Coral profiles

[blice]

Hi.
I have been captivated by the wonderful colors and overall beauty of some small coral tanks I have seen in some of my customers homes and would like to get my feet wet in this aspect of the aquaria world. I presently keep 3 cichlid tanks and feel a 30-50g coral tank would make a wonderful addition to my hobby/addiction.

Right now I am looking for info on the stoney corals as they seem to be pretty forgiving of novice first attempts. Let me qualify novice first attempt. I will put a lot of forethought and time into setting this tank up before I place any living animal into it. Research is very important to me and I want to be successful the first time.

I have found a wealth of information on your site and am still trying to make sense of it all without getting a headache. The one thing I haven't been able to find is a comprehensive profiles section of corals here or anywhere else on the web. Am I just not looking in the right place and can anyone steer me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[dileggi]

Welcome to RC.

Here...try these two:

http://www.asira.org/caresheets

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

You can also go to Liveaquaria.com You can type the name of what you're looking for in the search field. It will bring up some info on it.

Good Luck

[Dubbin1]

Originally posted by blice
Right now I am looking for info on the stoney corals as they seem to be pretty forgiving of novice first attempts.

SPS and LPS corals are far from forgiving, especially SPS. Soft corals are good ones to start out with.

[seapug]

Use Liveaquaria as suggested above. Gives you a rough idea of what things look like and what type of care they need. Once you find things that look interesting, browse the marine section of wetwebmedia.com for all kinds of great detailed info. Then search through the coral forums here on RC to read interesting discussion amongst people who keep them.

After you decide what stuff you want to keep, then start planning the tank appropriately to support what you want-- size, flow, lighting, plumbing sump/refugium, aquascape, etc. With reef tanks, it's a long road just to get to the point where you start adding corals.

[phenom5]

Originally posted by Dubbin1
SPS and LPS corals are far from forgiving, especially SPS. Soft corals are good ones to start out with.

I have to echo Dubbin's statement.

Good corals to begin with:
zoanthids
mushrooms
star polyps/ xenia/ anthelia
soft corals-sinularia, sacrophyton, capnella, etc (leathers, toadstool, kenya tree, etc)
euphyllia-hammer, frogspawn, torch coral
caulastrea-candy cane or trumpet coral
trachyphyllia-open brain coral
fungia-plate coral
favites-brain or pineapple coral

Good corals for beginners to avoid:
SPS-acropora, acropora, montipora, stylophora...did I mention acropora?
Some LPS-goniopora, elegance, blastomussa, micromussa.

With all corals, make sure you have a good handle on the conditions that they need to do well, provide those conditions, and you'll have success. I included blastos & micros, not because they're exceedingly difficult to keep, but they require target feeding, and it may be best to wait until you have a good handle on your tank before adding them, as over feeding can increase nutrient levels, and wreak havoc in you tank. elegance and goniopora have limited success in captivity, although it's getting better as hobbiest increase their understanding of keeping these corals in our systems. Montipora are the hardiest of SPS, but SPS in general need a well establish, very low nutrient, stable tank with high flow, and intense lighting.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and here's a good sight for info on corals, but it does help if you know the scientific name of the coral your searching for.

AIMS Coral Search