Mushroom coral

Care at a glance

Mushroom corals are the most forgiving corals you can put in a reef tank. They are not really corals but disc anemones, and it shows: they have no skeleton, need barely any calcium or alkalinity, and thrive precisely where other corals struggle — low in the rock, in the shade and out of strong flow.

That makes them ideal for a young tank where the parameters still swing, and for those lower corners that otherwise stay empty. If a mushroom is happy it will split itself and you end up with a colony for free. If it curls up tight or detaches, there is almost always too much light or too much flow.

Related species

• Leather coralSarcophyton sp.
• Blue sympodiumSympodium sp.
• Encrusting gorgonianErythropodium caribaeorum
• Pulsing xeniaXenia sp.
• Blue xenia (cespitularia)Cespitularia sp.
• Green star polypsPachyclavularia violacea