Species Profiles
2742 articles- Open Brain Coral Care GuideTrachyphyllia geoffroyi is a free-living LPS coral of soft-sediment reef slopes and lagoons; in aquaria it is kept on the sand bed and feeds
- Candy Cane Coral Care GuideCaulastraea furcata is a hardy, beginner-friendly LPS coral with rounded polyps on trumpet-shaped stalks, valued in reef aquaria for its ada
- Duncan Coral Care GuideDuncanopsammia axifuga is a large-polyp stony coral from Australia and the South China Sea, kept in reef aquaria for its disc-shaped polyps
- Cat's Paw Coral (Stylophora pistillata) Care GuideStylophora pistillata is a hardy branching SPS coral with blunt-tipped branches, photosynthetic and beginner-friendly, native to the Indo-Pa
- Verrucosa Pocillopora (Pocillopora verrucosa) Care GuidePocillopora verrucosa is a stout-branched SPS coral with prominent verrucae, common in shallow Indo-Pacific and Red Sea reefs and photosynth
- Antler Pocillopora (Pocillopora eydouxi) Care GuidePocillopora eydouxi is a robust antler-like branching SPS coral of shallow Indo-Pacific reefs, photosynthetic and suited to high-flow reef z
- Cauliflower Coral (Pocillopora damicornis) Care GuidePocillopora damicornis is a hardy branching SPS coral with verrucae-covered branches, photosynthetic and a classic beginner choice for reef
- Hispida Monti (Montipora hispida) Care GuideMontipora hispida is an encrusting/plating Indo-Pacific SPS coral, photosynthetic and grown under medium-high light with moderate flow in re
- Peltiformis Monti (Montipora peltiformis) Care GuideMontipora peltiformis is a hardy encrusting/plating Indo-Pacific SPS coral, photosynthetic and well suited as a beginner colony filler in re
- Foliosa Montipora (Montipora foliosa) Care GuideMontipora foliosa is a plating Indo-Pacific SPS coral that forms petal-like laminar layers, photosynthetic and grown under medium-high light
- Mexican Turbo Snail (Turbo fluctuosa) Care GuideTurbo fluctuosa is a large, cool-water turban snail from the eastern Pacific, prized for consuming large amounts of hair and film algae in r
- Atlantic Star Snail (Astraea phoebia) Care GuideAstraea phoebia, the spiny star astraea, is a Caribbean snail with star-shaped shell projections, kept as a grazer of hair algae, diatoms an
- Astraea Snail (Lithopoma tectum) Care GuideLithopoma tectum, the West Indian starsnail, is a cone-shaped Caribbean grazer popular for film algae and hair algae control in reef tanks.
- West Indian Top Shell (Cittarium pica) Care GuideCittarium pica is a large Caribbean top shell with bold black-and-white markings, a voracious algae grazer suited to larger reef systems.
- Strawberry Trochus Snail (Trochus histrio) Care GuideTrochus histrio is a pyramid-shelled top snail with maroon banding, kept in reef tanks as a hardy grazer of film algae, diatoms and cyanobac
- Banded Trochus Snail (Trochus maculatus) Care GuideTrochus maculatus is a pyramidal-shelled Indo-Pacific top snail that grazes film algae, diatoms and cyanobacteria and can right itself if fl
- Sand Sifting Conch (Strombus maculatus) Care GuideStrombus maculatus is a small Indo-Pacific conch that sifts the sand bed for detritus and algae, valued as an efficient reef-safe substrate
- Bumblebee Snail (Engina mendicaria) Care GuideEngina mendicaria is a small carnivorous marine gastropod with black-and-yellow banding, kept in reef tanks as a sand-bed scavenger of meaty
- Ludwigia 'Pantanal' Care GuideLudwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Pantanal' is a demanding stem plant with whorled leaves that turn fiery orange-red under high light, s
- Rotala sp. 'Singapore' Care GuideRotala sp. 'Singapore' is a red Rotala rotundifolia variant ('Blood Red Singapore') that needs high light, CO2 and iron to reach its intense
- Persicaria sp. 'Kawagoeanum' Care GuidePersicaria sp. 'Kawagoeanum' is an Asian stem plant with narrow willow-like leaves that flush orange-red to pink under strong light and CO2.
- Persicaria sp. 'Sao Paulo' Care GuidePersicaria sp. 'Sao Paulo' is a fast background stem plant with lanceolate leaves that turn intense magenta-pink under strong light and CO2.
