"Easy" Corals

[whitedove359]

I am new to keeping a reef tank. I havent bought my corals, yet, but my tank is ready for it. I dont want anything too hard to take care of and as "low maitaince" (i know there is no such thing) as possible. However, i want my tank to at least look...awsome. I have a 150 gallon. 6 foot tank.

I currently have 2 clownfish, and a yellow tang.

I want to further add a blue tang, a few cardinal fish, some shrimp, and an anenome down the road..thats the rest of the animals I want.

Should i add the rest of the fish and shrimp before...or after...i add the corals?

[adalius]

You could start with corallimorphs (mushrooms) they come in all sorts of colors and can spread pretty rapidly. They don't require much of anything, some like bright light, some like shade, some light fast water movement, some like low water movement. It's pretty much the anywhere anytime softie.

Could also try trumpet corals (caulestra), aka candy cane. Most of the commonly sold varieties are really super hardy, kind of the cockroach of the corals. Some leathers are pretty hardy too, finger leather, cabbage, etc.

Then there's your run of the mill zoas/palys, green button polyps, etc, some of them are really hardy, some aren't. Or you could try xenia, they're fun to watch but if your tank is in good shape they can proliferate like mad and almost become like a weed. Which has an upside, you just start busting up the rocks they are on and selling them as xenia polyps.

[Hindered]

The only thing you might want to add before adding all your corals would be the anemone. Anemones can sting and sometimes knock over coral. But only add this if your tank is relatively established already. What kind of lights do you have?

[XSiVE]

I'd probably consider some sorts of zoa's and paly's.. you can get many of the more common types in colonies relatively cheap.

Frogspawn / Hammer / Torch coral look pretty cool and are very hardy.

Order of addition is up to you, but wait awhile on the anemone.

[whitedove359]

14 K DE 150 watt metal halide

[jolson10450]

i would go with z's and p's first. kenya trees are really easy as well. not trying to make a sale but i have some easy coral in my for sale post but its labeled as rock and sand. i work right in livonia so let me know if you are interested ill throw you some good starter coral in.

any mushrooms are fine. hammers/frogspawns should be fine. just take it slowly. remember patience is key to this hobby so take your time and do research before you make purchases. for coral look for lighting requirements, if they require feeding, how much flow.

[Hindered]

I agree with Z's and P's first. I got my tank all full of coral then got an anemone and it was really bothersome. The anemone kept stinging corals and knocking things over, and the anemone will probably be fine in your tank if it's been up for a few months.

[adalius]

I wouldn't be so sure about 'a few months', on average the recommendation is at least a year of maturity. Mine is hanging in there (put in at a tank age of 2.5 months) but I've also had 9 nems in the past so it was purposely done early as a challenge. There's just too many minor swings we don't even notice in new tanks as they go through their gazillion cycle phases that finicky anemones don't like.

[cg5071]

For movement and coolness I would also go for the frogspawn/hammer/torches. and xenia.
Mushrooms are cool too as said above, you can find many colors and types.

[Hindered]

I've never had an anemone die on me other than due to stress before I got it, but maybe I've just been lucky. I just hated how the anemone started to sting all my corals

[rmalone]

I think nems are fine in a somewhat young tank, IF you have your parameters in check AND you have the right lighting. I would put nems in the difficult class, more so than most if not all coral, including sps. Stay away from the nems for now until you get used to dealing with coral.

[dlhirst]

If you are that new to the hobby, you might wanna look at the frogspawn/hammer/torch corals before buying an anemone. I have a clownfish that lives in my hammer coral. And, I must admit (though probably shouldn't!) I bought the thing THINKING it was an anemone. Learned later how green I was. (As green as the hammer, I am afraid.)

In retrospect, though - in my mind, it still offers the presence of an anemone, but lacks the locomotion! So, I am very glad I got it. I now also have a torch, and a frogspawn as well. Love the movement from them.

Mushrooms have grown very well for me too. Enough so that I have given a few back to the LFS over time. Same with GSP - can't stop it from growing, but I love the motion it adds. So, I keep it on the sand bed, and rip it in half every few months, and give half away.

[fawkes]

Green star polyps are easy. Be sure to put them where you can keep them under control I had to remove some from the front glass on a nano the other day and it is spreading across the sand... Maybe too easy...

[dlhirst]

Yes, the GSP does grow right onto the glass, but at least in my case, when I lift it off the sand bed, the attachment to the glass peels right off too. Definitely don't put it on the rockwork, though. Unless you want a turf room tank.

[joe ringbloom]

star polyps grow like weeds and i sell back to fish store all the time. i have a main rock at bottom of my tank looks like grass cool to watch move pllus have it growing on the back of my tank for decora. did not want to paint back of tank so used my stars.

[dlhirst]

SELL back to the stores. Yeah, I guess I have been too kind... thanks for the idea!