Sinularia sp. (Mushroom Finger Leather Coral)

Source: liveaquaria.com

QUICK STATS

• Care Level: Easy
  
• Temperament: Semi-aggressive
  
• Lighting: High
  
• Waterflow: Medium to Strong
  
• Placement: Bottom to Middle
  
• Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
  
• Color Form: Green
  
• Origin: Fiji
  
• Family: Alcyoniidae
  
• Insert Date: 19 February 2011

The Mushroom Finger Leather Coral, Green is also referred to as Sinularia Coral, Finger Leather, or Trough Corals. They are found in various shades of brown and green, with white or gold polyps. It is difficult to identify many species because they all have the similar appearance of long tentacle-like appendages, each with a distinct stalk and capitulum (cap). As they grow, their finger-like appendages get larger.
The Mushroom Finger Leather Corals are relatively peaceful, but adequate space should be provided between them and other corals in the reef aquarium. Some can produce toxins which are harmful to other reef inhabitants. The more plain Sinularia Leather Corals from Indonesia and Fiji are easy to maintain in the reef aquarium and make an excellent coral for the beginning through expert reef aquarist. Finger Leather Corals require medium to high lighting combined with medium to strong water movement. For continued good health, they will also require the addition of iodine, strontium, and other trace elements to the water.

Culturing by the experienced hobbyist is often accomplished by cutting off a portion of the Coral's branches and attaching that piece to live rock or placing it in the sandy bottom of the reef aquarium.

The symbiotic algae zooxanthellae hosted within its body provide the majority of its nutritional needs from the light driven process of photosynthesis. It will also benefit from additional food such as micro-plankton, baby brine shrimp, or foods designed for filter feeding invertebrates.

Because the fragtank is now being prepared for an overflow the more fragile corals moved to the Red Sea Max for the time being.

The coral has moved back into the fragtank.

Traded this coral together with 2 other corals for 2 urchins.