QUICK STATS

Care Level: Easy to Moderate
Coral Type: LPS / Lobophyllia / Lobed Brain Coral
Temperament: Semi-Aggressive
Photosynthetic: Yes
Placement: Lower to Middle / Sandbed or Lower Rockwork
Lighting: Low to Moderate / Medium
Water Flow: Low to Moderate, Indirect
Approximate Purchase Size: Varies by Specimen
Approximate Max Size: Colony Growth Depends on Stability, Feeding, Space, Lighting, and Flow

GREEN LOBOPHYLLIA CORAL

The Green Lobophyllia Coral is a colorful fleshy LPS coral known for its thick inflated tissue, lobed brain structure, and bright mixed-color patterning. Depending on the specimen and lighting, it may show combinations of red, orange, green, teal, blue, purple, pink, yellow, gold, maroon, burgundy, or rainbow-style marbling across the ridges, valleys, mouths, and outer tissue.

Lobophyllia Corals are popular because they make excellent lower-placement showpieces in mixed reefs and LPS gardens. Their inflated tissue, deep grooves, and multicolor contrast give them a bold presence without needing intense SPS-style lighting or harsh flow. They are dramatic enough to look premium, but not so delicate that they require a candlelit apology every time alkalinity shifts slightly.

The Green Lobophyllia Coral is photosynthetic, but it also benefits from occasional feeding. Regular feeding with small meaty foods can help support tissue fullness, coloration, recovery, and long-term health. A well-settled Lobo may show feeding tentacles after lights dim or when food is in the water.

This coral is considered semi-aggressive. Lobophyllia can damage nearby corals through direct contact, feeding tentacles, or tissue expansion. It can also be damaged by aggressive neighbors. Give it space from other corals, especially stinging LPS such as torches, hammers, frogspawn, chalices, favias, and galaxea. It may look like a soft reef pillow, but underneath that tissue is a skeleton and a quiet willingness to become expensive drama.

Note: Image is a representation of what to expect. The coral you receive may vary slightly in size, ridge shape, tissue inflation, color pattern, mouth color, marbling, and overall appearance.

AQUARIUM REQUIREMENTS

AQUARIUM SIZE

A minimum aquarium size of 20-30 gallons or larger is recommended for Lobophyllia Coral, though larger mature reef systems are preferred. Larger aquariums provide better stability, more placement options, and more space for full tissue expansion.

Lobophyllia can expand significantly when healthy, so placement space matters. Do not wedge it into tight rockwork or place it where fleshy tissue can rub against sharp surfaces. This coral is not built for cramped real estate. It is built to sit there looking expensive and making the sandbed more interesting.

PLACEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

Lobophyllia Coral is best placed on the sandbed or lower rockwork where it receives low to moderate lighting and gentle indirect flow. Sandbed placement is often ideal because it protects the fleshy tissue from rock abrasion and gives the coral room to inflate.

Sandbed Placement: Usually a strong option. Place the coral on a clean, stable area where it will not be buried, flipped, or irritated by sand movement.

Rock Placement: Lower rockwork can work if the surface is smooth, stable, and does not press into the coral’s fleshy tissue. Avoid sharp rock edges.

Open Space: Leave room around the coral for full expansion. Lobophyllia may inflate beyond the visible skeleton.

Spacing: Leave several inches between this coral and nearby corals. Lobophyllia can sting or irritate neighbors, and aggressive neighbors can damage its tissue.

Avoid High SPS Zones: Do not place this coral in intense light and strong direct flow meant for Acropora. That is not premium care. That is fleshy coral bullying with equipment.

WATER PARAMETERS

Lobophyllia Coral needs stable reef conditions. Stability is more important than chasing exact numbers. Sudden swings in alkalinity, salinity, temperature, nutrients, or lighting can cause poor inflation, fading, tissue recession, mouth gaping, or long-term decline.

Temperature: 75-79°F
pH Level: 8.1-8.4
Salinity: 1.024-1.026 specific gravity
Alkalinity: 8-10 dKH
Calcium: 400-450 ppm
Magnesium: 1250-1350 ppm
Nitrate: 5-15 ppm
Phosphate: 0.03-0.10 ppm

Lobophyllia are stony corals, so calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium still matter. They are not usually fast skeleton builders, but unstable chemistry can still cause stress. Slow growth does not mean zero standards, annoyingly.

