EuphylliaEuphyllia
Growing shouldn’t be a prob-
lem in most reef aquaria either,
as their care requirements are
no diff erent than any other
stony corals for the most part.
Water quality should be within
the limits of what is considered
appropriate for any other reef
aquarium, with the salinity best
being maintained at 34 to 36
ppt (specifi c gravity of 1.025 to
1.027) and the temperature op-
timally being kept somewhere
from 24 to 28 degrees Celsius.
The pH should be around 8.2
to 8.4, alkalinity should be
kept between 7 to 12dKH, and
calcium should optimally be
400 to 450ppm. Nitrate and
phosphate should also be kept
as low as possible, too. Nothing
out of the ordinary about any
of that.
They aren’t overly picky about
currents either, as it only needs
to be strong enough to keep
the tentacles moving about and
to keep detritus from settling
in between the branches of any
branching hammers. Turbulent
fl ow rather than a constant
stream from one direction is
best, though. Of course, as is
the case with any coral it is
possible to overdo it since a
current that’s too strong can
prevent the expansion of the
tentacles. That would defeat the
point of having either of these
corals, and will eventually lead
to health problems. Both of
these corals can also produce
sweeper tentacles (which are
covered shortly), and tend to do
so more often when currents
are strong. So, there’s more than
one reason to expose them to
moderate fl ow.
When it comes to lighting, you
can place either of these corals
under any type of reef-ready
fi xture. For smaller aquaria this
might be one that only holds a
couple of high-output fl uores-
cent tubes, as these species
can live under some of the
darkest conditions that corals
will survive under. In fact, I’ve
seen many specimens live and
grow, albeit very slowly, in the
typically dim corner areas ofmany tanks being lit with just
a few fl uorescent bulbs. On the
other hand, they’ll also be fi ne
in aquariums that have lights as
intense as the brightest metal
halides or LEDs, too. So, you
really can’t overdo it when it
comes to lighting, as long as a
specimen is given time to adapt
to such conditions. Any speci-
men may have been collected
from a rather dimly-lit area
around a reef, and could thus
be light-shocked if immediately
placed under lighting that’s
much brighter than what it’s
used to. Therefore, it’s a good
idea for you to put a specimen
very low in a brightly lit aquar-
ium or at the end of the tank,
to prevent this from happen-
ing. Over a period of a couple
of weeks you can then move
it into progressively brighter
areas, giving it time to adapt
to the new conditions if you
choose. An alternative method
could be to place the coral in its
fi nal position immediately, but
shade it from above somehow.
This avoids potential physical
damage from moving the coral
around.
On the subject of location,
when it comes to picking a fi nal
spot for a specimen it’s impor-
tant to remember that they do
have long tentacles and that
they’re going to grow. Again,
these corals pack a sting strong
enough to damage many other
corals, which means a specimen
shouldn’t be put too close to
anything else and should be
given plenty of space. Oddly
enough there’s a big exception
though, as they don’t sting
other corals of the same genus.
This means they can come in
contact with the often-off ered
E. divisa (frogspawn coral), E.
paradivisa (branching frog-
spawn coral), and E. glabrescens
(torch coral) without problems.
I’ve seen many of these placed
so close together that their
tentacles intertwined with each
other when expanded, which
looks very neat for sure.This branching hammer coral has its tentacles partially retracted, exposing its
typical phaeceloid skeleton that is branching in form.Above and below, typical examples of the branching hammer coral, E. parancora.
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