Orange Fungia

[bigevill1]

doing a minor store tour in my area today I saw an orange fungia not too big maybe 3 inches across. I had never seen one before and it looked nice but I held off cause $60 seemed kinda steep for something that small. The next store I went to had one the same size and it was $40 I figured it was a sign so I took it home with me. now I am just alittle curious as to any special care it might need. Do I need to blast any sand off it that might get on top of it all of the time or does it have the ability to rid itself of such things? Also is it aggressive to other corals? Can its feeders reach out far at all? It sure doesnt look like it, but this is my first fungia.....

 

[Jacob D]

Fungias can wander around. I wouldn't call them aggressive but the sting is powerful. If it happens to wander into something on your sandbed it can cause, or be damaged.

 

[bigevill1]

hhmmm, did not know they could move. What about sand on them?

 

[Jacob D]

Not sure about the sand question. I have a sandsifting goby and never noticed any of them to have sand on them. They do like a lot of light and/or to be fed.

 

[slukach]

I got one about 2 weeks ago and it is one of my favorite pieces (who am I kidding, they are all my favorite pieces). It is neon orange and it is about 2-3 inches. I paid $55.

The coolest thing is feeding them. Just dropping a few chunks of food (I use "Formula A" frozen food...triangle shaped and kind of a mix of different meaty things...krill, clam, squid, etc.) on the edge of the fungia and watching all the little tentacles move the food to the middle and the mouth opens up and chows down.

Haven't had it move much. There are some fungia that are so-called "mobile" fungia. But my guy stays put for the most part. About all the moving he does is food to his mouth...and puffing himself up with water. Definitely a cool species for sure.

as for sand on it...the only thing I would worry about is it moving the sand to its mouth and eating it. And always remember to keep it on the sand. The LFS had it on a rock for a few days and it threw itself off of the rock twice. But now the little sucker is thriving.

Good luck with him, they are super cool.

 

[bigevill1]

cool good to know. I will try to feed it tomorrow.

 

[wantsalotta]

They will mucus up when they get sand on them. The mucus sticks to the sand, and the sand is carried off by the current when it grabs the mucus. Fungia will win a stinging contest with any other coral, they have a very high concentration of nemaocysts. If it is not a Long Tenticle, it doesn't have much in the way off feeders except the small ones you see covering its body. They will feed readily, as stated above.

HTH
Brian

 

[bigevill1]

I saw it grab some flake food that landed on it tonight. It only has small tenticles. The only other coral on the sand bed is a large green brain at least 10 times as big as the fungia.

 

[RokleM]

My orange fungia has moved about 1/2" in the couple of months I've had it. Feeding it is indeed interesting. I've blasted a dozen or so mysis on it, and it'll slowly shuffle the food to it's mouth. It's pretty funny to see a flat disk with a huge puffy section in the middle because it just had a huge dinner Most of the time I just let it catch one or two that float by during normal fish feeding.

 

[chrisstie]

They move I think by inflating themselves with water and deflating at target locations to kind of slough along. By inflating it should also help to remove sand.

Might get annoyed if you have a sand sifting type goby that decides it wants to just dump sand only on your coral hehe