Top Shelf Aquatics’ Coral Care Series - Hammers

For more content: Be our friend: @topshelfaquatics Popular amongst reef-aquarium hobbyists, with their bright coloration and relative ease of care. Making them an excellent coral choice for hobbyists of all experience levels. How do you tell them apart from other Euphyllia? Hammer corals will typically exhibit an anchor or hammer shaped tip. Giving the hammer coral its namesake. The two most common skeletal structures for Hammer corals are the branching variety, Euphyllia paraancora and the wall skeleton, Fimbriaphyllia ancora. Typically, branching hammers are more tolerable to fluctuations in water chemistry, lighting, and flow. If a head of branching Hammer becomes damaged, it can be easily removed without losing the entire colony. Whereas, the wall hammer has a more difficult time with recovery. Hammer corals fall into the low to moderate range of flow. The tell-tale sign that a Hammer is receiving too much flow is the retraction and deflation of its tentacles into its skeleton. Euphyllia do not have a high light requirement and fall into the low to moderate range, iIdeally at 50-150 PAR. There is potential to bring out more vibrant coloration at the higher end of the light range. It is important to note that when experimenting with higher light conditions, gradually increase the light intensity while monitoring the response of the coral. Hammer corals are known to be “passive” feeders. While their tentacles are capable of grabbing various types of food from the water column - they do not typically go out of their way to do so. Target feeding is not required but a healthy hammer is capable of taking in powdered coral foods or coral pellets. Hammer corals are the perfect choice for hobbyists of all experience levels, providing an enormous amount of color and movement to a low maintenance system. Music: Upbeat Vlog and Event Music by Infraction - Want to purchase this coral or interested in our other products?