Green Star Polyps

4 green star polyps for sale, including Mint, Blue Eye and Metallic Center GSP
Shop green star polyps for sale, from classic mint green mats to blue eye and metallic center morphs. GSP (Pachyclavularia) spreads as a purple encrusting mat studded with bright, waving polyps, and it is one of the fastest, most forgiving soft corals you c... Read more Show less

Shop green star polyps for sale, from classic mint green mats to blue eye and metallic center morphs. GSP (Pachyclavularia) spreads as a purple encrusting mat studded with bright, waving polyps, and it is one of the fastest, most forgiving soft corals you can keep. That speed is the whole story: give it an isolated rock or a back wall and it will carpet the surface within months. Every GSP frag here is grown in our own systems and ships with a live arrival guarantee.

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  • Blue Eye Green Star Polyps Coral
    20% OFF

    Blue Eye Green Star Polyps Coral

    Blue Eye Green Star Polyps Coral
    $39.99 $49.99

    Almost WYSIWYG

    Care Level Easy
    Lighting Low–Moderate
    Flow Moderate-High
    Placement Low–Mid
  • Metallic Center Green Star Polyps Coral
    14% OFF

    Metallic Green Center Star Polyp Coral

    Metallic Green Center Star Polyp Coral
    $59.99 $69.99

    Almost WYSIWYG

    Care Level Easy
    Lighting Low–Moderate
    Flow Moderate, indirect
    Placement Low–Mid
  • Metallic Green Center Star Polyp Coral
    14% OFF

    Metallic Green Center Star Polyp Coral

    Metallic Green Center Star Polyp Coral
    $59.99 $69.99

    Signature Coral

    Care Level Easy
    Lighting Low–Moderate
    Flow Moderate, indirect
    Placement Low–Mid
  • Mint Star Polyps Coral
    22% OFF

    Mint Green Star Polyps Coral

    Mint Green Star Polyps Coral
    $34.99 $44.99

    Signature Coral

    Care Level Easy
    Lighting Low–Moderate
    Flow Moderate-High
    Placement Low–Mid

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Compare Green Star Polyp Varieties

Compare our most popular live corals by care level, lighting, flow, growth, placement, and temperament — from beginner-friendly softies to advanced SPS.

Answers

Green Star Polyp Care FAQ

Are green star polyps easy to care for?
Green star polyps are about as forgiving as corals get, which is why they are a standard first coral. They tolerate a wide range of light and flow, need no feeding, and will grow in conditions that stress most stony corals. The real skill with GSP is not keeping it alive but keeping it contained, since an established mat will encrust across rock, glass, powerheads, and any coral that cannot outpace it.

Why are my green star polyps not opening?
A GSP mat that stays closed for a day or two is usually reacting to something specific rather than dying. New frags often stay shut for several days after shipping while they attach. Beyond that, the common causes are flow that is too strong and direct, a recent swing in salinity or alkalinity, chemical irritation from a nearby leather or soft coral, or physical disturbance such as a snail crawling over the mat. Check flow first, run fresh carbon, and give it a week before changing anything else.

How fast do green star polyps grow?
Very fast. In a stable tank the purple base mat encrusts outward continuously and can cover a fist-sized rock in a couple of months, then keep going onto whatever it touches. Growth accelerates with moderate light and decent nutrients. This makes GSP excellent for covering a back wall or a bare rock quickly, and a poor choice for placing anywhere near slower stony corals you care about.

How do I stop green star polyps from spreading?
Isolation is the only reliable control. Mount GSP on a rock surrounded by open sand so the mat has nowhere to encrust, or dedicate a back wall to it. Trim the advancing edge with a blade or scraper before it bridges to the main aquascape, and siphon the fragments out rather than letting them settle and restart elsewhere. Once GSP reaches the main rockwork, removing it usually means pulling and scrubbing the rock.

Are green star polyps safe for a mixed reef?
GSP has no sweeper tentacles and will not sting a neighbor, but it competes by overgrowth and by releasing chemical compounds like other soft corals. In a mixed reef with SPS and LPS, run activated carbon, keep up regular water changes, and maintain a physical gap between the mat and your stony corals. Treated as an isolated feature rather than part of the main aquascape, it coexists with almost anything.

Live coral buying guide

How to Choose Live Corals for Your Reef Aquarium

What are green star polyps?

Green star polyps, usually shortened to GSP, are encrusting soft corals in the genus Pachyclavularia (closely related to Briareum). They grow as a rubbery purple mat that creeps across hard surfaces, with eight-tentacled polyps rising from it in a dense, waving lawn. The mat itself is the colony; the polyps retract into it when disturbed. GSP is one of the fastest and hardiest soft corals in the hobby.

GSP varieties and color morphs

Star polyps are sorted by polyp color and center contrast rather than by species:

  • Mint green star polyps — the classic, with soft green polyps over a purple mat. The fastest grower and the most tolerant of imperfect conditions.
  • Metallic center GSP — brighter polyps with a contrasting metallic core that pops hard under blue-heavy lighting.
  • Blue eye star polyps — green tentacles around a distinctly blue center, slower to spread than mint and the most sought after of the common morphs.
  • Branching and starburst types — grown on raised stalks rather than a flat mat, giving more movement and a taller profile.

Green star polyp care: light, flow, and placement

GSP adapts to almost anything from low to high light, though moderate intensity produces the best polyp extension and color. Flow should be moderate and indirect: too much keeps the polyps folded shut, too little lets detritus settle on the mat. Compare your reef lighting and keep salinity and alkalinity steady with reliable water testing equipment. No feeding is required, since the coral is fully photosynthetic and also absorbs dissolved organics from the water.

Using GSP as a feature, not a weed

The reefers happiest with green star polyps are the ones who decided in advance where it was allowed to live. A dedicated island rock in open sand, a back wall, or an overflow box turns its growth rate into an asset: a solid sheet of waving green that most corals cannot produce. Left on the main aquascape it becomes a long-term maintenance problem, smothering encrusting SPS and creeping into every crevice. Decide the boundary first, then let it run.

Pairing GSP with other beginner corals

Green star polyps sit naturally alongside other fast, forgiving softies that share its tolerance for imperfect water. Add hardy companions from our beginner corals selection, compare movement-driven options in xenia corals and leather corals, or assemble a coordinated starter mix with a soft coral pack.