Green Star Polyps Frag (Row #53)

Green Star Polyps are one of the most abundantly available corals in the reefing hobby. It is also sometimes known as Starburst Polyps, Star Polyps or Daisy Polyps.  They are also called GSP for short.  This coral has green polyps with a white centre and a purple mat, also known as a stolon.  Each of the polyps has eight distinct tentacles, which are serrated when examined under magnification.  Green Star Polyps are each attached to each other by a rubbery purple mat.  This coral is very fast growing and will continuously grow over available live rock.  It can even be encouraged to grow on the back of the aquarium.  For this reason it is highly recommended that Green Star Polyps be isolated on an rock “island” in the tank to prevent them from taking over the main rockwork.

Green Star Polyps are naturally found on many reefs around the world.  However, due to how easy they are to aquaculture they are almost never imported.

Green Star Polyps are adaptable to a wide range of aquarium conditions, but they generally prefer low to moderate light and low to moderate flow.  This means that they are very well suited to placement on a rock island at the bottom of a reef tank.  This will also ensure that they do not grow out of control.  They are more tolerant of imperfect water conditions than some other species of corals but still do best when parameters are stable.

Green Star Polyps are completely photosynthetic but will respond to spot feeding of a dissolved plankton solution (such as Reef Roids) but this is generally unnecessary.  If they are spot fed the tentacles will be seen actively extending to collect the available food.

Fragging Green Star Polyps is very easy due to its hardy nature and fast growth rate.  All that a hobbyist needs to do is place a frag plug or piece of rubble rock next to them and wait for the coral to grow over the plug, which can then be removed.  Another method is to snip a piece of the coral and glue it to a frag plug.  Like all soft corals it is advisable to wear gloves when handling them.

A colony of GSP example