Space Invader Coral Care – A Specific Thorough Guide
Space invader coral is popular for its low maintenance. It’s really easy for a beginner to bring up a Space Invader coral with no past experience.
This coral appears with a very elegant look in the shape of cabbage-like colonies. The branches are ruffled and tend to terminate their edges while replacing them with sharp points.
But the question: How to take care of Space Invader Coral?
There are a few factors like placing, diet, and nutrition, water parameters, water flow, lighting, acclimation that you need to be careful of for space invader corals. Place them with plenty of space around them, ensuring low to moderate water flow and low to mid-low lighting. Follow and apply the acclimation process duly and keep track of the water parameters for expected healthy growth and long-term appearance.
Read this post to have a clear concept regarding the space invader coral care. After going through this post, you’ll genuinely feel like an experienced Aquarist!
A Care Guide For Space Invader Coral(7 Things To Keep In Mind)
In terms of discussing the care guide for space invader coral, we are going to address the most popular Space Invader coral – Pectinia. There are many corals that can be enlisted as less demanding. Space Invader Pectinia is one of them.
Hence it’s unique for its formation and color combination (predominantly yellow and green). It grows fine in less-than-perfect parameters. Some specifications that are supposed to be maintained while having a space invader reef in your tank are as follows:
1. Placing
The very first and foremost part of having coral in your seawater fish tank is to fix the place where you will be having your coral reef. And here you need to be very specific regarding the characteristics of your coral. Any miscalculation might cause you irreparable damage.
However, when you are going for space invader coral for your aquarium, you must ensure proper spacing for them. They appear harmful to other corals that they get in touch with, around them.
You should be aware of the sediment or sand of your tank. Don’t install space invader coral in such a place where your aquarium bedding ingredients (substrate or sand, etc.) might cover it up. If so, the covered part of the coral will start dying within two days.
Keep in mind the required water flow and light for space invader. Put them according to their convenience.
2. Diet and Nutrition
Since space invader coral is labeled as a low-maintenance type, you have nothing much to worry about the nutrition. Usually, this coral receives most of its nutrition from the symbiotic zooxanthellae. These parasites tend to live within the tissue of the coral.
However, it is recommended to add some supplementary feeding to your coral. You may apply Mysis and brine shrimp to your tank to feed your coral.
This added brine shrimp and Mysis will ensure the proper calories for your coral. If any shortage might appear due to any water change issue or any health issue of the coral, this supplementary feed will have your back.
Consider this for a decent and constant growth of your coral. The expected color can be acquired with this supplement as well.
3. Water Parameters
While having space invader coral in your reef tank, you need to maintain certain water parameters with a view to cultivating this specific type. If not maintained properly, you will see issues with the growth and color of your coral.
Use a water test kit to measure the elements duly. Cheap units might fail to provide you with proper reading. And that’s not something you certainly expect.
Maintain the parameters to get the best look at your space invader coral. Otherwise, your coral will fail to provide an elegant look to you. The size, shape, and color won’t be as expected.
The following measures are preferable for space invader coral. Follow them accordingly:
- Alkalinity: 3.2 – 4.8 MEQ/L
- Calcium: 380 – 430 ppm
- Magnesium: 1200 – 1350
- Phosphates: 0
- Strontium: 8 – 10
- Salinity / Specific Gravity: 1.023 – 1.025
- Temperature: 74° – 82° F (23° – 27° C)
4. Water Flow
Water flow means a lot for space invader coral. They are prone to lower to moderate water flow.
Keeping that in mind, you need to place them in your tank. Put them a bit away from your water flow pump.
If not, if they are kept just right next to your pump or anywhere else that they get a strong water flow, they will find difficulties to let their tentacles go out. As a result, they will be deprived of their required feeding.
To ensure their proper growth and feeding, place them somewhere with a low to moderate water flow.
5. Light
Space invader corals are fond of low to mid-low lighting. Put your coral in a place where the PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) is around 100.
Use a PAR meter to measure the light density of different places in your tank And choose a place where you find the constant reading of PAR something around 100.
If you fail to maintain the lighting, your coral might fade away. They won’t be able to get the very exact color. On the other hand, if they are exposed to overlighting, they might face severe damage.
Maintain the light hour between 8 to 10 hours max a day. However, lighting must not exceed 12 hours a day.
6. Parasites and Diseases
If you don’t change the water on a regular basis, if the water conditions get worse anyhow, your space invader coral might face difficulties with parasites and diseases.
The most common infection for space invader coral is brown jelly infection. Keep your water clean to get rid of such issues.
Change your water at least once every two weeks. Go for changing 25% of the tank water at once. Ensure other parameters to keep the environment healthy.
If your coral gets infected, get them to a quarantine tank. Dip them in respective solutions to get them a cure accordingly.
7. Acclimation
Acclimation denotes the process of making a coral habituated with its new home (your tank). It carries great value since the newly arrived coral goes through a transitional process. It endures a bunch of difficulties and needs some comfy steps from you.
