Frogspawn: Euphyllia divisa
The third, and arguably least well known, of the Euphyllia trinity is the Frogspawn. This coral gets its name from their polyps, which resemble frogs' eggs. Of the three, the Frogspawn is probably the easiest to keep as they are tolerant of a wider range of lighting and flow. They are most commonly available as green, orange or purple specimens but can sometimes be found in gold and “splatter” colour morphs.
While they are very rarely available in a single head wall variety, the overwhelming majority of the corals available are the branching type. This means that they grow by splitting, with single heads continually dividing over time. Like other Euphyllia they have an indeterminate growth rate, meaning that they will grow as large as their environment allows them to. While it is hard to know for sure, some hobbyists claim that they are the fastest growing members of the family.
Frogspawn are generally regarded as being quite forgiving when it comes to placement. They can usually tolerate higher levels of light and flow than either Torch or Hammer corals and their tentacles are less likely to be damaged or become stringy when exposed to higher levels of flow. Having said that, they generally prefer moderate levels of both light and flow and if they are to be placed in the upper half of the tank they should be moved up slowly to allow them to get used to the higher levels of light. Like any coral, they are far more likely to be damaged by light levels that are too high, as opposed to too low. They can be placed either on the sandbed or attached to the rockwork using glue or epoxy.
Frogspawn are very closely related to Hammer Corals and can be placed in close proximity to them to create a beautiful garden. In fact, there is even a hybrid that is sometimes available, commonly referred to as a “Frammer”.
Like other members of the Euphyllia family, Frogspawn can be fed a high quality LPS specific or generic coral food, although they seem to exhibit a less robust feeding response than their Torch or Hammer cousins. The decision to feed or not is up to the individual aquarist. Although feeding may improve the brightness of their colours and increase the growth rate, Frogspawn are photosynthetic and do not require supplemental feeding.
