Dragon Soul Favia

Description

WYSIWYG Dragon Soul Favia is the exact coral pictured. Its red, orange, and green corallites develop strong contrast under blue reef lighting.

“Dragon Soul Favia” is a trade name used for several similar closed-brain corals, so this listing does not assign an unsupported genus or species. Place it where indirect flow can keep the surface clean, and leave room for nighttime sweeper tentacles.

Care Guide

• Care Level: Beginner to intermediate
• Lighting: Low to moderate (50–100 PAR)
• Flow: Low to moderate, indirect
• Placement: Lower to middle rockwork
• Feeding: Photosynthetic; optional small meaty foods 1–2 times weekly after lights dim
• Aggression: Aggressive; allow at least 4 inches for nighttime sweepers and increase clearance if they reach farther

Conditioning and Shipping: Conditioned in our Key West systems under Florida Aquaculture Certificate #AQ0254072. Livestock ships UPS Next Day Air on our regular Tuesday and Wednesday shipping schedule.

What to expect when it arrives

Brain corals arrive with tissue pulled tight against the skeleton and the corallite structure showing clearly. Float the sealed bag 15 minutes, drip acclimate 30 to 45 minutes, and place the coral low in moderate light and moderate flow. Tissue inflation returns over one to three days.

Placement, and the aggression nobody plans for

These are among the most aggressive corals in a mixed reef and almost nobody accounts for it when placing them. Favia, Favites, Platygyra and their relatives send out sweeper tentacles at night that reach several inches past the daytime footprint and will chemically burn whatever they touch. Judge spacing by what the coral does after lights out, not by how it looks at noon. Four to six inches of clear space in every direction is a sensible minimum.

Feeding and growth

Brains take small meaty food readily and thicken visibly for it. Feed two or three times a week after lights out when the feeder tentacles are already extended and the coral will take food without a fight. Growth is steady rather than fast — expect the colony to encrust outward across its base over months.

Common trouble

A bare patch or dark stripe spreading across the dome is usually mechanical damage from a neighbor rather than disease. Check sweeper range before treating for anything. Skeleton showing between corallites with no obvious cause generally means light that is too strong for where the coral sits.

Compatibility

Excellent for a beginner on husbandry, difficult for a beginner on placement. They will win almost any exchange, so the risk is to the neighbors rather than to the brain itself.