NY Knicks Torch

The NY Knicks torch is a Euphyllia glabrescens selection named for the basketball team's colors: blue-to-purple tentacles finished with orange-gold tips. Under white light the tentacles read deep indigo; under actinic light the tips light up orange and the whole head glows. Torch strains are named by vendors from single standout colonies, and the Knicks has held its place among the most wanted torches because the two-tone contrast survives in normal tanks, not only in photo lighting.

E. glabrescens grows on Indo-Pacific reef slopes, anchored in rock or rubble with its tentacles streaming in the current. The aquarium care is the standard torch recipe, done carefully: medium light, medium and gently surging flow that makes the tentacles sway without whipping them against the skeleton, and placement in the middle region of the rockwork. Flow matters more than any other single factor — too little and the head stays pinched and collects detritus at its base; too much and the flesh tears on the sharp septa of its own skeleton.

Respect the sting. Torch corals extend sweeper tentacles well beyond their daytime reach, especially at night, and a Knicks head will burn neighboring corals — including other Euphyllia that are not its own colony. Give it six inches of clearance in every direction and more downstream. Feeding is optional but visible: a weekly offering of mysis or a quality LPS pellet, placed on the tentacles with pumps off, produces a clear feeding response and faster head splitting. Growth proceeds by budding new heads from the base of the stalk once the colony is fed and settled.

Field notes — what keepers report: Torch color names draw skepticism, and keepers advise judging the Knicks under your own lights rather than vendor photos — the blue deepens and the tips brighten under blue-heavy schedules, while daylight-heavy tanks see a plainer purple-brown torch. Keepers also repeat one warning about all premium torches: they ship stressed, often arrive deflated, and usually need a week of quiet, moderate flow before they open fully.

Photo: Ryan Boren (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons. The photo shows a Euphyllia glabrescens torch in an aquarium; the NY Knicks strain is an aquacultured selection of this species, chosen for the blue tentacles and gold tips described above.