Like other Leather corals of the same variety it has a thick stem that extends from the rock or whatever it is attached to, and rises several inches. Large specimens are available in the hobby with stems that are 4 or 5 inches in length and 3 inches in diameter. Sarcophyton ehrenbergi may not be available as easily as other types and if you wish to acquire one you may either have to call around, or place an order for one with a reseller. Note that rock is not its favorite medium for attaching to.
A Sarcophyton Leather Coral, unidentified speciesSarcophyton ehrenbergi distinguishes itself from other Leather corals mainly by the length of its tentacles and the size of the opened ends of them. Another distinguishing characteristic is the fact that they seem to be extended more and for longer periods of time than in other Leather corals (S. ehrenbergi does not cover itself with a slime coating that much and not that often). This is kind of interesting as the coral remains more attractive that way for longer periods of time and does not go through the sliming as often as other Leather Corals. The area where they are most often found is the Red Sea, although some are found in the Indian Ocean as well. The main collection areas though seems to be the Red Sea. Note that this coral is normally pricier than other Leather corals. Whether its origin from the Red Sea has anything to do with that is unclear. Experience is though that anything coming from the Red Sea seems to be pricier for some reason.
S. ehrenbergi tends to be found at greater depths and will, therefore, do better when sufficient blue light is provided, or when metal halides are used that are high in Kelvin degrees. One must be careful though when first introducing it to the tank, as it is not used to intense lighting. Indeed, some of these corals may come from depths of 30 to 45 feet where lighting is totally different than nearer the surface.
Keep this in mind when placing one in your tank. Immediate MH lighting may not be the best for this coral. You may have to gradually acclimate it to higher lighting intensities and not expose it fully so that some of the light is reflective rather than direct. This seems to be a better approach for this coral.
Although it will adhere to rock formations, it appears to prefer gravel like or sandy like substrates more. This makes it different from many other Leather Corals that tend to favor rock formations. You need to be aware of this as "how" you place it in the tank is important. In my experience it does best when placed all the way at the bottom on what could be defined as a smaller pieces of rock or crushed coral like substrates.
The polyps are brownish but some vary and appear to have some yellow in them. Some types have rather whitish ones as well. The ends, too, are usually close to white. S. ehrenbergi can be confused with S. glaucum. The latter is more ridged around the Top though, whereas S. ehrenbergi is not. S. glaucum has lighter colored tentacles as well. S. glaucum retracts its tentacles more often and does better under more intense lighting.
Because this Leather Coral comes from greater depths where it is not used to intense illumination, when introducing this species to your tank, you will need to gradually acclimate it to metal halide lighting and ensure that the type you use provides enough of the blue spectrum or this soft coral will not do well. Shielding it from direct light is probably the best approach in the beginning. As time goes on, you can expose it to more lighting and see how it reacts. If the coral expands and the polyps are out, you have not exposed it to too much light. As you continue doing this you will find a time where the coral will retract its polyps more frequently. That is one of the signs that it is getting too much light (too much energy really).
It grows well in the aquarium and can be propagated once it has been carefully acclimated. The latter is one of the most important criteria for success. More on this can be found in the NetClub Library article.
Propagation by cutting is possible, as is the norm with Leather corals in general. The NetClub Library contains two articles on how to do so. You may wish to read those before you start making cuttings. Note that this corals requires real high water quality when you make cuttings. DOC needs to be very low (dissolved organic carbon). This usually means that your skimmer must really be polishing the water very well.
If closing of the polyps occurs too frequently, you may be using too strong lighting and you may need to shield the coral from that intensity and gradually acclimate it to more light over a period of several months in my experience.
Wilkens pointed out at one time that this may also be due to overfeeding, or to water that is too high in free floating food particles. I have not personally been able to demonstrate this but I am sure Wilkens researched the matter thoroughly as he usually does. Skimmers that run efficiently should be able to keep this material out of the water without too much difficulty.
Should this closing too often happen to you, look at those as being possible causes for your coral to close too often and take whatever remedial action is necessary. Overfeeding feeding a tank and its inhabitants is not a good practice for this coral. It will not do well if the water contains too much dissolved organic material.
Rapid changes in phosphate levels are not taken well either. If your phosphate levels are too high, lower them slowly by using small amounts of phosphate removing compounds (usually far less than what the manufacturer recommends) and change them more frequently (since you are using less of them). When you do so, no rapid changes in PO4 levels will occur.
As with all Leather corals keep macro-algae and Zoanthids away from Leather corals. The interaction is detrimental to the soft coral in all cases I have observed. This is especially so for all forms of Caulerpa macro-algae.
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