TankBud

Birdsnest coral

Seriatopora hystrix

Also known as Bird's Nest Coral, Needle Coral, Pink Birdsnest

SaltwaterCoral

Birdsnest coral (Seriatopora hystrix)
Faol · CC BY-SA 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature
75–81°F
24–27°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
5.9 in
15 cm
Minimum tank
20 gal
75 L
Temperament
Peaceful
Social behavior
Solitary
Swim level
Bottom
Diet
Photosynthetic
Difficulty
Medium
Breeding
Easy
Rarity
Common
Reef safe
Reef safe
Family
Pocilloporidae
Origin
Indo-Pacific reefs; both wild and maricultured colonies are common in the trade

Overview

The birdsnest coral is a peaceful, branching SPS coral for a reef tank. It is one of the easier SPS corals and suits a keeper with a little reef experience.

Did you know

The birdsnest coral's branches are so brittle that a colony can shed live fragments when bumped. Each broken piece can settle and start a whole new colony, which is one way birdsnest spreads across a reef.

Caring for the birdsnest coral

Give the birdsnest coral moderate to high light, roughly 150 to 300 PAR. Place it in the mid to upper tank with room to bush out. It wants strong, random, turbulent flow to keep detritus from settling deep inside the branch tangle. Avoid a constant direct blast, which can strip the fragile tips.

Grow it in a tank of at least 20 gal (75 L). Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) and a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It is forgiving of general conditions but intolerant of sudden parameter swings, so stable water matters more than exact numbers. It is mostly photosynthetic but will take fine particulate food.

The birdsnest coral is sessile and passive, with no sweeper tentacles, so it will not attack its neighbors. Its thin branches are easily damaged, and aggressive corals such as Euphyllia can sting it. Give it clear space. The brittle branches snap easily, which also makes it trivial to frag.

Good to know

Seriatopora hystrix is a zooxanthellate SPS coral in the family Pocilloporidae. Its dense, tangled bush of very thin, needle-tipped branches gives it the birdsnest name. Trade names include bird's nest coral, needle coral and pink birdsnest. It is one of the fastest growing SPS corals and forms dense colonies quickly.

In the wild

The birdsnest coral comes from reefs across the Indo-Pacific. Both wild and maricultured colonies are common in the trade.

Symbiotic relationships

The coral guard crab and its Pocillopora

Guard crabs live deep in the branches of cauliflower, birdsnest and cat's paw corals and rarely leave. The coral feeds them: it produces fat-rich mucus and small tissue bodies the crab eats. The crab earns it. When a crown-of-thorns starfish or a coral-eating snail moves onto the colony, the crab pinches and pushes until it leaves, and when sediment settles on the branches the crab clears it, which is the difference between the coral living and smothering during a sediment pulse.

Small Pocillopora colonies often arrive with a guard crab already in residence; look for a fingernail-sized crab with a smooth, spotted or plain shell in the branches and leave it there. One crab or a mated pair per colony is the rule, they are harmless to everything else in the tank, and they need no feeding beyond the coral they live in. Without a host coral the crab has nowhere to be and does not last.

Every symbiotic relationship in the catalog

Common questions

What size tank does a birdsnest coral need?

A birdsnest coral needs at least 20 gal (75 L).

What temperature and pH does a birdsnest coral need?

A birdsnest coral is comfortable at 75–81°F (24–27°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.

What does a birdsnest coral eat?

A birdsnest coral is mostly photosynthetic. It will also take fine particulate food.

How big does a birdsnest coral get?

An adult birdsnest coral reaches about 5.9 in (15 cm).

Related species