A74 - Echinophyllia

Chalice:

Quick Stats:

-          Lighting: Low to Medium

-          Flow:  Low to Medium

-          Placement: Bottom to Middle

-          Feeding: Photosynthetic but do accept foods

-          Aggressiveness: Moderate

Characteristics: The name Chalice coral is an umbrella term for a variety of genera of corals including but not limited to: Echinophyllia, Echinopora, Lithophyllon and Oxypora. The most defining feature of these corals are the cup shapes that they typically form but not all of them form this shape, some encrust while others plate. The corals will typically have a bumpy or striated appearance with the mouths being raised.

Colour: Chalice corals come in a very wide variety of colours from blues and greens to reds and golds. They can all be one uniform colour but sometimes the mouths themselves are different colours with stark colour differences.

Lighting: Most corals under the Chalice umbrella prefer low to medium lighting around 50-100 PAR. Most have pretty consistent colouration but some fluoresce heavily under actinic lights.

Flow: Chalice corals appreciate low to medium flow. Enough flow to keep detritus and debris from settling in their cup shape but not too much that they get blown away.

Placement: They can be placed towards the bottom or middle of the tank on the rockwork or jutting out from the rockwork depending on their shape and growth pattern. Make sure to leave adequate space between them and other corals as their sweeper tentacles can be quite long.

Feeding: Chalices are photosynthetic and can survive without being fed. They can be fed but their feeding tentacles are quite short so it can be difficult for them to capture food without spot feeding and they can also be picky with food.