Avoid ultra-low nutrient systems with this coral. Lobophyllia often look better and inflate more fully with some available nutrients and occasional feeding. Sterile reef water may sound clean, but to fleshy LPS it can feel like being asked to thrive inside a polished desert.

LIGHTING

Lobophyllia Coral generally prefers low to moderate lighting. A general target range of 75-150 PAR works well for many Lobophyllia corals, with many specimens doing well around 80-120 PAR once settled.

LIGHTING RECOMMENDATIONS

Low to Moderate PAR: Start around 50-100 PAR if newly added, especially if the coral is freshly shipped or coming from lower light.

Target Range: Once settled, many Lobophyllia Corals do well around 75-150 PAR.

Gradual Acclimation: Increase light slowly over several days to weeks. Sudden increases can cause bleaching, shrinking, fading, or refusal to inflate.

Color Display: Green Lobophyllia often show their best red, orange, green, teal, blue, purple, pink, gold, yellow, and marbled contrast under low-to-moderate reef lighting with a blue-heavy spectrum.

Too Much Light: Signs may include bleaching, faded color, tight tissue, gaping mouth, tissue recession, or repeated shrinking.

Too Little Light: Signs may include dull coloration, reduced feeding response, weak inflation, or slow decline over time.

Do not place a fresh Lobophyllia directly under a light cannon because the colors looked expensive. That is not reef keeping. That is using photons as a blunt instrument.

WATER FLOW

Lobophyllia Coral prefers low to moderate indirect flow. Flow should be enough to keep debris from settling on the coral, but not so strong that the fleshy tissue is pulled tightly against the skeleton or kept retracted.

FLOW RECOMMENDATIONS

Ideal Flow: Low to moderate, indirect, gently varied flow.

Avoid Direct Flow: Strong direct flow can cause poor inflation, tissue irritation, exposed skeleton, or recession.

Avoid Dead Spots: Too little flow can allow detritus to collect in the valleys, around the mouths, or between inflated folds of tissue.

Watch Tissue Movement: Healthy flow should create gentle movement without causing the coral to fold, whip, or stay tightly contracted.

Feeding Flow: Lower flow briefly during target feeding if needed so the coral can capture food.

The goal is gentle water movement, not power-washing the coral like patio furniture. Somehow, in reef keeping, this distinction remains necessary.

DIET

Lobophyllia Coral is photosynthetic, but it benefits strongly from occasional feeding. Feeding can help support tissue inflation, coloration, recovery, and long-term condition.

PRIMARY DIET

Photosynthesis: Low to moderate reef lighting provides baseline energy through symbiotic zooxanthellae.

Target Feeding: Offer small meaty foods when feeding tentacles are visible or when the mouths show a feeding response.

Frozen Food: Mysis shrimp, enriched brine shrimp, finely chopped shrimp, chopped clam, chopped scallop, reef blends, and other small marine-based foods can be used.

Prepared Coral Foods: LPS pellets, soft sinking pellets, powdered coral foods, and suspended coral nutrition may be accepted.

Amino Acids / Coral Nutrition: Amino acids and LPS coral supplements can be used carefully in established systems.

Food Size: Use small pieces. Large chunks can be rejected, regurgitated, or rot before digestion, because even a brain coral does not need a steak dinner. Shocking restraint from the animal kingdom.

FEEDING FREQUENCY

Feed 1-2 times per week for maintenance and condition. More frequent feeding may increase tissue fullness or growth, but it can also raise nutrients if the aquarium cannot process the added food.

Turn down flow briefly during feeding if needed. Allow the coral time to grab and swallow food before restoring normal flow.

COMPATIBILITY

Lobophyllia Coral works well in mixed reef and LPS-focused aquariums when placed with proper spacing, gentle flow, moderate light, and protection from aggressive neighbors.

COMMON TANK MATES

Fish: Reef-safe fish such as clownfish, gobies, blennies, wrasses, cardinalfish, firefish, tangs, anthias, and other peaceful to semi-peaceful community fish.

Avoid: Fish known to nip fleshy LPS corals, such as some angelfish, butterflyfish, puffers, filefish, and certain triggers.

Invertebrates: Generally safe with cleaner shrimp, snails, hermit crabs, and other common reef invertebrates. Some shrimp may steal food during target feeding because tiny crustacean crime is apparently part of the reef ecosystem.

Coral: Keep away from aggressive corals such as torches, hammers, frogspawn, galaxea, favias, chalices, acans, hydnophora, and other stinging LPS.

