Favites sp.

Favites is a striking LPS coral whose individual corallites form a compact colony with shared walls. Its growth habit is often encrusting and gradually thickening or dome-shaped. The coloration varies strongly depending on the individual, and the same coral can exhibit several different colors and patterns.

Favites closely resembles Favia corals in appearance. The clearest difference is in the structure of the corallites: Favites corallites have shared walls, while Favia-type corals have separate walls for individual corallites. In small frags, distinguishing them can still be challenging.

Characteristics

• LPS coral with large and clearly distinguishable corallites
• Corallites have shared walls
• Grows as an encrusting and often later thick or dome-shaped colony
• Available in numerous different colors and patterns
• Relatively easy to care for in a stable reef aquarium
• Can extend long sweeper tentacles and sting nearby corals

Care

Light: Moderate, around 100–150 PAR. Favites can also adapt to stronger lighting, but a new coral should be acclimated to the light gradually.

Flow: Moderate and indirect. Water movement should keep the coral's surface clean without strong direct flow stressing the soft tissue.

Placement: Leave sufficient space around it. Favites can use sweeper tentacles, especially at night, which can harm nearby corals. A good starting point is a distance of at least about 8–10 cm from other corals, but more space may be needed depending on the individual.

Feeding: Obtains a large part of its energy from its photosynthetic symbiotic algae-containing tissues and nutrients in the water. Separate feeding is not essential, but small protein-rich coral food, mysis, or other suitable zooplankton-like food can support growth.

Recommended water parameters

• Temperature: 24–26 °C
• Salinity: 34–35 ppt
• KH: 7–9 dKH
• Calcium: 400–450 mg/l
• Magnesium: 1250–1400 mg/l
• Nitrate: 2–15 mg/l
• Phosphate: 0.03–0.15 mg/l
• pH: 8.0–8.4

More important than precisely targeting a single value is maintaining water parameters as stable as possible.

Additional information

• Scientific name: Favites sp.
• Coral type: LPS
• Origin: Indo-Pacific
• Difficulty level: Easy–Moderate
• Light: Moderate, around 100–150 PAR
• Flow: Moderate, indirect
• Aggressiveness: High