TankBud

Cauliflower coral

Pocillopora damicornis

Also known as Pocillopora, Brush Coral, Lace Coral, Cluster Coral

SaltwaterCoral

Cauliflower coral (Pocillopora damicornis)
Ahmed Abdul Rahman · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature
75–81°F
24–27°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
9.8 in
25 cm
Minimum tank
20 gal
75 L
Temperament
Peaceful
Social behavior
Solitary
Swim level
Bottom
Diet
Photosynthetic
Difficulty
Medium
Breeding
Easy
Rarity
Very common
Reef safe
Reef safe
Family
Pocilloporidae
Origin
Indo-Pacific and Red Sea reefs, one of the most widely distributed reef corals, ranging from East Africa to Hawaii and the rocky eastern Pacific coast of Mexico and Panama

Overview

The cauliflower coral is a peaceful SPS coral for a brightly lit reef tank with plenty of water movement. It is a step up from the easiest corals.

Did you know

A stressed cauliflower coral can shed individual polyps that drift off, settle elsewhere and grow into entirely new colonies. This survival trick is called polyp bail-out, and most stony corals cannot pull it off.

Caring for the cauliflower coral

Give the cauliflower coral medium to high light and strong, turbulent flow to match the surge zones it grows in on the reef. Set it in the middle to upper part of the tank, not a calm, low-flow corner. Low flow leads to thin, straggly growth and duller color. It can be slow to settle in after a move, so acclimate it to bright light gradually.

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. Once established, it is one of the more forgiving branching SPS corals, tougher than Acropora or Montipora while keeping the same branching look.

It gets most of its energy from its zooxanthellae, but it also filters plankton from the water. Feeding micro-plankton or phytoplankton a couple of times a week helps growth.

The cauliflower coral is peaceful and expands by growth rather than by stinging. A colony still wants real room to branch outward without crowding its neighbors.

Good to know

Pocillopora damicornis gets its cauliflower look from a dense mass of short, knobby branches covered in extended polyps. That gives the colony a fuzzy texture rather than the sharp points of a true staghorn Acropora. Branch thickness and spacing shift with water movement, growing tighter and stubbier in strong surge and thinner and more open in calmer water. Like other stony corals, it builds a calcium carbonate skeleton and hosts photosynthetic zooxanthellae. It also goes by brush coral, lace coral and cluster coral.

In the wild

The cauliflower coral grows on shallow, wave-swept reef flats and in lagoons across the Indo-Pacific and the Red Sea. There, constant surge keeps the water moving. It is one of the most widely distributed stony corals on the planet. Its range runs from East Africa to Hawaii and the rocky eastern Pacific coast of Mexico and Panama.

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 cauliflower coral need?

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

What temperature and pH does a cauliflower coral need?

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

What does a cauliflower coral eat?

A cauliflower coral gets most of its energy from its zooxanthellae. It also filters plankton, so feeding micro-plankton or phytoplankton a couple of times a week helps it grow.

How big does a cauliflower coral get?

An adult cauliflower coral reaches about 9.8 in (25 cm).

Related species