Brain Corals: Maze Brains, Meat Corals and Where Each Belongs

“Brain coral” covers more animals than any other name in the hobby, and the differences matter. This page is the family reunion: the meandering maze brains, the big meaty Indo-Pacific brains, and pointers to the brains that have their own pages — the encrusting favia and favites and the free-living open brains.

The maze brains: Platygyra and Goniastrea

Walls and valleys winding across a dome like a fingerprint, usually in two contrasting colors that trace the maze. They behave like their favia cousins: undemanding in moderate light and flow, slow, steady tilers of rock — and armed at night. Maze brains send out sweeper tentacles after dark, so the same rule applies: more clear space than looks necessary.

The meat corals: Symphyllia, Australophyllia and relatives

The heavyweight brains — broad folded domes of thick flesh, with the Wilsoni brain (Australophyllia wilsoni) the collector piece of the group, colonies patterned like stained glass. These want the scoly treatment scaled up: low on the rockwork or on the sand, gentle flow, modest light, and food. Meaty feedings a couple of evenings a week put visible size on them. Each one is one-of-one in practice — the WYSIWYG photo is the animal.

Care at a glance

Brain corals in stock now

One thing to know before you order: the $10 Box & Handling Fee is charged by the box, not by the coral, and UPS Next Day Air is one flat shipping charge per order. A box holds several corals for the same $10 Box & Handling Fee and the same overnight ride, Florida orders under 6 lb ship UPS Next Day Air for a flat $30, and livestock orders of $349 or more ship free. If this page puts one coral on your list, it is worth seeing what else belongs in the box — start with corals under $100 or the newest WYSIWYG pieces.

Our stony corals are either aquacultured at the shop in Key West under Florida Aquaculture Certificate #AQ0254072 or conditioned in our Key West systems before they ship, and the photo on a WYSIWYG listing is the exact animal that ships. Corals ship UPS Next Day Air every Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are ever in Key West, come see the raceways.