Seriatopora hystrix, a other sps. Intermediate to keep, Typical PAR 150–300, high flow.
Also sold as Birdsnest, Bird's Nest, Birdnest, Pink Birds Nest.
Rarity tier: common, reviewed 2026-08.
Names that contain “Birds Nest” and are not this coral: Ponape Birds Nest, Ponape Birdsnest, Thick Branch Birdsnest, Thick Branch Birds Nest. They are separate corals traded at their own prices, so read the animal rather than the label.
A small-polyp stony coral, Seriatopora hystrix, built from thin branches that taper to a needle point and fuse into a tangle, up to 150mm long in the wild and shorter and thicker where the water moves hard. The corallites sit in neat rows down each branch and the polyps stay retracted by day. Pink is the usual colour; cream, green and blue forms exist and cost more. The name is a species complex rather than one species, which is why two Birds Nests from two shops can look quite different.
The tips. A true S. hystrix tapers to a sharp point, and the corallites run in tidy lines along the branch rather than scattered over it. The Thick Branch Birdsnest sold beside it has blunt, non-tapering branches and is S. caliendrum, a different species. Branch thickness on its own says little, because the same coral grows thick in strong flow and thin in weak. Its weakness is also a tell: the branches are brittle, and a frag that arrives with snapped tips is normal rather than damaged.
Less light than an acro, more flow than anything, and nothing touching it. Birds Nest is intermediate to keep at a typical PAR of 150–300 in high flow. A typical starting range for this type of coral rather than a measured requirement for this morph. Spectrum, how it was acclimated and the system it grew in all move it.
Full care notes for branching SPS
No verified sales yet. A range publishes once 3 dated, checkable records from 3 different sources exist, priced per frag and reported as a median, with what shops ask kept separate from what buyers paid. One frag is a single cut on a plug, whatever its exact size. Colonies, mini colonies and mother stock are excluded rather than averaged in. Nothing on this page is for sale. Shops are typically asking $22 to $47 per frag, median $35, across 6 shops surveyed on 2026-09-07; the full sweep ran $10 to $55. Asking prices are what sellers want, not what buyers paid. On 2026-09-07 it was in stock at 6 surveyed shops: baybridgeaquarium.com, boomcorals.com, coralsanonymous.com, lakesidereefing.com, prestigeworldwidecorals.com, reefnation.com.