- Alternanthera reineckii 'Lilacina' Care GuideAlternanthera reineckii 'Lilacina' is a stem plant with reddish-purple stems and longer, narrower leaves that flush pink to red under strong
- Alternanthera reineckii 'Cardinalis' Care GuideAlternanthera reineckii 'Cardinalis' is a compact red stem plant with rounded leaves, prized for a strong dark-red accent in the midground o
- Broadleaf Chain Sword Care GuideThe broadleaf chain sword (Helanthium bolivianum 'Latifolius') is a fast carpet-forming plant with grass-like leaves that spreads via runner
- Echinodorus 'Vesuvius' Care GuideEchinodorus 'Vesuvius' is a compact sword cultivar with tightly twisted corkscrew-like leaves, an undemanding midground plant that grows eve
- Echinodorus 'Rubin Narrow' Care GuideEchinodorus 'Rubin Narrow' is a narrow-leaved sword hybrid with ruby-red young foliage, a hardy heavy root feeder for the background of low-
- Thalassia testudinum (Turtle Grass) Care GuideThalassia testudinum, turtle grass, is a Caribbean seagrass with ribbon-like leaves up to 30 cm that demands a deep mature sand bed and stro
- Halophila stipulacea Care GuideHalophila stipulacea is a true seagrass with paired oval leaves on creeping rhizomes, demanding deep substrate and stable salinity in nature
- Rhizophora mangle (Red Mangrove) Care GuideRhizophora mangle, the red mangrove, is a viviparous coastal tree grown from propagules in marine and brackish refugiums for nutrient export
- Gracilaria hayi Care GuideGracilaria hayi is a bright red Caribbean macroalga with rigid branching fronds, kept in marine refugiums as grazing food for tangs and ange
- Ulva lactuca (Sea Lettuce) Care GuideUlva lactuca, or sea lettuce, is a thin green leafy macroalga that thrives in nutrient-rich water and is widely cultivated in refugiums as g
- Halimeda incrassata Care GuideHalimeda incrassata is a calcified green macroalga that anchors in sand by a bulbous rhizoidal holdfast and grows in tropical seagrass meado
- Gorgonian Sea Fan Care GuideGorgonians are branching octocorals (sea fans and sea whips) with eight-tentacled polyps; photosynthetic species are easier to keep than azo
- Ricordea Yuma Care GuideRicordea yuma is the Indo-Pacific corallimorph mushroom, prized for vivid colours, hosting zooxanthellae and spreading by marginal budding.
- Ricordea Florida Care GuideRicordea florida is a Caribbean corallimorph mushroom with bead-like tentacles, hosting zooxanthellae and reproducing by fission in reef tan
- Palythoa Care GuidePalythoa is a hardy colonial coral related to zoanthids with larger fleshier polyps; many species contain potent palytoxin and must be handl
- Zoanthids Care GuideZoanthus is a genus of colonial button polyps popular in the reef hobby for being easy to keep and very colourful, spreading across rockwork
- Everglades Pygmy Sunfish Care GuideElassoma evergladei is a tiny North American freshwater fish from heavily vegetated, temperate waters; breeding males turn iridescent blue-b
- Spotted Mandarin Care GuideSynchiropus picturatus is a small Indo-West Pacific dragonet with a green body and blue ocelli that depends on a steady supply of live copep
- Berghia Nudibranch Care GuideBerghia stephanieae is a small Florida aeolid nudibranch that feeds exclusively on Aiptasia pest anemones, making it a biological control in
- Randall's Pistol Shrimp Care GuideAlpheus randalli is a small snapping shrimp famous for its burrow-sharing symbiosis with prawn gobies, using one enlarged claw to snap.
- Sexy Shrimp Care GuideThor amboinensis is a tiny pantropical shrimp that lives commensally on anemones and corals, swaying its upturned abdomen above its head.
- Yellow Boxfish Care GuideOstracion cubicus is a cube-shaped Indo-Pacific boxfish that can release a potent skin toxin when stressed; juveniles are bright yellow, adu
- Bartlett's Anthias Care GuidePseudanthias bartlettorum is a western Pacific reef anthias that lives in large harem schools over current-swept reef faces and feeds on zoo
- Swissguard Basslet Care GuideLiopropoma rubre is a secretive western Atlantic reef fish with red-margined dark stripes that lives in deep crevices and is rarely observed
- Black Cap Gramma Care GuideGramma melacara is a deep-reef western Atlantic basslet with a purple body and black cap, known for swimming inverted beneath overhangs.
- Blue Ribbon Eel Care GuideRhinomuraena quaesita is an Indo-Pacific moray and protandric hermaphrodite that changes colour with sex; it is notoriously difficult to fee
- Frilly Montipora Care GuideFrilly Montipora (Montipora aequituberculata) is a SPS coral. Care covers 150-250 PAR, medium-high flow, reef parameters and feeding; interm
- Spongodes Monti Care GuideSpongodes Monti (Montipora spongodes) is a SPS coral. Care covers 150-250 PAR, medium-high flow, reef parameters and feeding; intermediate l