Indo-Pacific - Islands of the Indopacific including Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef.

Medium to high lighting would serve this species well. Caulastrea can be kept under high output fluorescent bulbs, but may benefit from more intense lighting. It will likely change its coloration depending on the lighting provided. Caulastrea may require a longer acclimation period to intense lighting such as metal halides.

We recommend keeping the coral in a relatively low flow area of the reef display. Too much flow could cause this particular species to become stressed and not extend fully.

Like most coral, Caulastrea rely to a large extent on the products of their zooxanthellae, however, in our experience, they also benefit from direct feeding. There are a variety of frozen fish foods available that make outstanding meals for Caulastrea. We like to feed a mixture of meaty foods such as shrimp, fish, and squid with vitamin additives and highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA). The size of the food must be small enough that the polyp can fully ingest it.

Caulastrea are one of the corals that extends long sweeper tentacles. Sweeper tentacles are often used as a means of defense against other encroaching coral colonies. Their white tips contain a concentration of nematcysts that can damage more delicate tank mates. Most of the time, this is not a major problem but to be safe, we recommend placing it in a location far from other corals initially.

In terms of propagation, this genus has been successfully fragmented however asexual reproduction in this way is a slow process. While efforts to aquaculture Caulastrea are to be praised, it has yet to be shown that they can be propagated cost effectively. Perhaps in time new methods of propagation or even sexual reproduction will be available. For now however, it is unlikely that they are a sustainable harvest in captivity.