LPS Garden Placement: Can be used as a centerpiece in an LPS garden, but do not allow neighboring coral tissue or sweepers to touch it.

Sandbed Neighbors: Leave enough open sandbed around the coral for full expansion. Lobophyllia may inflate beyond the visible skeleton, because apparently “personal space” also applies to reef brains.

BEHAVIORAL NOTES

Temperament: Semi-aggressive. It may damage or be damaged by nearby corals through tissue contact, feeding tentacles, or nighttime extension.

Growth Pattern: Fleshy lobed brain coral growth over a hard calcium carbonate skeleton. Growth is usually slow to moderate depending on feeding, stability, and specimen condition.

Coloration: May show red, orange, yellow, gold, green, teal, blue, purple, pink, burgundy, maroon, or mixed marbled patterning depending on the specimen, lighting, nutrients, and photography conditions.

Appearance: Green Lobophyllia may show strong color contrast, bright marbling, unusual patterning, and bold fleshy structure. Exact appearance varies widely between individual specimens.

Multicolor Patterning: Green specimens may show marbling, streaking, rings, contrasting mouths, colored ridges, or mixed valley coloration. No two pieces are exactly the same, because apparently even coral decided mass production was beneath it.

Tissue Inflation: Healthy Lobophyllia should inflate with full fleshy tissue when settled. Poor inflation may indicate too much light, too much flow, unstable parameters, pests, irritation, or hunger.

Mouth Condition: The mouth or mouths should usually remain closed or only open during feeding. A persistently gaping mouth can be a stress sign.

Feeding Tentacles: Feeding tentacles may appear at night or when food is in the water. This is normal and useful for target feeding.

Skeleton Safety: Avoid placing the coral where fleshy tissue is pressed against sharp rock, coral skeletons, or rough frag racks.

Tissue Recession: Receding tissue can be caused by excessive light, harsh flow, unstable alkalinity, aggression, pests, starvation, or physical damage.

Color Shifts: Lobophyllia can shift coloration under different lighting intensity and spectrum. A multicolor specimen may look different under white-heavy, blue-heavy, LED, or T5 lighting.

Slow Growth: This coral is not usually a fast grower. Expect long-term stability, tissue health, and gradual growth rather than dramatic expansion overnight.

Dipping: Coral dipping before introduction may be used carefully with coral-safe dips according to product instructions. Avoid harsh dips, extended dips, or aggressive handling that could damage the fleshy tissue.

Pest Awareness: Inspect carefully for flatworms, nudibranchs, algae, vermetid snails, sponge growth, tissue damage, and other hitchhikers before placing into the display.

Frag Handling: Handle by the underside, base, or skeleton whenever possible. Avoid touching, squeezing, or scraping the fleshy tissue.

Placement Reality: This coral can become a bold multicolor centerpiece, but it needs room, gentle flow, stable water, and careful handling. It looks like a soft reef pillow, but underneath is a skeleton and a quiet capacity for expensive disappointment.

ACCLIMATION PROCESS

This acclimation method helps reduce stress by gradually introducing the coral to your aquarium’s temperature, lighting, and water chemistry.

1. DIM THE LIGHTS

Turn down aquarium lights or place the coral in a shaded lower area at first. This helps reduce stress while the coral adjusts.

2. FLOAT THE BAG

Float the sealed bag in the aquarium for 15-20 minutes to allow the temperature in the bag to equalize with the tank.

3. OPEN BAG, ADD CORAL TO CONTAINER

Carefully open the bag and transfer the coral and shipping water into a clean container. Handle the coral by the base or skeleton rather than touching, squeezing, or scraping the fleshy tissue.

4. ACCLIMATE USING TANK WATER

Add small amounts of tank water to the container every few minutes for 20-30 minutes. Avoid exposing the coral tissue to air longer than necessary.

5. CORAL DIP

Use a coral-safe dip carefully according to the product instructions. Keep the dip gentle and avoid excessive time in dip solution. Inspect carefully for pests, algae, sponge growth, tissue damage, and hitchhikers before the coral enters your aquarium.

6. TRANSFER CORAL TO AQUARIUM

Place the coral on the sandbed or a smooth lower area with gentle indirect flow and lower lighting at first. Discard the shipping and dip water. Do not pour shipping water or dip water into your aquarium.

7. LIGHT ACCLIMATE

Allow the coral to adjust gradually over several days to weeks before moving it into brighter light. Watch for tissue inflation, multicolor patterning, mouth condition, feeding response, and any signs of recession before making major placement changes.