Hydrocoral
- Thread starter LtPiper
- Start date
phljess
New member
Common Name is Fire Coral, Lace Coral, and Stinging Coral
When I was in Belize, they warned us not to touch them because they have toxins that will cause a painful chemical burn on the skin.
Besides this, hydrocorals are reef building corals but are different than other SPS corals because their polyps are within the coral.
There are different types of hydrocorals, some of them are branching, some encrust, and some plate. They can also encrust other living corals.
They are found worldwide. Live in areas of high water flow and live between sea level to 130 ft. deep. They are one of the first corals to colonize reefs and one of the last types of corals to die on a reef, they are very adaptive. They are photosynthetic and are usually yellow in color.
From Eric Borneman's "Aquarium Corals"
IMO the best book I have read on corals. Very informative and a must for someone who really wants to understand what it takes to keep coral alive and thriving.
Hope this helps.
When I was in Belize, they warned us not to touch them because they have toxins that will cause a painful chemical burn on the skin.
Besides this, hydrocorals are reef building corals but are different than other SPS corals because their polyps are within the coral.
There are different types of hydrocorals, some of them are branching, some encrust, and some plate. They can also encrust other living corals.
They are found worldwide. Live in areas of high water flow and live between sea level to 130 ft. deep. They are one of the first corals to colonize reefs and one of the last types of corals to die on a reef, they are very adaptive. They are photosynthetic and are usually yellow in color.
From Eric Borneman's "Aquarium Corals"
IMO the best book I have read on corals. Very informative and a must for someone who really wants to understand what it takes to keep coral alive and thriving.
Hope this helps.
LtPiper
Active member
Interesting this is what I found:
Seldom available, Distichopora Coral resembles SPS Corals, but it is technically a Hydrocoral, and is more closely resembles "Fire coral" (Milepora) sp. These rare corals have a highly branching form and are non photosynthetic. They should be kept in dimply lit spots or in caves in the aquarium and provided with medium to strong water flow and offered supplemental feeding. They have (very) tiny clear polyps that may be visible at night. They are typically purple, occasionally orange in color.
Seldom available, Distichopora Coral resembles SPS Corals, but it is technically a Hydrocoral, and is more closely resembles "Fire coral" (Milepora) sp. These rare corals have a highly branching form and are non photosynthetic. They should be kept in dimply lit spots or in caves in the aquarium and provided with medium to strong water flow and offered supplemental feeding. They have (very) tiny clear polyps that may be visible at night. They are typically purple, occasionally orange in color.
phljess
New member
Sorry, LT I thought you were wanting to know more about Hydrocorals in general. Here is what I see about the family of hydrocorals I believe you are asking about. The family Stylasteridae has three subfamilies: Stylasterinae, Errininae, and Distichoporinae. Most are tropical, they are found throughout the world. Some live in deep waters. They are usually not available for aquarium trade. It also looks like some of them are temperate corals and are better suited to be kept in cool water aquariums. I do not see any information that indicates if they are photosynthetic or not.
Again, I used Eric Borneman's book "Aquarium Corals" as reference for this information.
Again, I used Eric Borneman's book "Aquarium Corals" as reference for this information.
fishmon
New member
My wife and I saw lots of different colonies of hydro's in the virgin islands. They were anywhere from full light to under full shaded overhangs on boulders and yes there stings hurt, like being burnt. I was not paying attention to my surroundings and a wave sent me chest first into a colony, after about 2 minutes I was burnin' up. They aren't photosynthetic either, as stated. Cool coral IMO
odoprelude
New member
sound interesting, anyone have any pics?
