Nephthyigorgia (Chili Coral) Care Guide
Nephthyigorgia (chili coral) is a bright red non-photosynthetic soft coral that needs regular fine-plankton feeding but is among the easier NPS species.
Compiled by Aquairi from published sources · Published · Updated
Overview
Nephthyigorgia, the chili or tomato coral, is a bright red non-photosynthetic (NPS) soft coral with a bumpy, encrusting form. It lacks zooxanthellae and must capture plankton, but it is regarded as one of the easier NPS soft corals to maintain when fed correctly.
Taxonomy
- Family (KB record): Nidaliidae
- Genus: Nephthyigorgia
- Scientific name: Nephthyigorgia sp.
- Authority: Nephthyigorgia Kükenthal, 1910
- Common synonyms: Tomato Coral, Chili Coral
Habitat
The genus is found in the Indo-Pacific. As a non-photosynthetic coral it is not dependent on light and tends to occupy shaded, current-fed positions rather than brightly lit reef tops, where it can intercept suspended food.
Aquarium requirements
- Temperature: 24-26 °C (75-79 °F)
- Salinity: 1.024-1.026 SG
- pH: 8.1-8.4
- Alkalinity (dKH): 8-11
- Calcium: 400-450 ppm
- Magnesium: 1280-1350 ppm
- Nitrate: below 20 ppm; Phosphate: below 0.15 ppm
- Lighting: low (about 0-50 PAR; no light dependence)
- Flow: medium to high
- Minimum tank maturity: about 6 months
Feeding and compatibility
Chili coral should receive regular, ideally daily, feedings of fine food particles such as rotifers and micronized planktonic foods; phytoplankton, amino acids and reef food powders are also offered. It is passive, lacks potent stinging tentacles, and is reef-safe, shrimp-safe and fish-safe. Reported growth is roughly 0.1-0.3 cm per month. It is rated advanced rather than expert relative to the more difficult NPS genera.
Nephthyigorgia (Chili Coral): Propagation Guide
Overview
Nephthyigorgia, traded as the chili coral or chili sponge, is a non-photosynthetic octocoral now placed in its own monotypic family, having previously been associated with Nidaliidae. According to Julian Sprung writing on Reef Builders, it is usually dark reddish, sometimes orange, with a few finger-like lobes or the look of a small hand, and polyps that retract into small bumps to give a bumpy texture; it bears large, obvious spiny sclerites.
It was once a common import from Indonesia but is seldom seen now, since hobby interest favours corals with symbiotic zooxanthellae. Reef Builders recommends it as the starting point for anyone wanting to keep this kind of coral, with care similar to easier gorgonians, although it must be fed every day.
Reproductive Mode
As an octocoral, Nephthyigorgia reproduces sexually in the wild. The whitelisted sources do not document a specific captive sexual-spawning record, so propagation in the hobby is approached through cutting rather than through larvae.
Fragging / Asexual Propagation
Among non-photosynthetic soft corals, the chili coral is the most forgiving and is reported to be kept with care similar to the easier gorgonians, which makes a fragment from a cut lobe more plausible than with Dendronephthya. The whitelisted sources do not give a step-by-step protocol, so any cutting should be conservative: remove a single finger-like lobe, attach it gently in strong flow, and continue daily feeding while it heals. Success still depends on maintaining the colony, which is the harder part.
Feeding & Conditions for Propagation
Reef Builders frames chili coral feeding as daily and continuous: it must capture and digest different types of plankton from the water column. Non-photosynthetic corals in general benefit from varied particle sizes and current as strong as that used on a stony-coral tank. A fragment will only knit and grow if this feeding and flow are sustained.