Kenya Tree; guard dog of the aquarium

[WormLicker]

I just want to talk nice about my Kenya and also maybe share photos and talk about this great coral.

 

Any time something weird is going on, Kenya tells me before anything else in the tank notices.

Kenya starts looking sad the day before my scheduled water change like clockwork. 

 

Nuisance algae coming? She will look sad and the very next day boom, little algae bloom or whatever. 

 

I've read it is an extremely hardy coral, I wonder what makes it equally sensitive to changes like that? 

[banasophia]

Ah yes, great thread!! Ode to the Kenya tree coral! I love corals (and house plants) that are indicators like that and tell me when I need to do something! 
 

My Kenya tree and my neon green sinularia are like that in my Biocube 16. I can tell when my phosphate gets too high because the sinularia wilts… and when my nitrate gets too low or there’s an issue with my powerhead, my Kenya tree shrinks up. 
 

Kenya trees are totally underrated… a couple of my favorite pics of my tank is are my yellow clown goby in the Kenya tree.

 

 

 

 

[DevilDuck]

 

7 hours ago, banasophia said:

Ah yes, great thread!! Ode to the Kenya tree coral! I love corals (and house plants) that are indicators like that and tell me when I need to do something! 
 

My Kenya tree and my neon green sinularia are like that in my Biocube 16. I can tell when my phosphate gets too high because the sinularia wilts… and when my nitrate gets too low or there’s an issue with my powerhead, my Kenya tree shrinks up. 
 

Kenya trees are totally underrated… a couple of my favorite pics of my tank is are my yellow clown goby in the Kenya tree.

 

 

 

 

Wow, that's an amazing looking Kenya tree! I think it's underrated because It's rare to see pictures of a fully grown Kenya tree in all its glory. All I've ever seen are frags.

[WormLicker]

Wow, mine is definitely still a baby! It was my first coral and I got it as a little one inch stalk frag. Long way to go-, eh, grow!

[rough eye]

12 hours ago, banasophia said:

Kenya trees are totally underrated… a couple of my favorite pics of my tank is are my yellow clown goby in the Kenya tree.

now that makes me want a clown goby.

[banasophia]

The downside to Kenya trees is that they are extremely invasive, even more than xenia in my experience… they drop branches left and right when they get bigger so you have to be vigilant removing them. On the bright side, with both Kenya trees and xenia, you can pretty easily grab the unwanted ones at the base and pull them off the rocks with long handled hemostats. 

[banasophia]

This is one of my other all time favorite pics of my tank (it’s my background on my iPad), from a couple years ago, and also featured the Kenya tree. At that time the sinularia was wilted due to high phosphate so you couldn’t even see it in front of the Kenya tree… now the sinularia is more prominent. 

[banasophia]

6 hours ago, WormLicker said:

Wow, mine is definitely still a baby! It was my first coral and I got it as a little one inch stalk frag. Long way to go-, eh, grow!

They grow pretty fast, you won’t have to wait long. 
 

1 hour ago, rough eye said:

now that makes me want a clown goby.

My favorite fish. My LFS has one in their display with SPS… it sits in the SPS corals and they don’t have a problem with it. But of course as you know that can be an issue in some tanks that they may eat SPS polyps. 

[LazyFish]

My green Kenya dosnt seem as prone to being invasive. It gets big but dosnt drop branches. OCASIONALY a new stalk devides and grows up from the base. My friend has a lot of frags of it I made in her tank same thing her regular Kenya are everywhere.

[banasophia]

14 minutes ago, LazyFish said:

My green Kenya dosnt seem as prone to being invasive. It gets big but dosnt drop branches. OCASIONALY a new stalk devides and grows up from the base. My friend has a lot of frags of it I made in her tank same thing her regular Kenya are everywhere.

Oh that’s interesting! Let’s see some pics!! 🙏😁

[Tamberav]

I want a kenya tree! The simplest things are hard to find these days. Locally I mean. Everyone collecting torches, acro's, and bounce shrooms instead. 

[LazyFish]

Green kenya. They have one that's more blue green and a green with brown polyps too. I've had this thing probly 8 years or more it was in another tank before this its actualy 4 fat stalks in a clump. I usualy just lop off branches when I frag it from time to time. Dont think I've ever seen it drop a branch.

 

[banasophia]

2 hours ago, LazyFish said:

Green kenya. They have one that's more blue green and a green with brown polyps too. I've had this thing probly 8 years or more it was in another tank before this its actualy 4 fat stalks in a clump. I usualy just lop off branches when I frag it from time to time. Dont think I've ever seen it drop a branch.

 

Wowwweee what a gorgeous tank! And your Kenya tree really is a centerpiece in your tank, and makes a great backdrop for your other corals. That’s so interesting that it doesn’t drop branches at all. 
 

One thing that your pics make me think of about Kenya tree coral is that it’s not aggressive, so it can grow close to other corals, which can really be an asset in a small tank. 

[LazyFish]

Depends on what its near. It tolerates other leathers just fine and dosnt seem to bother gorgs but all leathers wage chemical warfair to a degree that can affect Lps and sps corals growth. Other leathers dont seem too troubled by it. I've found zoas in direct contact with some leathers polyps sometimes become stunted or have slower growth where they are touching but they dont seem super affected by them. I run extra carbon to combat the toxins they have because I'm running a mixed reef with softies,  gorgs, nps, lps and a sps.