The corals in this family tend to be tree shaped with non retractable polyps. These corals are said to be arborescent because they are often shaped like small trees. This group of corals include some of most brightly colored soft corals. Many of these corals have been very difficult to maintain in captivity, but we're learning to domesticate and propagate many of these beautiful corals. GARF has been researching the possibilities of commercially propagating many of the species in this group.
This page will start by listing each of the genus that we are working with in this family. The corals will be listed with the corals that we consider the easiest to keep first.
Family Nephtheidae
Capnella
Nephthea
Neospogodes
Scleronephthya
Dendronephthya
| This aquarium was built in 1986, and it has a 40 gal. display tank above the nine chamber flow through filter. Our fellow researcher John McCleod made a pair of these aquariums after reading the original articles about mini reef filtration in a 1986 Fresh Water and Marine Aquarium magazine. These two aquariums have operated continuously since 1986. These aquariums were built by sandwiching the glass chambers between two 5 ft. by 2ft. pieces of one quarter inch tempered glass the water from the top chamber flows down one side of the aquarium in a 1 in. wide space that leads to the lower chambers. Each of these nine chambers can be individually agitated to release the detritus that is accumulated there into the water column. This detritus is then pumped into the show tank by two Maxi- Jet 1200 power heads.
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| Neospogodes
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This beautiful coral is often sold as Lemnalia, but if you are lucky enough to receive a Neospogodes you'll be able to see the wonderful difference. When we first received these corals they reminded me of an unlikely cross between cactus and a Sinularia. These beautiful corals are not as hardy as Capnella or Nephthea. Because Neospogodes are photosynthetic they should be placed in moderately strong light. The predatory coral tank that we are discussing in this issue has won 55 W power compact light. Like many of the other predatory corals Neospogodes thrives in strong water movement. Because many of these coral seem to do best when the water flow changes we have positioned two maxi jet 1200 power heads in opposite corners. The to power heads in the sump deliver a strong to the back lefthand corner of the aquarium. The power head in the front left hand corner of the aquarium directs a strong current along the upper front glass. This power head is on an Intermattic lamp timer that is set to turn the power heads off and on every thirty minutes. The power heads in the back right hand corner is on the lamp timer. This power head is on for twelve hours while the light is on. Neospogodes is very easy to propagate from cuttings. Prominent sclerites make it very easy to super glue the cuttings. These cuttings seem to do best when they are placed with a tip pointing slightly down. We now have several colors of Neospogodes including yellow, purple, and pink. |
| Dendronephthya These corals are some of the most beautiful soft corals in the world. Dendronephthya are soft branches corals that are brightly colored and they have prominent spicules that are often of a contrasting color.there are many beautiful colors available in shades of pink, red, purple, yellow, orange, or combinations of these colors. One of the most important things that these predatory corals need is a very strong water current. Today we received several new Dendronephthya and we have placed them in a plastic tank that is 24 in. square and 12 in. tall. This tank will be connected in a system the tank that we're talking about in this story. We will use three maxi jet 1200 power heads in this new tank. Water is pumped from a 48 by 24 in. tank that is 8 in. tall. One of these power heads will be on constantly. One of these power heads will be on for thirty minutes and off for thirty minutes, and the third power head will be on when the lights are on. The power head that returns the water from the 48 in. will be on twenty-four hours a day. The power that is on for thirty minutes will be directed in a clockwise flow. The other power heads will all be directed in a counterclockwise flow.
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 | During the next two semesters we will be researching different ways of feed the non photosynthetic corals. In order to mass produce Dendronephthya in captivity it will be important to find acceptable substitute diets that can be manufactured in bulk. There several new products available that contain concentrated phytoplankton that can be kept in the freezer. During the next year we will be reporting on our research and we will share with you any information that we are able to discover about what other people are doing to produce non photosynthetic predatory corals in captivity. Many of these corals grow under ledges where they naturally hang down into strong water currents. Aragocrete Arches and long thin Tonga branches made from the Aragocrete allow us to build structures with many places to glue these corals. This beautiful purple and white Dendronephthya was sent to us by one of our readers. The fact that she sent this to GARF to take care of because she thought that we could provide it proper environment for it is quite a compliment. We will be posting pictures of this long white soft coral along with pictures of than other Dendronephthya that she sent us. |
| This close-up photograph shows the conspicuous white spicules that are embedded in the body and polyps of these corals. We are very interested in any information that you may have about non photosynthetic predatory corals that you have kept in the past. Please e-mail us if you have any information about successes or failures with corals that are available in the aquarium hobby. This morning was very exciting because I was able to unpack the box of corals that came from the farm in the Solomon Islands. Included in this mixture of soft corals work too brilliant yellow Scleronephthya. One of these corals is a bright lemon yellow with red polyps. The other coral is also Scleronephthya that has beautiful peach colored polyps on a bright yellow stalk. Thank you so much for taking the time to read about these corals. We will be posting many new pages in the next few months about the new research that we are doing here at GARF. | Dendronephthya |
FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS WE HAVE WORKED VERY HARD TO PURCHASE, TRADE, AND SAVE AS MANY TYPES OF CORALS AS WE CAN.
We are having a special on all of the coral cuttings. WHEN YOU PURCHASE 5 AT THE REGULAR PRICE OF $100 WE WILL GIVE YOU TWO FREE CORALS!. We will continue to provide the most current data on reef farming for both education and profit.
