Write-Up Wednesday: Fathead Dendro (Dendrophyllia fistula)
Fathead Dendros (Dendrophyllia fistula) are a non-photosynthentic (NPS) coral that stands in a class by itself as they are one of the rare NPS corals I’ll keep in my tank. Why the special treatment for Fatheads? There are several good reasons.
First, the Fathead Dendro’s colors will catch your eye. With a bright orange body, the fathead dendro provides a nice pop of color and a unique viewing experience thanks to the pale to nearly translucent tentacles. Even though the skeleton of the coral is rigid, a fully extended fathead dendro will sway in the current of your tank and provide nice motion to your tank.
Fathead Dendro in a client’s tank
Second, Fathead Dendros are easily trained to come out during the day. My experience with this coral is that most of them are naturally inclined to extend their polyps during daylight hours. That means no or minimal time spent feeding the coral in an attempt to train it to come out during the day.
Third, Fathead Dendros are voracious eaters. While I’m not a fan of feeding corals, Fathead Dendros are non-photosynethic which means they have to be fed or else they’ll die. A lot of corals are slow eaters which makes feeding them tough as you have to fight back fish and invertebrates so that the food isn’t robbed. Fathead dendros will quickly grab the food that touches them and carry it to mouth. You won’t have to fight off robbers long as this coral is hungry!
Fourth, most, if not all, Fathead Dendros are the product of aqua culturing as importing them into United States is illegal. Aquaculturing takes time so the Fathead Dendros are not always available. If someone claims to have gotten a shipment of Fathead Dendros that came from outside the USA, be alarmed as these corals are likely the result of smuggling.
If you want try a NPS coral and you’re wiling to put in the time to feed the coral a couple of times a week, the Fathead Dendro is great starter NPS coral.
Browse the Store! Questions?
How often do they need to be fed?
I feed mine every other day to daily. Like Mark said they eat fast, Fat Head’s feeding response is even faster than some of my rock flower anemones. And his tentacles are out all the time. If you play with flourescent photography (eg blue lighting with orange filters) they really glow too.
I got a couple aptashia that look just like it! 🙂
Speaking of ‘illegal’, sad that my tropical fish distributor (apparently 3rd largest in the world) in Malaysia actually acknowledges the use of cyanide poisoning in getting their live stock from South East Asia. They even advertise it on their website something along the lines that they ‘quarantine’ new arrivals for at least a week and that losses due to cyanide caught fishes are minimized before these fishes are put on the ‘customer/selling’ section of their facility. Recently purchased a Flame Angel (a really costly fish) and since they rarely get new stock, they *must have* put all these fish into the selling section immediately upon arrival – why? Because both of my Flame Angels that I purchased showed classic signs of cyanide poisoning; lack of appetite, bloated tummy, ‘very bright/overly bright’ coloration and… they just wasted away after 5 days. Yes, the dwarf angelfish didn’t make it. It was the sole fish in my quarantine tank with exception water quality (no treatment/preventative treatment started yet).