The Accidental Aquarist

Our Red Bubble Coral

You can see two bubbles very clearly in this shot. There is a third behind the skeleton, as well.

A while back, our favourite reef tank supplier, Caribbean Forest, had an anniversary sale where they were giving stuff away for 20% off.  We looked around and found a bubble coral which had seen better days, but still looked viable.  It was recessed a bit and was exposing a little bit of the skeleton, but it was a good price and Sarah and I love a challenge.

Unfortunately, the coral eventually ejected and disappeared.  This, we are told, happens when the coral is either getting starved of nutrients or when it’s getting pestered by some other animal and the other animal is winning.  We thought we would be without bubbles entirely.

That was, until we noticed little bubbles, no wider than three pins bundled together, growing all over the skeleton that our original bubble exited.  Wow!  Were we excited to see the new growth.  And four months later, they continue to grow and to our surprise, get redder and redder!

We’ve talked to our friends at the Forest, and no one has ever seen a red bubble coral, nor have any of them seen tank-raised bubble corals that they know of.  So, there is a possibility that these truly are red bubble corals, and there’s a possiblity that they are the regular pink bubble corals, but small enough that they have a deep red appearance.  We’re not sure, but they seem healthy and with luck, we shall find out the truth!