hard are they to frag? Do you need to have a saw to cut them or do people generally just brake a branch off the main colony?

The branching Euphyllias are very easy to frag just break off a branch the Euphyllia Ancora is much more difficult you'd have to cut with a Dremel-style rotary tool.

[aquaman3680]

The way I got my frag was the guy just clipped it off with some bone cutters.
Mine still has the white "flesh" towards the bottom of the stalks so I can't frag mine yet. I read somewhere that it isn't a good idea to cut through the "flesh"... it opens the coral up to infections and such.
I've got another type of euphyllia (I haven't figured out which type yet) in my tank that is the same way... nice and bushy, but not big enough to frag.

As cheeks said, the branching ones are very easy! Alot of times they create their own heads by splitting them and then you just break a piece off when the new head is big enough. But you should never mess with the skin when fragging as it can also lead to death of the frag!

Cheeks, I didn't realize euphyllia could do that to a person! I better be more careful!

Matt

[cheeks69]

My experience with them is they don't need strong lighting, PC's or VHO's will suffice and if you target feed them they will grow very quickly. I feed mine squid, scallop and shrimp. They are also the most aggressive coral I've kept and will wipe out anything in close proximity, even my RBTA is no match for them. They don't like strong flow and will rarely expand fully under those conditions, it can actually tear the flesh right from the skeleton especially with larger colonies.

[aquaman3680]

I have never seen mine eat! I don't know how to get them to... Although I have seen them take some cyclops-eeze.... You have any techniques or tricks that you do?

Matt

[cheeks69]

Originally Posted by aquaman3680

Cheeks, I didn't realize euphyllia could do that to a person! I better be more careful!

Matt

Yeah neither did I and let me tell ya it was PAINFUL !

[cheeks69]

Originally Posted by aquaman3680

I have never seen mine eat! I don't know how to get them to... Although I have seen them take some cyclops-eeze.... You have any techniques or tricks that you do?

Matt

I just placed the food on the tentacles and keep the fish away...you'd be shocked at how large the pieces of food I gave mine. My Frogspawn grew from 4 heads to well over 30 in just over a year. Now I just feed cyclop-eeze once a week since I'm moving more towards SPS corals.

[bluespotjawfish]

Ooo, I like! I just target feed the cyclopeeze and they like that very much. They also collect food when I feed the fish. You guys make me sad when you talk about fraggin, cause I wanted a showpiece and have yet to find a big enough frogspawn. So, I guess I'll just have to grow my own.

[Cougra]

Cheeks, it seems that they can be a fast growing species of coral!

How would they do in a smaller tank such as a nano or even a tank with 12" front to back room? Are they bettter suited for larger tanks because of the potential growth rates?

Can they be kept with softies, shrooms or zoanthids? How far should they be kept apart from other corals so their sweepers don't sting things?

[aquaman3680]

I think they could work in a little 12" front to back tank, you wouldn't be able to put much else in there though. have mine with softies, zoos and SPS and they really don't seem to have any chemical warfare at all... Most of my stuff is about 5-7 inches away from the coral just in case they want an extra long sweeper that night!

Matt

[bluespotjawfish]

If you have the smaller tank, you might want to have several varieties of these instead of trying to mixing with softies. They can be close to each other, so you would be able to have more in your tank. 5-7 inches apart in a 12" tank doesn't leave you much room to fit anything else in there. You could also put these high in the tank, and have everything else towards the bottom. Just a thought.