The Torch coral is a Euphyllia. It sways gently with the current of your tank and adds a pop of colour and movement to your aquarium. They have a hard calcified base and long branching soft polyps that are available in a good variety of colours.
These are slow growing, aggressive corals, and care should be taken when placing them in your tank. They have sweeper tentacles that will come out at night to feed and create warfare with neighbouring corals, these will harm other corals. They can be placed with other torches, but they should not be placed with any other corals, this includes other members of the Euphylliidae family such as Hammer Corals and Frogspawn Corals.
Though most Euphyllia require low to moderate flow to thrive, the torch coral seems to prefer slightly higher flow, though not too high as their large fleshy polyps are prone to ripping in high flow environments. You may find you have to re-arrange your powerheads to ensure you have optimum flow for these corals.
Coral Facts & Care Requirements
- Common Name: Torch coral
- Family: Euphylliidae
- Origin: Australia
- Category: LPS
- Care Level: Intermediate
- Known Predators: Flat worms
- Temperament: Very Aggressive
- Lighting: Medium
- Water flow: Medium – High
- Placement: Middle – Bottom
- Feeding Requirement: None, but they can eat meaty foods so feeding should be encouraged
- Colours: Purple, Yellow, Green, Gold
- Growth Speed: Slow – Medium
- Water Parameters: Standard saltwater parameters should see this coral thrive, though you should ensure you have a calcium reading of around 400ppm to ensure there is enough calcium within the water to enable it to grow its calcified skeleton.
Disease & Pests
Care should be taken when adding these corals to your tanks. There is a particular flat worm that has a taste for these corals, ensure you dip your coral thoroughly and check visually before adding it to your tank.
Torches can be prone to bacterial infections. These infections can occur if one of the fleshy polyps is ripped, for this reason all handling of these corals should be done carefully and considerately. If a bacterial infection does occur, the polyps will start to retract and eventually turn brown/melt away leaving you with just an empty, calcified base.