Reefkeepers Archive
2500 Club Member
Hello. Over the last month I have been keeping a wild caught lobophyllia in my system, over that time I have learned quite a bit on the captive care of wild caught specimens of the species. Wild caught lobophyllia are known to be more sensitive, and often come infested with parasites that could end up killing the head or the entire colony. That being said, while they can be challenging, they are incredibly rewarding as wild caught colonies often come in larger and can sometimes have more unique and uncommon coloration that isn't seen often in aquacultured specimens. If you do decide to try and keep wild lobophyllia, there are some key things to look for when buying them, and certain things I've found to do well for my colony of lobophyllia. First thing to look for is during purchase. Whether it be online or at your LFS there are key things to look for. The most common being burrowing clams. Often seen as growths on the polyp or small holes, burrowing clams can be a death sentence to lobophyllia. Though thankfully they are quite easy to spot.
Circled in red are some instances of burrowing clams, they can irritate and sometimes end up burrowing through the stomach cavity of these corals, which ends up killing them. I'd recommend avoiding such specimens, though it isn't impossible to keep them alive once they have burrowing clams, the lobophyllia I have been keeping used to have a burrowing clam, though it was removed when the colony was separated off the rock/larger colony, which brings us to the second thing to look for. If you flip over the Colony, you can see where it has been fragged using a band saw, if there are large, circular holes in the base of the coral, that that piece used to have burrowing clams, ive found caring for them is much easier once the clams are removed, and as long as it hasn't destroyed the stomach cavity, then that coral can recover. The other pest to look out for are gall crabs, thankfully I haven't encountered one on my colony or the ones at my LFS, though they can be found by irregular, small holes on the base of the skeleton or seen poking out of the flesh, these crabs are parasites which will eat your coral, so it's important to remove them once you see them. Another obvious sign to look for is recession or white skeleton, if the coral gets irritated enough then it's skeleton can puncture its own flesh and stick out, again, I try to avoid such specimens, though as far as I know a lobo can recover from such damage
An instance of the rim skeleton poking through the polyp.
A very healthy lobo, this is something that you should buy.
Now that you have got your lobo, the next steps are also very important, and if I need to say this, ALWAYS DIP WILD CORAL!
Be sure to be very careful when placing it, not bumping it against any glass or rock. I made this mistake and unfortunately I ended up damaging a small portion, which has since mostly recovered. As in where to put it, I've found mine to prefer low flow, enough flow for debris to be able to settle is how I indicate low flow. They also prefer lower lighting and need to be placed near the lower tank, and while they can be placed on rock, I prefer placing mine on the sandbed. And it's also important to keep your water parameters stable, as true with all sensitive coral.
While I am not sure if this next step has contributed to my success, I do nightly broadcast feeding of small, meaty foods. I use Hikari coral gumbo. Spot feedings aren't required as mine will catch food out of the water column and being photosynthetic corals, produce the majority of their foods through photosynthesis. After a month this is what my colony looks like, polyp extension and no recession are great signs that your lobo is happy in it's environment
I hope this was helpful for anyone interested in keeping wild caught lobophyllia, updates will be posted if necessary.
Thank you for reading.
Circled in red are some instances of burrowing clams, they can irritate and sometimes end up burrowing through the stomach cavity of these corals, which ends up killing them. I'd recommend avoiding such specimens, though it isn't impossible to keep them alive once they have burrowing clams, the lobophyllia I have been keeping used to have a burrowing clam, though it was removed when the colony was separated off the rock/larger colony, which brings us to the second thing to look for. If you flip over the Colony, you can see where it has been fragged using a band saw, if there are large, circular holes in the base of the coral, that that piece used to have burrowing clams, ive found caring for them is much easier once the clams are removed, and as long as it hasn't destroyed the stomach cavity, then that coral can recover. The other pest to look out for are gall crabs, thankfully I haven't encountered one on my colony or the ones at my LFS, though they can be found by irregular, small holes on the base of the skeleton or seen poking out of the flesh, these crabs are parasites which will eat your coral, so it's important to remove them once you see them. Another obvious sign to look for is recession or white skeleton, if the coral gets irritated enough then it's skeleton can puncture its own flesh and stick out, again, I try to avoid such specimens, though as far as I know a lobo can recover from such damage
An instance of the rim skeleton poking through the polyp.
A very healthy lobo, this is something that you should buy.
Now that you have got your lobo, the next steps are also very important, and if I need to say this, ALWAYS DIP WILD CORAL!
Be sure to be very careful when placing it, not bumping it against any glass or rock. I made this mistake and unfortunately I ended up damaging a small portion, which has since mostly recovered. As in where to put it, I've found mine to prefer low flow, enough flow for debris to be able to settle is how I indicate low flow. They also prefer lower lighting and need to be placed near the lower tank, and while they can be placed on rock, I prefer placing mine on the sandbed. And it's also important to keep your water parameters stable, as true with all sensitive coral.
While I am not sure if this next step has contributed to my success, I do nightly broadcast feeding of small, meaty foods. I use Hikari coral gumbo. Spot feedings aren't required as mine will catch food out of the water column and being photosynthetic corals, produce the majority of their foods through photosynthesis. After a month this is what my colony looks like, polyp extension and no recession are great signs that your lobo is happy in it's environment
I hope this was helpful for anyone interested in keeping wild caught lobophyllia, updates will be posted if necessary.
Thank you for reading.
