Frogspawn and Octospawn are LPS Corals that fall under the genus Euphyllia. They come in a wide variety of colors with vibrant, and translucent colored tips that will occasionally display a fascinating bicolored pattern.
The difference between these two corals is the vesicles at the ends of their tentacles. Frogspawn Corals have split elongated cluster-type vesicles that resemble Frog eggs, which gives them their name. Octospawn, on the other hand, exhibit compact-clustered vesicles of eight at their tentacle ends. Despite these slight differences in physical appearance, the care requirements and behaviors remain identical.
Both of these corals require a low-moderate amount of lighting. A common sign that your Frog or Octospawn may be receiving too much light is the deflation, retraction, or bleaching of the coral’s polyps.
In order to help them thrive, place them in the bottom or midsection of your aquarium with low to moderate flow. Allow their tentacles to fully extend but not so much that the tissue becomes bent over the skeleton. Allow the specimen 2 weeks to properly acclimate to your system before experimenting with different locations.
Frogspawn and Octospawn are “passive” feeders. This means that even though their tentacles are capable of grabbing various types of food from the water column, they do not typically go out of their way to do so.
Even though target feeding is not required, you can offer them a variety of foods such as PE Mysis and Calanus, Benepets, and Fauna Marin LPS Pellets once every two weeks.
Frog and Octospawn corals are a great choice for beginner LPS keepers. They are more forgiving to parameter fluctuations and other environmental changes than other Euphyllia Corals while still bringing beautiful movement and color to your reef.
Check out more articles in our Coral Care Series:
