# Frogspawn



## jpeterson (Dec 6, 2010)

*Please note:*This article and pictures were taken from my website and was written by Stephanie Abbott, if you wish to use this article please message me for prior permission. 

*Scientific Name*
Euphyllia divisia
*Common Name*
Frogspawn 
*Where does it come from?*
Indonesia, Solomon Islands

Also known as the octopus coral, frogspawn is a beautiful and great addition to any reef tank.

The majority is a combination of green and purple, but other color combinations exist including: completely pink, tan, or green; tan and green; pink and green.

Anatomy: A colony of frogspawn is generally made up of "head", each connected together to a hard, calcium base. Each head is made up of multiple

Click the hidden pictures to see more...

long polyps, with a single mouth in the middle of the head. There are also "sweeper tentacles" (or nematocysts), which appear and disappear, extending much longer than the polyps. These sweeper tentacles are capable of producing a very strong sting.

Behavior: This coral can be very aggressive, with sweeper tentacles extending much further away from the rest of the coral; this coral must be given its space! It WILL sting other corals. Sweeper tentacles generally extend at night or in reaction to food, but in some cases colonies will keep them extended throughout the day.

Lighting & Feeding: This coral is photosynthetic and requires moderate lighting (what does this mean?), however, additional feeding will encourage greater and faster growth. Meaty foods are generally best, such as frozen mysis shrimp, bring shrimp, oyster eggs, prawn eggs etc. In order to feed: target feed food of choice, squirting the food over the corals and onto the sweeper tentacles. Each coral head in the colony has its own mouth, and the tentacles will bring the food into the mouth. Feeding once or two a week is adequate for increased growth.

Flow & Placement: The suggested flow for frogspawn is low to moderate. Higher flow will generally cause the coral to not extend fully. The flow should be just enough to gently move the coral around.

Supplements: This coral is a LPS, and depends on calcium and other trace elements to grow and survive. Calcium should be monitored and ideally kept between 400-450ppm. Trace elements can be replenished through consistent water changes.

Growth: Growth can occur in two different ways. One head may split into two heads, or "baby" heads may appear on the coral (can generally only be seen when the coral is closed, due to small size).

Fragging: Fragging may be done by cutting the desired amount of heads off a colony. Suggested cutting equipment for this coral would be bonecutters, or something similar. Fragging should be done in a swift motion with a clean cut, in order to maintain the health of the coral afterwards. Appropriate amounts of iodine may be added to help the coral to heal.

Common Ailments: As with other corals in the Euphyllia family, this coral is very susceptible to brown jelly disease. It is unknown why this disease occurs, but is suspected to be caused by a bacterium entering the coral through ways such as a scratch. The disease often affects one head at a time, symptoms include: distended polyps with a brown jelly-like substance attached to the tissue and calcium structure. It is a very fast and progressive disease and has been known to kill entire colonies within 24 hours. Recommended treatments include: dipping the coral in a coral dip, dipping the coral in iodine, increasing flow after dipping. In severe cases, all infected heads should be fragged off. Many times this will save the remaining healthy heads. Brown jelly is thought to be contagious and usually only infects LPS corals, so other LPS corals should be carefully observed if one is thought to have this disease.

*Pictures*


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

I LOVE frog spawns! Thanks for the informative post! I'm sure all of the pro's will have additional info and advice! Cool internet pictures too! They really exemplify the beauty of this animal.


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## jpeterson (Dec 6, 2010)

funlad3 said:


> I LOVE frog spawns! Thanks for the informative post! I'm sure all of the pro's will have additional info and advice! Cool internet pictures too! They really exemplify the beauty of this animal.


Those are pictures from my tank  It looks extra awesome under the moonlight blulbs!


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

Nice article and great pix!

I'd like to add that there are two general types of frogspawn: e. divisa and e. paradivisa (the latter being the branching variety).

Here are some photo's of my frogspawn (e. paradivisa):

(colony approx 8" in diameter)









Close up of the tentacle tips (which resemble frog eggs):









Formation of multiple 'baby' frogspawn polyps:


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## jpeterson (Dec 6, 2010)

Great pics and thanks for the additional info! Ill be getting round to adding some of this if all the team at Linnaeus agree!


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