Soft corals don’t get the attention they deserve. Maybe because they are considered beginner corals, maybe because they are not as colorful as hard corals but there are some notable exception to that. Let us guide you through one of the very colorful and still photosynthetic members of this family.
软珊瑚适合初学者？并不真地 。。。
Before we start, let’s clear up that when we talk about ‘soft corals’ we don’t mean zoanthids, corallimorphs, star polyps, clove polyps, shrooms etc. but reserve that term more specifically for the toadstool, devil’s hand and branching soft corals. Yes some soft corals are easy to keep, yes most soft corals are not as colorful as hard corals. BUT some exceptions exist, and some particular species such as the Yellow ‘Fiji’ toadstool leather, Palau green Nephthea, or Green spaghetti leather are as colorful as any hard corals.
另外，这是最大的优势，柔软的珊瑚在有很多珊瑚的罐头中，诸如蝴蝶鱼或天使般的坦克。新万博苹果现在，我们有机会拥有一个五颜六色的柔软的珊瑚罐，里面有很多五颜六色的鱼。
Pink Nephthya used to come only from Japan
UCA收集粉红色Nephthya from the Great Barrier Reef, but this particular corals came in the US from Japan in very small quantities. This corals used to be known only from Okinawa in the south of Japan, even though some were also spotted from Fiji, but never really imported.
该物种含有共生藻类！
即使我们能感觉到这种珊瑚属于鲜艳的经典草莓珊瑚家族（Scleronephthyasp或Dendronephthyasp) that don’t host any zooxanthellae and need a constant food source. Which is very difficult to achieve in aquarium and make their maintenance very complicated. However this pink soft coral is from the Nephthea genus, and it does host Symbiotic algae so its maintenance is easy.
外貌：
粉红色Nephthya是浓密的，紧凑的分支软珊瑚。它具有较小的钙尖峰，可以为其提供称为“硬化岩”的支撑，在这种物种中，它们的密度小而短。关闭时，巩膜不会超出息肉，这使它具有非常粗糙但不像小刺纹砂纸的外观。
Underwater this coral may appear blue grey. And some of them are actually light pink when properly illuminated. But some other are bright pink, almost purple when they are properly lighted.
What kind of habitat?
粉红色Nephthya生活在裸露的泻湖中大屏障礁的浅绿色浑浊的礁石中，占据了高潮流的斑点。我们通常在高度暴露，浑浊的水中发现它，通常以上45英尺（15 m）的水。它更喜欢将其恒定流动的位置，这将带来所需的所有食物。因此，他们通常会伸出珊瑚礁，其他珊瑚或侧面。它们还定居于通道的一部分，礁石裂缝，流量和食物被集中并冲洗掉。
The fact that it can survive on the products of its zooxanthellae, doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be fed. It actually does need quite a lot of feeding if we actually want it to grow. To achieve this, it needs descent flow, as the polyps won’t open properly if the flow is not strong enough. If it’s too strong it will close and shrink. They enjoy feeding on small particle, and prefer phytoplankton over larger zooplankton.
What kind of Aquarium for it?
As I said earlier a dedicated soft corals, angel and butterflyfishes is probably the best bet. But because it lives in brightly illuminated with high flow water, a SPS tank would also work very well because it looks great but won’t overgrow everything the way other softies might.
It would add some movement to a pretty motionless SPS tank. Plus this pink color is not that regular among SPS, apart from Birdnest and Stylos. So the best for it would be high intensity lighting, with some warm white light to compliment the blue spectrum otherwise it will look blueish or grey. So it ships poorly, may be it’s a reason peoples don’t dare to import them. But as most soft corals, they grow pretty fast, and culturing them is pretty easy, so I’m sure these will become more available in the near future.
