Knob Coral

About

Knob Coral (Dipsastraea vietnamensis) is a stony coral that earns its common name from the distinctly raised, individual corallites that give colonies a bumpy, textured surface compared to the flatter faces of many other faviid-type corals. Each corallite is separated rather than sharing walls with its neighbors, which is one of the easier ways to tell this species apart from closely related Dipsastraea species in the aquarium trade. In the wild it has a broad distribution across Indo-Pacific reef systems, where it tends to occupy mid-reef zones with moderate light and decent water movement. In the aquarium, those same conditions translate well. Place it somewhere with consistent but not overpowering flow and moderate lighting, and it generally settles in without much fuss. It falls into the intermediate care category, meaning it rewards keepers who have a handle on stable water quality and basic coral husbandry but is not the kind of demanding SPS coral that requires obsessive fine-tuning. Like other members of the genus, it is photosynthetic and benefits from occasional target feeding with small meaty foods to support growth. It is considered reef safe and poses no unusual aggression risk beyond the standard sweeper tentacle behavior common to large polyp stony corals.