Montipora Digitata (Finger Coral)

Care at a glance

Overview

Sessile and passive, with no sweeper tentacles, so it is a peaceful tankmate that will not sting neighbors, though it can be stung or shaded by more aggressive corals and needs spacing to branch out. Often recommended as a first SPS because it is more tolerant of slightly higher nutrients and less than perfect parameters than Acropora, but it still wants stable alkalinity and calcium.

In the wild

A branching Montipora that grows upright, thumb-thick fingers rather than plates. It favors bright light, roughly 200 to 300 PAR, and medium to strong flow, and the amount of flow actually shapes the branches, with stronger current producing thicker, curvier growth. Place it in the mid to upper tank where it gets both strong light and good water movement. A healthy colony shows pale, actively extending growth tips.

Good to know

Montipora digitata is a zooxanthellate branching SPS coral in the family Acroporidae with very small polyps. It is one of the faster growing Montipora, adding roughly 8 to 10 cm of branch length per year in a stable tank, and it frags extremely easily since snapped or cut branches quickly reattach and regrow.

Did you know

Because branches thicken in response to current, keepers can partly steer the shape of a digitata colony by where they aim the flow, and a single small frag can fill in a bushy thicket within a year or two.

Related species

• 

  Montipora Plating (Cap Coral)

  Montipora capricornis

  7.9 in (20 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Encrusting Montipora

  Montipora confusa

  11.8 in (30 cm)26 gal (100 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Alveopora Coral

  Alveopora

  7.9 in (20 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Smooth Skin Acropora

  Acropora tenuis

  9.8 in (25 cm)40 gal (150 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Staghorn Acropora

  Acropora

  9.8 in (25 cm)40 gal (150 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Table Acropora

  Acropora hyacinthus

  17.7 in (45 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)