Candy Cane Coral

Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea furcata), also called Trumpet Coral, grows in tight clusters of tube-like corallites that each end in a fleshy polyp striped in a way that genuinely does resemble the candy it's named for. It's one of the more forgiving LPS corals for a newer reef keeper — tolerant of a real range of lighting and flow conditions, and it'll steadily bud new heads over time, slowly turning one small frag into an actual colony.

In its natural range across the Indo-Pacific, it occupies a similar ecological niche to most medium-depth LPS: moderate lighting, moderate flow, stable parameters, and enough space to expand laterally without running into competition. Like most large polyp stony corals it carries a sting — mild by LPS standards but still enough to cause tissue recession in anything it grows against — so give it a few inches of clearance in every direction as the colony expands.

It's photosynthetic and doesn't require regular target feeding to survive, but occasional meaty food (frozen mysis, Reef Roids) placed near extended polyps will noticeably accelerate head budding and overall growth rate.

Scientific name: Caulastrea furcata
Origin: Indo-Pacific — shallow to mid-depth reef zones, often in moderate turbidity and variable flow
Water parameters: Temp 74–82°F · Salinity 1.023–1.026 · pH 8.1–8.4 · Alkalinity 8–11 dKH · Calcium 380–450 ppm
Tank requirements: 30 gal minimum; mid-tank placement with clearance from neighbors
Lighting: Low to moderate — forgiving across a wide PAR range (50–150 µmol)
Flow: Low to moderate indirect flow; direct high flow causes polyps to retract
Diet: Photosynthetic; benefits from weekly target-feeding to accelerate head budding
Husbandry note: New heads bud from between existing corallites — look for small white bumps between polyps as an early sign of colony expansion. This is the coral equivalent of a green light on your parameters.