Chili coral (non-photosynthetic)

Care at a glance

The chili coral is bright red with white polyps and belongs to the non-photosynthetic soft corals: it has no symbiotic algae and therefore lives entirely on food from the water. By day it hangs on the rock as a retracted, red-brown lump.

Only at night or when fed does it swell up and the polyps appear. So it needs no light but plenty of fine plankton or filter feed and a shaded spot with good flow; without deliberate feeding it lasts only a few months.

Good to know

• Hard to wean onto dry food
• Filter feeder — needs fine suspended food
• Active at night

Related species

• Blue ridge coralHeliopora coerulea
• Carnation coral (non-photosynthetic)Dendronephthya sp.
• Bowerbanki coralHomophyllia bowerbanki
• Rhodactis mushroomRhodactis sp.
• Pectinia coralPectinia sp.
• Meat coral (symphyllia)Symphyllia sp.