FROGSPAWN CORAL CARE OVERVIEW

• LIGHT: MODERATE (100-150 par) is what we find best although this coral seems fairly adaptable. It is important to keep in mind that it is far easier to damage coral with too much lighting so in our opinion when it comes to lighting, less is often more for LPS corals. You can learn more about Lighting and it's overall impact on your reef tank in our article Lighting and your Reef Tank

• FOOD: We haven't noticed that any specific feeding strategy is required for frogspawn corals but they would likely benefit from occasional spot feeding. Like most corals they capture nutrients from the water and will do best when supplied a healthy amount of food. Our method is high import, high export. You can learn more about Feeding and Filtration in our article Feeding, Filtration and your Reef Tank.

• FLOW: MODERATE. Frogspawn corals benefit from moderate indirect water movement which will be enough to keep the coral clean of any detritus while also causing it's polyps to extend, inflate, and continuously sway back and forth in the water column. Too much flow, especially direct flow, can cause Frogspawn corals to retract and even cause damage to the coral's tissue or an inability to capture food. You can read more about Flow and its overall impact on your reef tank in our article Flow and your Reef Tank

• DIFFICULTY: ADVANCED. Frogspawn corals are really not available in aquaculture varieties due to long term success with keeping them in captivity, their overall slow growth nature, and their susceptibility to coral diseases and infection. Frogspawn corals are one of the most susceptible to infection and disease. Infection will often present itself as brown jelly disease and can be treated if caught very early with antibiotics such as Ciprofloxacin, Amoxycyllin, Chemiclean, Lugol's iodine or a combination of these which would ideally be dosed into a separate tank as treatments of antibiotics into the main display are not advised. Like with all corals, specimens have been seen to do well in captivity when the right combination of Food/Light/Flow and Filtration are achieved. 

• PRICE: MODERATE-HIGH. Frogspawn corals are among the most expensive in the hobby due to combination of factors. Desirability, coloration, movement are some of the reasons that these are such sought after corals. Because they are very slow growers, not available in aquaculture and difficult to keep alive over the long term (years) they tend to be even higher in price.

• COLLECTION ZONE: Indo-Pacific

• SCIENTIFIC NAME: Euphyllia divisa (reclassified in 2017 as Fimbriaphyllia divisa), commonly known as frogspawn coral, is a large-polyped stony coral native to the Indo-Pacific islands.
  

• AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE. Frogspawn corals can be very aggressive and deploy long sweeper tentacles that will sting nearby neighbors. Although they can be kept closely together with their own species, we do not recommend keeping them close to Torches. We recommend providing at least 3-4" space from other types of coral species but as always you should monitor it.

• NATURAL TEMPERATURE: 82 °F / 28 °C  although most corals can adapt and survive in temps as low as 77 degrees and as high as 84 degrees. You can read more about temperature and how it affects your reef tank in our article Temperature and your Reef Tank.

• PH: Recommend 8.0-8.4, we tend to run around 8.2-8.3 over 24 hours. You can read more about pH in our article pH and your Reef Tank

• NITRATE: 5-10, try to keep stable. You can read more about nitrate and our approach to maintaining it in our article Nutrients and your Reef Tank

• PHOSPHATE: 0.05-0.1, try to keep stable. You can read more about Phosphate and our approach to maintaining it in our article Nutrients and your Reef Tank

• ALKALINITY: Recommend 8-9 dKh. You can read more about how we maintain our alkalinity in our article Alkalinity, Calcium and your Reef Tank

• CALCIUM: Recommend 400-450. You can read more about how we maintain our calcium in our article Alkalinity, Calcium and your Reef Tank
  

More About Frogspawn Corals

Frogspawn corals are classified as large polyp stony corals (LPS). These corals are a popular and commonly kept species in many marine tanks. Fimbriaphyllia divisa (formerly Euphyllia divisa) corals have a corallite skeleton with a "wall" structure. Fimbriaphyllia paradivisa corals (Branching Frogspawn) have a tree-like branching structure with separate corallites or "heads." Both have polyps covered in the circular knobs that make Frogspawn identifiable. Frogspawn corals appear in shades of green, tan, and pink with contrasting tentacle knobs in pink, lavender, white, or cream. Overall, the appearance is reminiscent of amphibian eggs.

When placing your Frogspawn coral, moderation is the key. Frogspawn corals prefer moderate light. Lighting that is too bright can quickly lead to bleaching, while lighting that is too low can cause starvation. We recommend 100-125 PAR. Bear in mind that many corals can be gradually acclimated to lighting beyond their normal range.  Frogspawn corals also require moderate waterflow. Currents that are too high can damage their polyps, while currents that are too low aren't acceptable for harvesting resources.

Through their symbiotic relationship with a photosynthetic algae, known as zooxanthellae, they receive many of their nutrients. Frogspawn corals benefit from targeted feeding with meaty foods such as brine shrimp or krill. 

When introducing a new Frogspawn coral into your reef tank, please know that these corals can be pretty aggressive and have a bit of reach advantage. They have sweeper tentacles that will sting neighboring corals.  These sweeper tentacles, ranging in length from 2-10 inches) usually make their appearance at night. The good news is that most Fimbriaphyllia typically get along well together. Consider placing your Fimbriaphyllia corals in the same area of your reef tank to allow for different types of corals to inhabit other spaces.