TankBud

Colt coral

Cladiella

Also known as Cauliflower Colt Coral, Finger Leather Coral, Blushing Coral, Soft Finger Leather

SaltwaterCoral

Colt coral (Cladiella)
User:Haplochromis · CC BY-SA 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature
75–81°F
24–27°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
11.8 in
30 cm
Minimum tank
20 gal
75 L
Temperament
Peaceful
Social behavior
Solitary
Swim level
Bottom
Diet
Photosynthetic
Difficulty
Beginner
Breeding
Easy
Rarity
Very common
Reef safe
Reef safe
Family
Alcyoniidae
Origin
Indo-Pacific reefs, from the Red Sea to the Great Barrier Reef

Overview

The colt coral is a soft leather coral that sits low in a reef tank. It is often suggested as one of the easiest soft corals for a first reef tank.

Did you know

A colt coral can look like a different animal from one day to the next. A colony that looks like a shriveled brown blob in the morning can inflate by evening into a bushy cream mound covered in feathery polyps.

Caring for the colt coral

The colt coral adapts to a wide range of light, but it grows best under moderate to high light of roughly 100 to 200 PAR. Give it moderate to strong flow, which helps it shed its waxy coating and keeps the lobes free of debris. Place it low to mid on the rockwork in a reef of 20 gal (75 L) or larger.

Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. The colt coral is mostly photosynthetic and only lightly captures fine particulate food, so it rarely needs target feeding. Like other leathers, it sheds a waxy film now and then to clean its surface. It closes up and looks dull for a day or two, then reopens.

The colt coral is peaceful, and its chemical defenses are milder than those of heavier hitters such as Sarcophyton or Sinularia. Its fast growth can still crowd out slower neighbors, so give it space to expand. A mature colony can swell to nearly twice its resting size once fully expanded.

It reproduces by fragmentation and by budding new lobes off its base. That makes it easy to propagate. Cut off a branch and mount it to rock.

Good to know

Cladiella is a leather coral in the family Alcyoniidae, the same family as the toadstool and finger leather corals. Its tissue is stiffened by small calcite spicules rather than a hard skeleton. It is also sold as cauliflower colt coral, blushing coral and soft finger leather.

In the wild

Colt coral grows across Indo-Pacific reef flats from the Red Sea to the Great Barrier Reef. There it forms a lobed colony covered in fingers on a short trunk.

Common questions

What size tank does a colt coral need?

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

What temperature and pH does a colt coral need?

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

What does a colt coral eat?

A colt coral is mostly photosynthetic, so it gets most of its food from light. It catches only a little fine particulate food and rarely needs target feeding.

How big does a colt coral get?

An adult colt coral reaches about 11.8 in (30 cm).

How does a colt coral breed?

A colt coral reproduces by fragmentation and by budding new lobes off its base. It is easy to propagate from a branch cut off and mounted to rock.

Related species