Setosa
Montipora setosa. Intermediate to keep, typical PAR 150–250, moderate flow.
Also sold as Orange Setosa, ORAnge Setosa, Orange Montipora setosa.
Collector tier: common, where the trade ranks it from common through grail. In stock at 32 surveyed shops on 2026-10-19.
Encrusting Montipora in orange to orange-red, unusual for the genus in having a smooth, almost shiny surface and very FEW polyps, which match the body rather than contrasting with it. It undulates as it encrusts and throws branches that fuse and branch again.
Before you buy one
Matching polyps are the quick separator from the Montipora sold beside it: Superman, Sunset and Jedi Mind Trick all run a contrasting polyp against the body, and this one does not. Too much light washes the orange toward pink. The branches are delicate and it grows slowly, by most accounts. Sold mostly as Orange Setosa, from ORA and others, and once a rare coral, it is now widely available. (Until 27 September 2026 this said it grows over whatever it touches; no setosa source says so.)
Keeping Montipora
Encrusting or plating, and it will take the rock it is given. Setosa is intermediate to keep at a typical PAR of 150–250 in moderate flow. A typical starting range for this type of coral, not measured on this one.
What Setosa goes for
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 $27 to $55 per frag, median $40, across 32 shops surveyed on 2026-10-19; the full sweep ran $10 to $200. Asking prices are what sellers want, not what buyers paid. On 2026-10-19 it was in stock at 32 surveyed shops: battlecorals.com, boomcorals.com, cherrycorals.com, chumminghamsreef.com, coral-insanity.com, coralstop.com, and 26 more.
Easily confused with
- Sunset Montipora: An orange body too, but dense, oversized fluorescent green polyps where a Setosa's few polyps match the orange. One reference site even files Sunset under setosa.