Seriatopora (Bird's Nest) - Sept '05 Coral of the Month

Seriatopora hystrix

Type: Small-polyped stony (SPS)
Origin: Pacific, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

Aquarium Needs -

Lighting: Needs intense light.
Water Quality: Good to high.
Current: Adaptable (IMO)
Supplemental Feeding: Not necessary.
Growth Rate: Fast
Frag Difficulty: Easy


Personal Observations -

Bird's Nest coral has quickly become my favorite coral in my current tank. For SPS, it seems pretty tolerant in my experience as long as the water quality is decent and it is basking in strong light. I have noticed it can live with pretty low alkalinity and calcium doesn't have to be way up there either.

It is a good tell-tale of your aquarium... when my old Remora skimmer stopped from a jammed pump for a few days, it wasn't happy and it's polyps were not extended. Most of the time though it's a happy coral in my aquarium. A recent frag was branching in a matter of days it seemed.

This coral is one easy fragger. You can literally break branches off and plug away. Not that I am recommeding that. Use cutters, gloves, etc. Safety first. Don't forget to give it some room as it will sting other corals.

I've seen pink, beige, green varieties. I think there is a yellow out there too. I own 2 frags: pink and beige versions of Seriatopora hystrix. The pink is one of the most beautiful corals around in my opinion. I highly recommend this coral. And it's 3reef's first coral of the month. 8)

PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH THIS CORAL.

 

i had one and it was doing great...untill it fell into another coral and got stung to death

 

Birdsnest are fairly easy to keep (for an SPS) but they are horrible shippers. If you can't find a healthy one locally, consider buying something else. Their FedEx mortality rate is well above average, unfortunatly. My wife loves them, but the LFS never have any.

 

Mine seem to survive every half witted thing I do to it. I am a big fan. If you start with a odd shaped frag will it "ball out" on it own/

 

Mine is pink, It Came complete with a matching coral crab.
When I brought it home it did not do well untill I put it in the strong flow of a power head, now it is loving lifeClick here to see it

 

bear that is a nice pink one. when I got mine I put it in the middle of the rocks and it was dieing and the clown fish pushed it off the rocks,so I just left it there in the sand.about 3 weeks later it took off and doing well.

 

lol leave it to a clown to make things happy (pun intended...i think it was a pun...)

 

ya every time I put something new on the rocks near the anemones the 2 clowns push it off. well matt I like the pink bird's nest that bear has so I just ordered me one online. :thumbs_up

 

In my tank it is the turbos I have to glue everything Down

 

SAweet. Post a pic of that when you get it.