Diploria Labyrinthiformis? Seeking to buy and care advice!

[MantisShrimpMan]

Diploria Labyrinthiformis, aka grooved brain coral, is one of my absolute favorite corals! Seeing it while diving always puts a smile on my face. I’m setting up a reef tank and if I could have this in my tank, it would absolutely put a smile on my face every day.

now to cover the most obvious question- I’ve done the research and you can in fact procure Diploria legally. Since it is not endangered or threatened, while you can’t just go find some in a marine park and cut a chunk of it off, it’s perfectly fine to get it on live rock or through any source that is not harvesting it from US reefs. So- people who already have it in their tanks can frag it!

does anybody have Diploria Labyrinthiformis? I’d love to buy some, and moreover, if anyone can share their experience with the husbandry it requires, I’d really appreciate hearing that too.

 

[encrustingacro]

It is illegal for Diploria, along with all other atlantic stony corals, to be collected or sold. The only way you could really get it is if it is growing on some live rock, which the only corals that I have seen growing on Florida live rock are Manicina and those apo/azooxanthellate corals.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

It is illegal for Diploria, along with all other atlantic stony corals, to be collected or sold. The only way you could really get it is if it is growing on some live rock, which the only corals that I have seen growing on Florida live rock are Manicina and those apo/azooxanthellate corals.

I’m pretty sure you an I are on the same page?

In the United States, I can’t go collect a chunk of Atlantic stony coral. But- live rock is okay. So is selling a coral that was already growing in your tank. So, if you had Diploria from live rock, you could frag it and sell said frags. Also- while most places in the Caribbean don’t allow you to harvest coral off local reefs, if coral were to be harvested outside the US in a location that allowed it, it should be fine to import into the US. Just so long as it’s not affecting our own reefs.

 

[encrustingacro]

I’m pretty sure you an I are on the same page?

In the United States, I can’t go collect a chunk of Atlantic stony coral. But- live rock is okay. So is selling a coral that was already growing in your tank. So, if you had Diploria from live rock, you could frag it and sell said frags. Also- while most places in the Caribbean don’t allow you to harvest coral off local reefs, if coral were to be harvested outside the US in a location that allowed it, it should be fine to import into the US. Just so long as it’s not affecting our own reefs.

In order to collect/import/export any coral, you have to have CITES permits, and currently, there are no CITES permits for Atlantic stony corals.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

In order to collect/import/export any coral, you have to have CITES permits, and currently, there are no CITES permits for Atlantic stony corals.

But Diploria Labyrinthiformis is not on the list of threatened and endangered species

 

[encrustingacro]

But Diploria Labyrinthiformis is not on the list of threatened and endangered species

Well then, I don’t really know. You should probably check with the authorities before trying to get your hands on any Atlantic stony coral. Still, I’m pretty sure most, if not all places in the Atlantic with coral reefs have banned the collection of their stony corals. As for the live rock hitchhiker thing, it would be probably unlikely for you to get a diploria on a piece of live rock.