Coral for a Newbie

[totallydismayed]

Coral is why I got into this hobby. I pretty much like it all but especially... bubble coral, sun coral, tooth coral, anchor coral, brain coral, sun coral, leathers/finger coral, mushroom corals, anemones, star polyps, xeniids, dendronephthya, feather dusters....

I eventually want a very diverse community of coral in my tank. My tank is about ready for some coral now... So where's a good place for me to start? What are some of the easier ones to take care of?

I've heard that soft corals are too hard for a beginner to keep. I've also heard that leathers and mushroom corals make good beginner corals. What are some other beginner's corals?

[onecrzyboi4u]

hard is the hardest to keep in my opinion.. but mushrooms, open brain, bubbles, torches, hammers, polyps, toadstools, cabbage, xenias, closed brains, star polyps and feather dusters.

anemones are really hard to keep id make sure you tank was up a year before getting one of those.. then id get a rose bulb or bubble tip.

[sir_dudeguy]

I've heard that soft corals are too hard for a beginner to keep

exact opposite Soft corals are what most people start with due to their hardy nature. There are those few that are harder to keep though, dont get me wrong (i think that sun corals are one of the harder ones to keep) but for the most part, softies are the easiest ones to keep. Oh, and leathers and mushrooms are both softies

But pretty much any mushroom is a good starter, pretty much any zoo (zoa, zoanthids...whatever you wanna call em ) green star polyps, xenia (dont recommend xenia unless you place it at the top of your rock though because it spreads very fast...and once you get it, you wont get rid of it all) kenya tree...i've got 2 different toadstool leathers that seem very easy. One is green and the other is the regular gold. I've also got a fiji yellow leather, but those seem to be a lot more difficult, but if you start with others, you should be able to keep one after a while.

Soft corals are also a very common starter coral because they dont require high lighting like lots of other corals do. Hopefully this helps

[drummereef]

I'd start with polyps and shrooms and go from there. Softies are very easy imo. Colt, kenya tree, toadstool, etc are all good first corals. The next step would be the LPS you mentioned. You just have to make sure you have room in your Aquapod as they can sting surrounding corals. Make sure you do your research before buying. Eric Borneman's book, Aquarium Corals, is a must read. Just make sure you have a method to keep up on alkalinity and calcium consumption as some of the corals on your list will start pulling quite a bit. I'd stay away from SPS for now.

[Fenton2]

I've got kenya trees growing quite a bit as well as zooanthids, and I'm definitely a newbie.

I would also echo xenia and green star polyps (always abbreviated as GSP) as good starters.

Stay away from anything with "pora" in the name for now.

[onecrzyboi4u]

shoot my xenias are growing like weeds.. started off with one stalk now i have like alot.. i just frag em off and give em to the petstore for credit.

[glockcoma]

send me some

[mg426]

Start with softies and mabe a few Zoos