Trachyphyllia

Trachyphyllia are spectacular sand-dwelling brain corals that should always be placed directly on the sand bed — never on rockwork, as their delicate tissue can be damaged by rough surfaces. Provide moderate PAR (75–150 PAR) and very gentle flow. These corals inflate their tissue enormously during the day, sometimes doubling or tripling the apparent size of the skeleton, and strong current prevents this natural behaviour.

Keep parameters stable: alkalinity 7.5–9.0 dKH, calcium 400–450 ppm, magnesium 1300–1400 ppm, and temperature 25–26 °C. Trachyphyllia are voracious feeders and one of the most rewarding LPS corals to target feed. Offer meaty foods like mysis, chopped prawn, or pellets once or twice weekly — watching a Trachyphyllia engulf food is one of the great pleasures of reef keeping. The folded morphotype formerly sold as Wellsophyllia is now recognised as the same species and requires identical care.

Australian specimens are widely available and tend to display outstanding colour variety, from deep reds and greens to multi-coloured rainbow morphs. Trachyphyllia are solitary corals and cannot be fragged in the traditional sense, so each piece is a complete individual. They can extend sweeper tentacles at night, so leave some clearance on the sand bed. During summer heat events, ensure your cooling system is reliable — Trachyphyllia can suffer tissue recession if temperatures spike above 28 °C.