Description
WYSIWYG Ultra Rainbow Symphyllia Colony 4.5″ is a fleshy large-polyp brain coral whose inflated tissue and color are best supported by stable reef conditions, modest light, and gentle indirect water movement.
Care and Placement
Fleshy large-polyp brain corals respond best to stable reef conditions. Give the coral a flat, secure position where the tissue can expand without rubbing against sharp rock or being pressed against the skeleton by direct flow. Acclimate gradually to the stated light range.
| Lighting | Low to Medium — PAR 50–150. Strong direct light can cause bleaching or tissue recession; use a lower-flow area away from intense light beams. |
|---|---|
| Flow | Low to Moderate — enough to remove detritus without pressing tissue against the skeleton. Turn off flow at feeding time. |
| Placement | Bottom to mid-tank on sand or stable rockwork. |
| Aggression | Moderate — maintain 4–6 inches of space from neighboring corals; sweeper tentacles may extend at night. |
| Feeding | Primarily photosynthetic; offer small portions of appropriately sized meaty food after feeder tentacles extend |
| Care level | Intermediate |
| Water Parameters | Salinity 1.025–1.026 · Temperature 76–78°F · Alkalinity 8–9 dKH · Calcium 420–440 ppm · Magnesium 1300–1400 ppm |
Keeping the Tissue Healthy
Keep detritus from settling in folds and valleys, but avoid a direct powerhead stream. The coral may inflate beyond the visible skeleton, so allow room for daily expansion and nighttime feeding behavior. Handle the skeleton rather than the living tissue whenever possible.
Consistency matters more than chasing a single number. Make lighting and flow changes gradually, keep alkalinity and salinity steady, and watch tissue inflation as the clearest day-to-day placement signal.
What to expect when it arrives
Acans arrive deflated with the skeleton visible between polyps, which looks worse than it is. Float the sealed bag 15 minutes, drip acclimate 30 to 45 minutes, and place the frag low in the tank with gentle flow. Most acans begin inflating within 24 hours and are fully puffed within two to three days.
Placement, and the light mistake
Acans burn under SPS lighting. Start low — sand bed or the bottom third of the rockwork — and leave it there. A deflated acan sitting under strong light is not going to adapt; it is going to recede. Flow should be gentle and indirect enough that the fleshy polyps are not visibly pushed around.
Feeding, which is the whole point
This is where acans reward you. Target feed with a small meaty food two or three times a week, pumps off for ten minutes, placing food directly on the polyps. A fed acan produces new heads at the frag edge within weeks. An unfed one can sit unchanged for a year and many keepers conclude the coral is slow when it is simply hungry.
Growth and fragging
A three-head frag that is placed correctly and fed regularly commonly becomes eight to ten heads within a year. New heads emerge at the margin and mature over a few months. Frag by cutting between heads with a band saw or bone cutters once the colony has spread past its plug.
Compatibility
Acans have short sweepers and lose most exchanges. Keep them clear of Euphyllia and chalices. They are also a favorite target for some angels and butterflies, and a colony that stays deflated in otherwise good conditions is usually being picked at after lights out.
Shipping & Live Arrival Guarantee
- UPS Next Day Air, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We hold the box if the weather at either end puts the animals at risk. Florida livestock orders under 6 lb ship UPS Next Day Air at $30. Other continental-U.S. orders use the applicable UPS Next Day Air rate. Eligible livestock orders of $349 or more ship free. A $10 Box & Handling Fee applies per box, including on free-shipping orders. We do not ship to Alaska or Hawaii.
- Live arrival guaranteed. Photograph the animal in the sealed, unopened bag and send it to us within 4 hours of the delivery scan.
- Approved claims are resolved with a replacement or store credit. We do not issue cash refunds on livestock.
- Coverage is for condition on arrival and ends at acclimation.
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Conditioned in our Key West systems · FL Aquaculture Certificate #AQ0254072 · (305) 850-9949
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