Follow the following steps to get your space invader coral acclimated. The processes are very simple and you are suggested to have around 30 mins in hand to accomplish the DIY methods.
Step 1: Turn the aquarium lights off
Since you are importing ‘new’ space invader coral for your reef tank, the coral must’ve been traveling a considerable distance. And while traveling, the livestock was kept in complete darkness.
Therefore, they are not likely ready to adjust to the high lighting of your tank immediately. As a result, you need to put out the aquarium’s light to lessen one of the stress factors for your coral.
If not, your newly arrived corals will have to face overexposure to light immediately after getting transferred to your tank. That can be dangerous.
If you ignore the fact, within one or at best two days, your space invader coral will face severe damage due to high lighting. The reason is they are prone to lower to mid-low lighting. Ensure modest lighting.
Step 2: Empty the containers into a slightly larger tub
Before putting any coral into its final destination in the aquarium, it is put in a plastic tub. This is an adaptation process for the coral to a new environment. In this adaptation process, you can put the coral into a new tub or put it in a tub that already has coral in it.
This process is done to ensure the coral gets enough amount of water for survival and adaptation. During this process, you can perform the pest control dip.
It helps to get rid of all the unwanted organisms. The chemicals used in the dip also don’t bother other animals in the aquarium.
Step 3: Add 1/2 cup of Aquarium Water every few minutes
The water environment matters a lot in the case of corals and other invertebrates. It includes the temperature, pH level, and salinity.
Corals appear to be sensitive to those parameters. Therefore, sudden changes in the above-mentioned parameters will not be pleasant for your coral. They might even face damage.
To avoid such unpleasant scenarios, add your tank water to the coral container from time to time. The slower the addition, the better the adaptation.
Take 1⁄2 cup of your tank water and add it to the coral container. So that the coral gets a vibe of where it’s gonna find its new habitat and how’s the environment. Keep doing this throughout the acclimation process.
Step 4 (optional but recommended): Pest Control Dip
This is a precautionary measure. It’s very simple. We recommend you dip your newly bought space invader coral into a pest control solution.
With a view to reducing the risk and getting rid of parasites and hitchhikers if not fully at least partially, dip your coral before putting them into your tank. It is highly recommended to do the same even when you are shifting your corals among systems.
Though the threat isn’t supposed to be eliminated with guarantee, yet it minimizes the risks. Go for Coral Rx to fight pests (like nudibranchs and flatworms) and use Lugol’s Iodine against bacterial issues.
Step 5: Release the specimen into the tank
Lastly, go to the exact place where you are going to plant your corals while keeping in mind that your corals needs moderate flow and lower to mid-low lighting. Space invader coral needs a few days to adapt to the new lighting and environment.
If you can afford access to a quarantine system, go for acclimating the newly bought coral there. Follow the previously mentioned steps for doing so.
As soon as you get done with the quarantine period, it’s time to acclimate the coral to your display tank. Repeat the process and finally, you will have your space invader coral onboard.
Miscellaneous
Space invader coral has been enlisted in the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Therefore space invader pectinia coral for sale is monitored worldwide.
You might find Space Invader Pectinia corals aggressive from time to time when they get in touch with other corals surrounding them. Therefore, Pectinia coral placement is very sensitive.
Space invader chalice coral is another type of the same category. You will find the above-mentioned guidelines fit for it as well.
Try to get your coral from an already-established tank rather than a brand-new bud. That’ll be more adjusting to your tank.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How fast does Pectinia grow?
Pectinia is the most popular cultivar among space invader corals. One of the very core reasons for its popularity is its low maintenance along with its unique elegance. It doesn’t require exclusive care or expertise, or any other to-the-point parameters maintaining to thrive and grow. However, it can grow up to 3-inch mini colonies within a year with decent care.
Are Chalice Corals hard to keep?
Chalice corals being a type of space invader, are one of the foremost extremely fascinating giant polyp stony corals among the Aquarist. They’re not notably tough to worry about. However, as a result of the different classes including over 10 Genera of corals, optimizing tank conditions for a specific specimen needs a point of specification.
Is Pectinia coral aggressive?
Take proper care while acclimating space invader pectinia coral like better lighting, and water flow: gentle alternating flow is preferable to maintain those corals clean of debris. In terms of placement, keep in mind that some pectinia corals may be extraordinarily aggressive towards other species. So plenty of areas are needed.
Where do you put Pectinia coral?
Pectinia appears to do fine with low to mid-low lighting. Low to medium water flow is recommended. Moderate flows have to be supplied to keep away from sediment from constructing up withinside the depressions of the coral. Excessive flow is not recommended at all. Keep enough space for them so that they don’t harm any other species around them.
Final Words
Space invader coral doesn’t require much of your attention but a little caring. Maintain the water environment accordingly while providing proper nutrients and you’ll find the upbringing process way easier. Beware of the aggressive nature of other specimens.
The acclimation process must be dealt with utmost care. Otherwise, you’d have to suffer for a while. If you are a beginner in first hand, you might get depressed about the difficulties of not doing acclimation properly. Apply the water flow & lighting decently. And that’s all!
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