Best coral for beginners?

[nwsharksfan]

Was hoping to get some advice on hardy coral that are a little more forgiving of beginner's mistakes than most. Also, is it best to get small frags from lfs or buy online? (note: one lfs told me my newly cycled 55 gal would be great for a yellow tang and the other lfs in my area was selling live rock where 50% of the live rock was piled over the water level).

 

[ImACoolguy]

Softies. Kenya trees, green star polyps, and Leathers are pretty easy.


Caleb

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Don't forget shrooms (ricordea are my personal favs) and Zoas. They come in all the colors you can imagine


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[bribo12]

Duncan's IMO are great for beginners too. And you can feed them meatier food


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[BigRedsReefs10]

Duncan's IMO are great for beginners too. And you can feed them meatier food


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How could I forget Duncan's , some other easy lps would be acans, blastos, and euphillia (frogspawn, hammers, and torches)


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[54seaweed]

A good place to start check out live aquara
Beginner Corals: Corals Suitable for Beginners in Saltwater Aquariums
this should help give you a idea of whats available

 

[nwsharksfan]

Another question. Assuming conditions are good, how quickly do these coral grow? There is a considerable difference in price between the small/medium/large sizes of coral. Am I better off getting a small size and letting it grow? or are the smaller ones less likely to survive? I and leaning towards the duncans and/or "frogspawn". Liveaquaria also has a "lavender mushroom" (Rhodactis sp) that looks pretty awesome. Doesn't look like what I picture mushroom coral to be (ie round and mushroomee).

 

[54seaweed]

Most of them grow at a decent rate and some grow slower it depends
leathers grow fairly fast along with a lot of LPS torch frog spawn ect , mushrooms once they settle in grow fast zoa's / palys can grow fast it all depends on lighting and if there fed well
the reason they sell different sizes some have super big tanks and the small frags get lost
bigger corals stand out nicer

 

[Sniperhank]

And as always, make sure you like what you are putting in. I've put some 'hey cool everyone has one of those' into my tank and they grow like weeds. This is true for almost every polyp coral out there. So make sure you like it before you have a forest of them.

 

[nwsharksfan]

So, in my Aquacon cart I have: tank raised green polyp leather coral, Ricordea Florida Lavender, and purple tip green frogspawn. Any mistakes being made here? (including vendor?)

Thanks.

 

[bribo12]

So, in my Aquacon cart I have: tank raised green polyp leather coral, Ricordea Florida Lavender, and purple tip green frogspawn. Any mistakes being made here? (including vendor?)

Thanks.

I've actually not heard good things about them. Idk


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[nwsharksfan]

Update. Switched to Galaxea Coral, Kenya tree and Ricordea Florida Lavender. $178 with shipping. Jeesh!

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

That sounds really expensive even with $50 shipping (usual cost for overnight) you can probably do better. Have you checked other sites? Also galexeas are really aggressive and will sting and kill pretty much any coral in range (6-8") so be careful with where you place them.


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[nwsharksfan]

Aquacon is significantly cheaper than liveaquaria... but I haven't ventured beyond these two sites. I'll keep shopping. Also read in my coral book that Kenya Trees are slow growing and rely less on zooxanthellae than most coral and therefore are much more reliant on "feeding" and are therefore more difficult to maintain - which is totally contradictory to what the aquacon site said.

 

[bribo12]

Aquacon is significantly cheaper than liveaquaria... but I haven't ventured beyond these two sites. I'll keep shopping. Also read in my coral book that Kenya Trees are slow growing and rely less on zooxanthellae than most coral and therefore are much more reliant on "feeding" and are therefore more difficult to maintain - which is totally contradictory to what the aquacon site said.

Lol Kenya tree is one of the fastest spreading corals in the hobby. Once it gets big enough it will drop branches which spread and grow into new trees and continue the process until your tank is overrun and you hate yourself for buying Kenya tree lol.

When I worked in a lfs I actually find a nudi branch that fed exclusively on Kenya tree corals. Quite an interesting animal and IMO quite handy for overrun tanks. But that's the only time I've ever seen one. But for beginners it is a hardy easy to keep coral. Just warning about how much of a pain it can become if you do move into nicer corals.


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[nwsharksfan]

Ok, last go. I found a store that is somewhat local that can ship to me for $15 (it would cost $15 in gas to drive there plus 2 hrs rt). I have a single orange ricordea (any input on how quickly - if at all - they multiply?) $19.99, ORA green polyp toadstool $39.99 (no indication as to size), two heads of Duncan's whisker coral $29.98 total, and moon brain coral (3-4") $39.99. Any thoughts on price or selection. I toyed with the idea of getting a "frag pack" for $124 but figured if I do that I might not like half of what I get.

Thanks.

 

[bribo12]

Seems ok to me. $15 shipping isn't to bad. The brain seems a bit high on pricing but everything else looks ok.


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[spoonman]

Whatever you do, don't ever get pulsing xenia! That stuff is a plague!

 

[nwsharksfan]

I do remember from my first stint with sw that pulsing xenia are to be avoided. I did opt for orange lace clove polyp instead of the brain. What is the best thing to "feed" coral? Do you target feed them or just dose the tank with the stuff every so often.

 

[spoonman]

There are 2 different schools of thought on that one! If you are keeping up with water changes and don't have any really demanding corals, then no feeding is necessary. Others feed them whenever they feed the tank. I personally don't feed my corals, but I don't have that many either.....