A hardy soft coral whose flat base sends up thick, finger-like lobes that resemble a hand, making it one of the easiest leather corals for beginner reef keepers. It tolerates a wide range of light and flow and asexually reproduces readily by fragging.
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Colonies commonly 10-25 cm across in aquaria; can spread to 30 cm+ over time
Lifespan
10–30 years
Social needs
solo
Native region
Indo-Pacific reefs (Red Sea to the western Pacific, including Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Great Barrier Reef)
Origin
Old World
Climate
🌴 Tropical
Water type
🌊 Marine
Family
Alcyoniidae
Genus
Lobophytum
Part of the Soft Corals
Soft corals such as leathers, colt, cloves, Anthelia, gorgonians and Sympodium. Non-skeletal octocorals with flexible, often swaying colonies and eight-tentacled polyps; mostly hardy, beginner-friendly reef corals driven by photosynthesis and tolerant of a wide range of light, flow and nutrients.
From the minimum an animal needs to be kept humanely, up to the ideal setup. Bigger is almost always better — minimums are floors, not targets.
Photo coming soon
Minimum
Stable nano reef
10+ gal / SG 1.025 / Alk 8-9 dKH / NO3 5-15 ppm
Hardy soft coral — fine in a stable nano reef with low–medium light and gentle flow. Place low/mid; tolerates higher nutrients than SPS. Devil's Hand (Lobophytum) — finger-lobed leather; tolerates lower light.
Photo coming soon
Recommended
Established 30-gal reef
30+ gal / cycled 6+ mo / Alk 8-9 / Ca 420-440
Established 30+ gal reef with stable lighting + mid flow. Photosynthetic; no target feeding required. Frag-friendly — grows fast.
Photo coming soon
Ideal
Mature mixed reef
75+ gal / show-quality stability
Mature 75+ gal mixed reef. Tolerant species like this can compete chemically with neighbours (e.g. xenia, GSP spread fast) — give space or contain on isolated rock. Devil's Hand (Lobophytum) — finger-lobed leather; tolerates lower light.
Life & growth stages
How this animal changes through its life — each stage often has its own care, diet and space needs.
Photo coming soon
Planula larva
Corals begin as a free-swimming planula larva released into the water column after spawning or brooding. The tiny, ciliated larva drifts and swims until it finds suitable hard substrate to settle on.
Photo coming soon
Single polyp
Once settled, the larva metamorphoses into a single founding polyp that secretes a calcium-carbonate (or proteinaceous) base and extends a ring of tentacles to feed. Reef-building corals begin laying down skeleton at this stage.
Mature colony
The founding polyp buds asexually into a colony of many genetically identical polyps, building the species' characteristic growth form — branching, plating, encrusting, or massive. A mature colony can reproduce and contributes to reef structure.
Color & pattern variants
Natural variants occur in the wild; selectively bred (man-made) variants were developed in captivity.
Natural
representative
Yellow Fiji Devil's Hand
A warm yellow-tan color form collected around Fiji, prized for its bright tone under blue-shifted reef lighting.
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Green Polyp Devil's Hand
A morph displaying green-tinted polyps against a tan body, especially fluorescent under actinic/blue LEDs.
Keep in an established reef tank of at least 75-110 L (20-30 gal) with mature, stable water. Target salinity 1.024-1.026 SG, temperature 24-27 C (75-81 F), pH 8.1-8.4, alkalinity 8-11 dKH, calcium 400-450 ppm, magnesium 1250-1350 ppm. Nitrate up to ~10-25 ppm and a trace of phosphate are tolerated and even beneficial; ultra-low-nutrient (ULNS) conditions can stress leathers. Place low to mid in the rockwork with room around it, as it competes chemically with neighbors.
Substrate
Not substrate-dependent; mount on live rock, a frag plug, or rubble using reef-safe cyanoacrylate gel or a small monofilament loop until it attaches. It prefers a solid anchor point over open sand and will fuse its base onto rock. Avoid burying the base in sand where detritus accumulates.
Equipment & setup
Provide moderate, indirect water flow from a powerhead or gyre to keep mucus and detritus from settling on the lobes, but avoid a constant blasting jet. Moderate lighting is ideal: roughly 50-150 PAR under LED or T5, which adapts to most fixtures; acclimate slowly to bright SPS-level light. Run a protein skimmer and activated carbon to manage the chemical toxins; standard reef heater and stable salinity round out the setup.
Diet
Largely photosynthetic via symbiotic zooxanthellae, so good lighting supplies most of its energy. It also absorbs dissolved organics and captures fine particulate food; occasional broadcast feeding of phytoplankton, coral amino-acid blends, or fine reef foods supports faster growth but is not strictly required. No target feeding of large meaty foods is needed.
Behavior & temperament
Peaceful and non-aggressive in the sense that it lacks stinging sweeper tentacles, but it wages chemical warfare, releasing terpenoid allelochemicals that can suppress SPS and stony corals nearby. It periodically retracts its polyps and sheds a waxy surface film (a normal cleaning behavior) during which it looks shrunken and dull for a few days. Not handleable beyond routine fragging; wear gloves and avoid touching your face, as leather mucus can irritate skin and eyes.
Health
Very disease-resistant. The main concerns are prolonged closed-up periods (often from poor flow, irritation, or unstable parameters), tissue necrosis at a damaged base, and brown-jelly-type infections after injury. Strong activated-carbon use helps export the allelopathic toxins it releases. Sudden, persistent failure to open warrants checking flow, alkalinity swings, and nipping fish.
Tips, DIY & hacks
To frag, cut a lobe tip with a clean sterile blade and rubber-band or glue it to a plug; it heals within days. If it stays closed more than a week, increase flow slightly and refresh carbon to clear shed-film toxins. Keep at least several centimeters of clear space between it and stony corals, and rinse hands after handling. Acclimate new colonies to your lighting gradually over 1-2 weeks to prevent bleaching.
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