Blastomussa corals an LPS coral that are very interesting looking and frequently resemble acans, there three main species in the aquarium trade, these include Wellsi, which is the most common, Merleti, which have small clustered polyps, and Vivida, these are the very large polyp blastos that are rarer. The Wellsi blastos include the classic red and green and purple and green blastos that are commonly sold, the Vivida includes the large polyp blastos like the Iron Man and Black Widow blatos, the Merletti is typically sold in small clusters with taller “stalks” and very small polyps.
Blastos are photosynthetic due to the zooxanthellae that live in their cells and feed them, because of this it is not necessary to feed them, however, it will help them grow faster and present more vibrant colors. It is best to feed them once per week, they will happily accept most foods from very fine powdered coral foods to mysis shrimp. They will slowly close around their food and eat it over the course of an hour.
Blastos are all very easy to care for, but wellsi and merleti are faster growing and easier to keep than the larger polyped vivida. They like low flow and low to medium light, they prefer dirtier water with nitrates around 5-10 ppm, phosphates at roughly .03-.25 ppm. They prefer calcium levels to be around 400-480 ppm, alkalinity of 7-10 DKH, and magnesium of 1300-1500 ppm. These levels can be maintained by either performing regular water changes or through dosing. Testing these levels is recommended for a successful reef tank and can be performed at the Queen City Corals Storefront for free!
We hope this article helped you learn more about these incredible Blastos! If you have any other questions or would like to suggest an edit to this article send us an email at queencitycorals@gmail.com, or message us on Facebook or Instagram!
