Glow Worm Favia

Glow Worm Favia is a named favia morph kept for its electric pattern: dark plum-brown valleys between raised polyps, bright green tissue along the ridges, and dotted yellow-green lines that run across each polyp like stitching. Under blue reef lighting the green and yellow markings fluoresce hard against the dark base, which is where the glow worm name comes from. It is listed as Favia sp and grows as an encrusting crust of separate polyps over a heavy skeleton, each polyp with its own mouth and shared walls between neighbors.

Care is beginner-friendly. The entry lists medium light, medium flow, bottom placement, moderate aggression, and moderate growth. Place the frag low on stable rockwork or on a flat base near the sand bed with the polyps facing up. Favias hold their color best out of intense light; too much light washes the contrast and keeps polyps drawn in, while medium light at a low placement keeps the dark valleys deep and the green ridges bright.

Flow should move gently across the colony, enough to clear waste from the grooves between polyps without pressing tissue against the skeleton. Still corners let detritus settle into the colony and irritate the tissue, and direct flow can open recession where flesh meets skeleton.

Feeding supports color and growth. The polyps extend feeder tentacles, often after the main lights dim, and will take small meaty foods such as mysis, finely chopped seafood, or LPS pellets once or twice a week with the flow lowered briefly. Light supplies much of the energy, so feeding is support rather than a requirement, and uneaten food left in the grooves should be cleared away.

Favias extend sweeper tentacles at night that reach well beyond the daytime polyps, so give the colony clear space on all sides, about two inches or more, and judge spacing by the nighttime reach rather than the daytime footprint. Growth is moderate: new polyps bud around the margin and the crust widens steadily over months in a settled spot with stable alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium.