Dendros, Duncans, & Sun Corals

I love Dendros (Dendrophyllia), Duncans (Duncanopsammia axifuga) & Sun corals (Tubastrea). These LPS are so colorful and add alittle movement to my tank. They all readily eat mysis shrimp and cyclopeeze. These corals vary greatly in price. If you had $50, you could get 1-2 heads of Dendros, 4-5 heads of Duncans or a 20-40 heads of Sun coral.

For me, the Duncans have been very easy to keep. I don’t necessarily feed them, but if I do, they seem to sprout new heads all of the time. I believe they are also photosynthetic, so they do require some medium density lighting (don’t quote me on that!). I started with about 5 heads and now count over 30.

Original frag, 5 heads.

Old picture in the frag tank. Currently about double the size from this picture. Definitely a center piece in my display right now.

The Dendros are also easy, but I make sure they get feed often. These corals also sprout heads all the time, but grow much slower than the Duncans. I’m not sure if they’re photosynthetic, but they do stay open when the lights are on.

Large polyp Dendro feeding on mysis. Started with a one polyp frag.

Another different type of Dendro.

The Sun corals are the most difficult to take care of because they are not photosynthetic. They only open up when the lights go out. Some people have trained they to open during the day, but it’s not worked for me. They need to be fed all of the time. The pictures below are from a while back. I wasn’t keeping up w/ feeding them all of the time and decided to trade then in at the LFS. As beautiful as they are, feeding all those heads individually is a pain in the butt!

Beautiful, health Sun coral. When the tissue is connected between the heads, they may share nutrients. Otherwise, feed each head individually!