The Bird of Paradise is a very popular color morph of Seriatopora. The multi-color appearance is amazing. Frags of this coral are roughly 1" with many branches.
Bird’s Nest Corals are some of the fastest growing SPS corals. They benefit from strong flow however their lighting requirements vary from colony to colony. In our experience, the pink varieties enjoy higher lighting conditions than the others. The yellow bird’s nest actually prefers subdued lighting. Once settled in, these corals take on incredible colors and can be propagated sustainably. Please see below for additional care tips for Seriatopora Bird’s Nest Corals as well as checking out our Top 5 Tips for setting up a reef.
Intense lighting is recommended for best coloration and overall health. Use either Metal Halide lighting or a large bank of high output fluorescent or full-spectrum LED's. Seriatopora can survive under more modest lighting, but their colors may fade.
Low Light
Low light translates to about 30-50 PAR
Medium Light
Medium Light is between 50-150 PAR
High Light
High Light is anything over 150 PAR
Lighting is a loaded topic, so for a more in-depth discussion of lighting, please see our Deep Dive article.
Strong water movement is recommended. Once the Bird's Nest gets larger, it needs more and more flow to reach the polyps in the center of the colony.
Seriatopora relies heavily on the products of their zooxanthellae but also may feed on phytoplankton and similarly sized microfauna in the water column.
This genus for the most part has been propagated extensively in captivity and is an excellent candidate for aquaculture. It is reasonable to believe that a sustainable harvest can be achieved in time. Seriatopora are brittle and can break during shipping, but the broken pieces can all be re-glued to form new colonies.
Proper acclimation is extremely important considering the stress imposed on the animals by the shipping process. Please take a moment to review our Acclimation Guide.
Photography
The images were taken with a Canon 5D mk II and 100mm macro lens under T5 Fluorescent lighting. Quite a lot goes into how we go about shooting the corals and anemones you see on Tidal Gardens. For an in-depth look at our methods, check out our comprehensive Reef Aquarium Photography FAQ.
