coral of the week { Catalaphyllia } elagance

[shred5]

Week #23 coral of the week { Catalaphyllia } common name elagance coral. This coral is pictured on page 69 of the book the Corals a quick reference guide by Julian Sprung .

Every week I will post a new coral and I want you to post everything you know about this particular coral. Everything from common names, how hardy they are, water temp, water flow, lighting, water parameters, fraging, spawning, related corals, scientific names, feeding, best ways to ship, etc. Post your pictures for identification. Please tell us about your system so others can duplicate your success. Also email me for request on which corals you would like to see in this section.

Dave Polzin

[Fishwife]

Ahhhh, this is one of my favorites. I have an Elegance which is taking over the tank - definitely one of the major reasons I need to upgrade. I have heard a lot of people over the past year or so who haven't been having much luck with them - probably due to collection and shipping methods. This is a shame because they are IMO one of the most beautiful corals available.

I have my Elegance high in the tank, with its foot wedged in between some rocks. Its polyps opens back over the top of the reef and down the front of it. When fully opened it is about 14" X 8" It is under 2X250W Iwasakis plus 2X40W NO actinics. It gets almost constant flow from 3 MJ powerheads on a wavemaker; a 1200 and 2X900s. It doesn't get whipped around but there is pretty brisk movement.

I do not feed it directly. I have tried many times but it doesn't take any food I have offered. It has dozens of mouths all up and down the polyps and when there is suspended food in the water, either something I have added, or fish poop, the mouths are open. I feed the tank heavily once a day making sure there is lots of juice as well as chunk food going in. It is obviously getting what it needs because it has more than doubled in size in the past year and a half.

I have a heavily stocked 75 gal tank with 2X250 6500K MHs and 2X40W actinics. I have a Berlin HOT skimmer and about 17X turnover rate. I run a small amount of carbon 24/7.

I have found this to be a very tough coral. It has taken numerous falls and even had a cut in part of its polyp one time. It recovers quickly and returns to normal. It doesn't seem to mind being moved a little either. It has always adapted.

One thing I have to add to anyone who is considering purchasing one of these beauties. Be very careful handling it and working around it once it is in the tank. It can pack quite a wallop if it stings you. My right arm will forever bear the scars of my encounter with my Elegance.

Great coral when you are lucky enough to find a healthy one! I hope the quality improves so more people have success keeping them.

You can see a pic of my Elegance on my website at http://www.TheFishwifeReef.homestead.com It's not a very good shot but you can get an idea.


Laurie

[cloak]

I bought two from my LFS 2+ months ago and so far so good.
Both of them have been placed on their sides and are resting on the sand in an area of very slow flow. One of them does get a little more flow than the other but I've noticed the one in the extremely slow area is considerably larger. They are in a 60 gallon breeder with a 4" sandbed and 440 watts VHO. The tanks been up for a little over a year now. Once every 7-12 days I will feed them small portions of prime reef or krill. They also seem to grab onto brine shrimp, flakes etc and I dose DT's maybe twice a week.
Probably my favorite coral in the tank.