Mystic Sunset Chalice (Echinophyllia sp.): Propagation Guide

Propagating the designer Mystic Sunset Echinophyllia chalice by cutting plate sections with an eye each, plus iodine dip, low light, and aggression notes.

Overview

The Mystic Sunset Chalice is a high-color designer morph of the genus Echinophyllia, a colonial large-polyp stony coral native to the Indo-Pacific. Like its relatives it is partly encrusting and partly forms laminate plates, with corallites usually level with the surface on the upper face. The name refers to its orange, pink, and purple sunset coloration, valued as a slow-growing centerpiece.

Reproductive Mode

Echinophyllia chalices reproduce sexually by gamete release in the wild, but a named morph like Mystic Sunset is maintained entirely by asexual fragmentation so the color line is preserved. The fluorescent corallites mark the live polyps each frag must retain.

Fragging / Asexual Propagation

The morph is fragged by cutting sections of the encrusting plate, ensuring at least one eye per frag, avoiding cutting through an eye, and leaving a mouth to feed in each piece. Because the cut edges are prone to bacterial infection, an iodine dip is recommended before the frag is glued to a plug to heal.

Conditions for Propagation

Chalices do best under lower-moderate lighting, around 100 PAR, with moderate to lower flow that keeps debris off the tissue. Stable, low-nutrient reef parameters help preserve the sunset pigments while the frag re-encrusts onto its new base.

Common Challenges

As a slow-growing designer morph it re-covers cut skeleton slowly and can fade under unstable or excessive light, so lighting consistency is important. Bacterial infection of cut edges and stinging contact with neighbors are the other principal risks during healing.