Encrusting Corals: The Rock Painters

Encrusting corals skip the branch-and-plate ambitions and simply paint the rock: Leptastrea and Cyphastrea in starry pixel patterns, Pavona in ruffled cactus ridges, Leptoseris in glowing low-light sheets, Hydnophora in neon green velvet, pagoda cups in brown-and-tan tiers. As a group they are underrated: tough, fast to color up, and the corals that make mature rockwork look grown rather than placed.

Care varies less than the looks do — middle light, real flow, and a clean patch of rock to claim. Two warnings earn their place: Hydnophora is one of the most aggressive corals in the hobby and burns whatever it grows into, and any encruster will eventually reach a neighbor, because spreading is the entire strategy.

Care at a glance

Encrusters are the natural next step after the first SPS and pair well under montipora shelves. Give Hydnophora the same exclusion zone you would give a chalice. The species directory maps the whole shelf.

Encrusting 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.