Capnella Imbricata

Scientific Name:     Capnella Imbricata
Classification:         Soft Coral
Common Names:    Kenya Tree Coral, Cauliflower Soft Coral

Description:
The Kenya Tree Coral, also referred to as a Cauliflower Soft Coral, Nephthea, or Nephthya, is similar to the members of both the Litophytonand Nephthea genera. It lives in a wide range of the Indo-Pacific. It has a thick trunk, like a tree, and many branches giving it an arboreal appearance. It is not normally considered a threat to hard corals, but may itself be disturbed by their presence.

Natural Environment:
They can be found in de Indo-Pacific seas.  

Care:
Care level:  Very hardy and easy to keep coral. Adjust to almost any condition

Lighting: Medium to high lighting

Water Current:  Medium to strong flow

Temperature: Does well within a range of at least 72º to 78º F (22 º to 27 º C). 

Aggressiveness: Semi-Aggressive, may damage other corals close to it

Feeding: Gets his food through Zooxanthella/Light but depends most on planktonic feeding 

Supplements: No special requirement are noted, but may benefit from marine snow or phytoplankton.

Tank Positioning: They can be place anywhere in the aquarium.

 Propagation: Can be propagated by cutting of a branch. In nature they inflate a part which then detaches.

In my aquarium:
For me it started on December 14 2009, it was one of my first corals back then, a green coloured Kenya Tree. In January we moved it to another location because it wouldn’t stand up straight, maybe to much flow in its first location. That very same month during cleaning we found out it attached itself to a neighbouring rock, and with the cleaning we damaged it. Same thing happened again one month later, but the Kenya tree just kept growing.

In April the whole aquarium was covered with a brown blanket, also the Kenya Tree had some on him. It was the time we decided to go for a rebuild.

Next month we started the rebuild. The Kenya Tree was still attached to two rocks so we had to be careful not to damage it too much.
After we put the rock back the Kenya Tree didn’t look very good. Also the small rock it came on was becoming a bit of a hazard to the other life forms.

We decided to cut loose the small rock. Having done so a small part of Kenya Tree was left on the rock. We decided to leave the rock in the aquarium, just to see what might happen with that small remaining piece. Good thing we did, because one month later a small branch began to evolve, a fragment was born.

Shortly after that we noticed a part of the first Kenya Tree inflate itself. After asking on some forums we found out this was the way the reproduced. However, this part deflated itself after a while.

It was august 2010 and we had to rebuild again, this time because of a fish which needed to be sold. Both Kenya trees moved because of this and found a new place where they are now grown much larger then they where.

In September 2010 we bought a second Kenya Tree, this one came with a rock with Cabbage Leather Coral around it. This Kenya Tree found a nice central-top position in the aquarium.

The new Kenya tree also inflated a couple of times, first time I just left it just as I did with the other Kenya Tree, but at the end of September we noticed that it was really true, the inflating was its way to reproduce. September 30 2010 we found a piece of Kenya Tree growing from underneath a rock at the bottom. This means we now have three Kenya trees in the aquarium.

October 20 2010 I noticed two other parts being inflated, when looking closer I also saw that they where almost lose from their host. To prevent more Kenya Trees from spawning randomly around the aquarium I decided to remove the inflated parts and put them in a small glass with some rocks so they could attach there. Two days later one of the pieces was already attached to a small rock, and the other attached to the glass.

More information:
For more about the Kenya Trees in my aquarium and their history see the following links:
Kenya Tree Coral (14-12-2009)
Kenya Tree Coral Fragment (14-05-2010)
Kenya Tree Coral (18-09-2010)
Kenya Tree Coral (30-09-2010)
Kenya Tree Coral Fragment (20-10-2010)