Red Devil Diaseris Plate

 Fungia Plate Coral Care

Fungia Plate corals are one of the few types of large polyp stony corals capable of moving themselves and relocating. There is a reason they are kept on the substrate exclusively. If plate corals are placed on the aquascape, they will jump off of your rock work! Please see below for additional care tips for Fungia as well as checking out our Top 5 Tips for setting up a reef.

 Location

Plate corals are found around the islands of the Indo-Pacific including Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef. The majority of our Fungia are from Australia.

 

 Lighting

Medium to high lighting. Fungia may require a longer acclimation period to intense lighting such as metal halides. Here at Tidal Gardens, we have tried growing this coral under a variety of lighting conditions and so far it seems that they have slightly better coloration under brighter light.

Lighting is a loaded topic, so for a more in-depth discussion of lighting, please see our Deep Dive article.

 Water Flow

Moderate water movement is recommended though they can stand fairly strong flow. Remember to place Fungia on the ground. They are one of the few corals that can move around on their own and will "jump" off of rocks.

 Feeding

While photosynthetic, Fungia are excellent feeders and benefit greatly from regular spot feeding of large meaty foods such as shrimp and krill. When feeding, pay careful attention not to feed chucks of food that are too large for the coral to swallow.

 Propagation

In terms of propagation, this genus has been successfully fragmented however asexual reproduction in this way is a slow process. While efforts to aquaculture Fungia are to be praised, it has yet to be shown that they can be propagated cost effectively. When broken into pieces or cut into smaller pieces with a band saw, the pieces take a very long time to regain their signature round shape. 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.

 Acclimation

Proper acclimation is extremely important considering the stress imposed on the animals by the shipping process. Please take a moment to review our Acclimation Guide.

 Photography

The images were taken with a Canon 5D mk II and 100mm macro lens under T5 Fluorescent lighting. Quite a lot goes into how we go about shooting the corals and anemones you see on Tidal Gardens. For an in-depth look at our methods, check out our comprehensive Reef Aquarium Photography FAQ.