Hammer Garden [127]

Hammer Garden

Type: LPS

Scientific Name: Fimbriaphyllia paraancora

PAR: 100–200

Flow: Moderate, random flow

Placement: Mid Third

Description

Hammer Garden is a mixed collection of branching Hammer Corals grown together to create a single display filled with contrasting colours. Each colony produces the characteristic anchor or hammer-shaped tentacle tips of Fimbriaphyllia paraancora, with the different morphs combining into a mass of colour and movement.

Branching Hammers grow by dividing and producing additional heads at the ends of their branching skeleton. As a Hammer Garden matures, those individual colonies become larger and fuller, gradually creating the appearance of one established Euphyllia-style garden.

Why We Like It

Why choose one Hammer when you can have a garden? You get several colours together from the start, but the best part is watching the individual colonies grow and fill the gaps between them. Over time it develops into a large, flowing display that would take years to build starting with individual small frags.

Care Notes

Best kept with stable reef parameters, moderate lighting and varied flow that gently moves the polyps. Branching Hammers are primarily photosynthetic but readily accept suitable coral foods, and occasional feeding can help support growth and the development of additional heads.