Elegance Coral

Catalaphyllia jardinei

Care Level	Moderate
Lighting	Low to moderate
Water Flow	Low to moderate
Placement	Sand bed
Aggression	Aggressive — stinging tentacles
Coloration	Green/purple tentacles with striped oral disc

Overview

The Elegance Coral is a spectacular free-living LPS with long, flowing, neon-tipped tentacles surrounding a striped oral disc. A stunning centerpiece, it sits on the sand and sways in the current. Once considered difficult, modern (often aquacultured or Australian) specimens are much hardier.

Care & Placement

Place on a SAND BED (not rock) under low-to-moderate light and gentle-to-moderate flow so the tentacles flow freely. Give it plenty of open space — its long tentacles sting anything they reach. Australian/aquacultured specimens are far more reliable than older Indonesian ones.

Feeding

Photosynthetic and a strong feeder — target-feed meaty foods (mysis, chopped silversides, shrimp) once or twice a week; it captures food readily with its tentacles.

Propagation

Not typically fragged — kept as a whole specimen.

Cautions

AGGRESSIVE — its long tentacles pack a powerful sting; keep it well away from other corals and note it can also sting your hands. Choose healthy, fully-expanded, ideally aquacultured/Australian specimens; avoid ones with receding or “jelly” tissue.