Wellington's Solitary Coral

About

Wellington's Solitary Coral (Rhizopsammia wellingtoni) is a small, non-reef-building scleractinian found exclusively in the waters around the Galapagos Islands, one of the more geographically restricted corals you'll encounter in the hobby. In the wild it occupies a wide depth range, turning up anywhere from the shallows down to around 40 meters, which tells you something useful about its preferences. This isn't a coral that demands intense illumination, and in a home system it does best under low light rather than the high-output setups typically associated with SPS keeping. That makes it an interesting option for reef tanks where you want to keep corals in shadier spots or lower regions of the aquarium. Being ahermatypic, it lacks the symbiotic zooxanthellae that most reef-building corals rely on, so regular feeding is an important part of keeping it healthy rather than an optional bonus. Flow should be moderate and steady, helping deliver food and carry away waste without battering the animal. It's considered reef safe and won't cause trouble with neighbors, but the combination of its specialized feeding requirements and limited wild distribution puts it firmly in the intermediate category. Worth the extra attention for anyone drawn to the unusual.