Chalice Corals – The Nano Reef Aquarium Coral Collection (part 1)

© Vince (UniqueCorals.com)

They are all the rage, they come in just about any colour combination, they command crazy prices – this is the group of corals known as the Chalices and they are ideal corals for a nanoreef (if you can afford them).

Today it is almost impossible to see a photo of a reef tank (nano, medium and large systems) and not see at least one chalice frag sitting on the sandbed.

© Vince (UniqueCorals.com)

But what is the appeal of these seemingly expensive and most times well overpriced (in the USA) LPS corals? Undoubtfully it is the myriad of colours they come in. You name the combination and I’m sure somebody will stand up and say they have it. Perhaps it’s the interesting common names which so often come along with these corals? I’d like to tell somebody I have two “red peppermint rocknrolla high on life” chalice frags, care to swop one for one of your “pop’n flying saucer of Pluto-o-death purple highlight delight” frags? I’m sure you get the picture – however this naming trend is only confined to the USA and at times comes up in the Canadian circles. In the UK and Europe, the ‘cool’ names don’t seem to have caught on, yet…

One would think that this “colour’tastic” coral collective would be a challenging coral to care for but that is not the case. Most of the corals labelled as chalices’ are relatively easy to keep, only commanding decent lighting, adqueate flow and some feeding (if you’d like to speed up growth). Much like every coral we keep, each frag and colony responds differently to their environments and by just changing one aspect, you can either help the coral grow faster or even change colours and patterns. It is because of these relatively basic by ‘reefkeeping standards’ requirements and their slowish growth that make chalice corals practical and wonderful additions to our nano reef aquariums.

Meet the Chalice family

The term Chalice coral was possibly coined by American, Steve Tyree, back in 1996 when he successfully kept and maintained the now famous Blue Chalice.

Steve Tyree Blue Chalice coral © ReefFarmers.com

The chalice title has since become a common name to various genera of corals under the Pectiniidae family.
These genera include:

• Echinophyllia
• Echinopora
• Oxypora
• Mycedium
• Pectinia
• Physophyllia
• Echinomorpha

Echinophyllia

This group of the Chalice family is made up of some of the most frequently seen varieties in the hobby. Echinophyllia aspera is probably the most common coral  followed by Echinophyllia echinata, Echinophyllia orpheensis and Echinophyllia pectinata.
While the following are seldom, if ever, seen in the hobby, Echinophyllia echinoporoides, Echinophyllia maxima, Echinophyllia nishihirai, Echinophyllia patula, Echinophyllia taylorae, Echinophyllia tosaensis and Echinophyllia costata.

Echinopora

I suspect that the two “Echino’s” of the Chalice world get mixed up a fair bit. But as previously mentioned, the Echinopora group was probably the first chalice coral to make it into the hobby. Aside from Echinopora lamellosa, the genera is comprised of the following other species: Echinopora ashmorensis, Echinopora forskaliana, Echinopora fruticulosa, Echinopora gemmacea, Echinopora hirsutissima, Echinopora horrida, Echinopora mammiformis and Echinopora pacificus.

Oxypora & Mycedium

These two genera are another relatively common group of corals that carry the Chalice badge. Species that fall under the Oxypora genera are: Oxypora convoluta, Oxypora crassispinosa, Oxypora egyptensis, Oxypora glabra and Oxypora lacera. While species under Mycedium are: Mycedium elephantotus, Mycedium robokaki, Mycedium spina, Mycedium steeni and Mycedium umbra.

Other genera

The remaining genera’s are comprised of Pectinia, Physophyllia and Echinomorpha.

We have collect a selection of Chalice corals to share with you. Can you ID them by genera or even species? I think going with the name, Chalice, works just fine.

A big thank you to Gary McKinney, Vince @Unique Corals and  Andy Young for the usage of their photos.

The beginnings of a trend? Perhaps.

While researching this article, I stumbled across “The Easily Over-looked Echinophyllia” from Advanced Aquarist Online magazine back in June 2002. I really find the opening paragraph quite funny seeing as how the Chalice coral has bloomed into a vividly coloured modern reefkeeping trend.

Not too many hobbyists are familiar with the corals of the Echinophyllia genus, from the Pectiniidae family. In many ways, that’s not surprising. It’s received very little mention in aquarium books, which is understandable considering how infrequently Echinophyllia shows up for sale. Even when it is available for purchase, though, most hobbyists usually won’t give it a second look. It usually comes in as a very drab brown or gray, with no trace of another color to be seen.

I highly doubt author Charles J Devito knew that his article could well have been the catalyst for this coral trend… or did he?

Coupled with its undemanding nature, its remarkable coloration makes it a gem the aquarist should make an effort not to overlook.

Would love to hear what your experience is like with these extremely colourful yet relatively easy to keep corals. Over to the comments, you turn to speak.

Look out for the next installement of The Nano Reef Aquarium Coral Collection series. In part two, we’ll be looking at Zooanthids. Which type of coral do you think is a suitable for a nano reef? Let us know.