This Featured Coral comes to us from Joey Nichols at Joe Knows Reefs.

Common name: Fat Head Dendro

Scientific name: Dendrophyllia fistulata

Dendrophyllia fistulata is a non-photosynthetic coral which does not contain zooxanthellae in its tissue, thus having to derive all of its nutrition from organic matter.

Since they do not require sunlight for growth, these coral are normally found inside and along cave walls and overhangs. In the aquarium, this coral requires feedings of meaty foods such as brine shrimp and mysis shrimp at a frequency of 2-3x weekly.

Origin area: Indo Pacific

Care level: moderate due to requirement of frequent feedings. Unlike “sun coral” it can be easily trained to stay open pretty much all day.  These corals MORE