Description
Green Kenya Tree Coral, Capnella sp., is the rarer form of the coral Kenya Tree Coral. Also referred to as Kenya Tree Coral, Cauliflower Soft Coral, Nephthea Kenya Tree Coral or Nephthya Kenya Tree coral, it is a hardy soft coral species that is tolerant of a range of living conditions, which makes it great for the beginner aquarist's. In terms of color, this rapid growing soft coral is a glowing green under blue actinic aquarium lights and a beautiful green under daylight aquarium lights. As its name implies, the Kenya Tree Coral is shaped like a tree with a thick trunk and beautiful branches.
A beautiful soft coral, the Kenya Tree coral is known to be a quick grower given proper lighting and good water flow. Kenya Tree Corals will grow back from the tiniest little bit of flesh left behind and holds fast to any substrate to which it attaches to. Besides how hardy Kenya Tree corals are in the aquarium, they are real easy to frag into smaller kenya tree corals and watch them grow. Small colonies will quickly grow in reef tanks. Another form of fragging the kenya tree is famous for is by the coral dropping branches. This self-propagation is a form of culturing corals that a growing kenya tree coral specimen will undergo all on its own. The dropped branches can then be placed on rubble rock, or anywhere for the new colony to form.
Like most “Leather” corals, Capnella will routinely shed a “mucous tunic” to clear itself of algae, debris, etc. This is generally observed by the colony closing for a period of hours or days, followed by a shedding of a thin clear film that may take one to several days to complete. Colonies kept in higher flow areas will “shed” less often.
Care Level
Easy
Aggressiveness
Peaceful
Lighting & Flow Requirements
The Kenya Tree requires a moderate to strong water flow and tends to do very well under various types of reef tank lighting. Lighting can be Power compacts, T5's, LED's or even Metal Halides. All lighting can grow the Kenya Tree Coral as long as the proper level of light is provided. If a Par meter is available the appropriate lighting level is anywhere from a Par 100 all the way to a Par 250. Which is a wide range of acceptability. For lighting spectrum use between a 14-20K color spectrum for your bulbs for best coral coloration.
Diet and Feeding
Although the Kenya Tree Coral receives a portion of its nutritional requirements through the process of photosynthesis, which simply means their lighting creates symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae in the body of the leather coral which provides its nutrition, the Kenya Tree Coral relies less on the process of photosynthesis, and depends more on obtaining outside food. Microplankton, marine snow, and dissolved materials should make up the bulk of its diet. We do recommend providing supplemental food such as micro-plankton, baby brine shrimp, or foods designed for filter feeding invertebrates.
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