Bleeding Apple Scolymia
The Bleeding Apple Scolymia is a premium fleshy LPS coral famous for its incredible red and green colour contrast. This classic colour morph features a deep green base broken up by rich red streaking, creating the distinctive “Bleeding Apple” appearance that has made it a favourite among reef keepers.
Scolymia are solitary corals made up of a single large fleshy polyp. When healthy and fully expanded, the tissue inflates over the skeleton to create a thick, rounded appearance that makes an excellent feature piece on the sandbed.
Care Information
Scientific Name: Scolymia australis
Common Name: Bleeding Apple Scolymia / Button Coral
Coral Type: LPS
Care Level: Easy to Moderate
Lighting: Low to Moderate
Recommended PAR: Approximately 50–150
Water Flow: Low, indirect
Placement: Sandbed or shaded lower rockwork
Temperament: Generally Peaceful
Feeding: Supplemental feeding recommended
Aquarium Placement
Bleeding Apple Scolymia performs best on the sandbed or in a low-light section of the rockwork.
Avoid strong direct lighting and powerful water flow. Gentle indirect movement is ideal, providing enough circulation to prevent debris from settling without constantly pushing against the coral's fleshy tissue.
Its substantial polyp can inflate well beyond the visible skeleton, so allow enough surrounding room for full expansion.
Feeding
Although photosynthetic, Scolymia respond extremely well to supplemental feeding.
Suitable foods include:
- Mysis shrimp
- LPS coral pellets
- Small frozen marine foods
- Finely chopped seafood
- Other appropriately sized meaty coral foods
Target feeding once or twice per week can help maintain strong tissue condition and healthy inflation.
Stable Reef Parameters
Eastern Marine recommends approximately:
Calcium: 420–440 ppm
Alkalinity: 8–9 dKH
Magnesium: 1300–1400 ppm
Stable salinity, temperature and nutrient levels are equally important, and new Scolymia should be slowly acclimated to changes in lighting.
Give It Some Space
Scolymia do not produce the long sweeper tentacles seen in some aggressive LPS corals, but their fleshy tissue can still be damaged by direct contact with neighbouring corals.
Allow several centimetres of clearance around the coral and avoid placing aggressive species within reach.
With its iconic red and green pattern, large inflated polyp and incredible sandbed presence, the Bleeding Apple Scolymia makes an outstanding centrepiece coral for an established reef aquarium.
Colour, pattern, shape and size may vary between individual specimens.
