Easiest Corals List

[HappyGuppy]

Hi folks,

I have been wondering, what are some of the easiest corals to keep?  Mushrooms and xenia (if you can keep them) seem to be two very easy ones.  How about GSP?  Kenya Trees?  Leathers?

What survives best in a tank with relatively lower light (say, moderate), and easy on water parameters?

Reason for asking is that I'm working on another marine "planted" (macro) tank and would enjoy some basic corals too, though lighting is not intense, and I do let nutrients build up a bit.

Thanks for any advice.

[Thunda]

Hey Happy,

We just bought our first three corals last week.

We were told from various sources that Frogspawns, Zoos and Mushrooms are very hardy and recommended for beginners.

[ordi260]

You could go with a couple zoas or riccordias, see how they do after a couple weeks and then go with different lps (ie. hammer or torch), see how they do and continue nice and slowly!

[HappyGuppy]

Thanks guys.  I didn't think that hammers/frogspawns would be candidates.  Hmmm... riccordias - that's a great idea!  Thought zoos need more light.  All cool suggestions, thanks!

[Darth]

zoa are hit and miss for me ( I love them though my fav coral) xenia leathers are good there are tons of different leathers

[HappyGuppy]

Yeah, leathers are really nice.  I would like to get a few more kinds.

[White Lightning]

I have found the easiest for me have been leathers, mushrooms, candycanes and beleive it r not torches. Also fox corals are pretty easy to keep.

[cdylnicki]

I have found my Fox to be a bit of trouble to keep.  He just seems to be really picky about where he wants to be.

Star polyps, zenias & mushrooms I find are easy to keep.

[dan2x38]

I knew it! You said when you 1st posted RE: your marine tank wouldn't be doing corals... LMAO a FOWLR is just reef waiting for corals... try some srooms & zoas If you want to feed them try Sun Corals they require no light. Not a coral but how a feather duster and/or coco worm?

[NanoSF]

Nobody said Favia. Very easy. Different kinds of polyps are easy too. My favorite is glove polyps.

[Darth]

I would stay away from sun coral especially for a beginner they require a feeding regiment that unfortunately is good in the beginning but often falls to bottom of the list and the coral will pwrish

[NanoSF]

I would stay away from sun coral especially for a beginner they require a feeding regiment that unfortunately is good in the beginning but often falls to bottom of the list and the coral will pwrish

+1 Even if you keep the feeding up it will create a lot of nitrates.

[cdylnicki]

+1 - my sun coral is driving me crazy right now!!

Such a hard coral to please!!

[HappyGuppy]

I knew it! You said when you 1st posted RE: your marine tank wouldn't be doing corals... LMAO a FOWLR is just reef waiting for corals... try some srooms & zoas If you want to feed them try Sun Corals they require no light. Not a coral but how a feather duster and/or coco worm?

Dan LMAO (seriously, I did laugh out loud).  Ok ok ok.  You were *totally right*.  That first tank turned into a coral tank so fast I don't know how it even happened.  Now that I have 5 saltwater tanks (counting a qt & an elaborate sea monkey tank), and a 6th planned, I am making a serious attempt to do a macro tank... but even that (lol) must have at least a few corals.  I bow to your infinite wisdom Dan.  You were right.  Resistance is futile... the corals & I are one.  Ironically, recognizing their addictive nature, I told another ovas friend just starting up into salt with plans of being fowlr only that he will get corals.  He was a bit offended and denied these allegations.  We shall see

[HappyGuppy]

NanoSF - I actually dose a bit of potassium nitrate, along with other stuff, into my macro grow out tank.  I think I could handle extra nitrates (within reason of course).

cdyinicki - you're right, very hard to please.

I actually have accidentally gotten a single sun coral head (long story).  I did feed it at first, but must admit that as Darth pointed out, it has suffered a bit of neglect.

Thanks NanoSF, never thought of favia.  Will research.  And clove polyps too.

Thanks everybody.  I think I've got some good ones to research further.  Appreciate everyones' input!  May all your tanks be gorgeous!

[NanoSF]

Thanks NanoSF, never thought of favia.  Will research.  And clove polyps too.

Well "clove" polyps would be okay too if they were blue, but they are a bit tougher. The easy ones are glove which is what I had said. They are much bigger and are very nice I think.

[Jean L]

+1 - my sun coral is driving me crazy right now!!

Such a hard coral to please!!

Yes indeed... I had the entire lot at one point..yellow, orange and black.. they are just gorgeous... no matter what I did they just slowly faded away..

[NanoSF]

I'm not sure why people have problems with Sun Corals. They are very hardy when it come to tank conditions. They need a fair amount of food, but to just keep them alive maybe one direct feeding a week is all it takes. Other than that they get a bit from the water column and the left overs of fish feeding. If you want them to grow, then you are talking direct feed 3-4 times a week. So if your tank can't handle that, it may not be a good idea. It's odd though, I have found them particularity easy. And it's not like I haven't lost my fair share of corals.

[kole18]

I'd find mostly LPS much easier to keep than sps although this is also a family of sps corals & for softy's way to easy to keep for newbies you don't need a lot of calcium & magnisium it will live for as long as you want this in your tank

[Hookup]

what kind of corals are you referring to?

in general;
Softies are easier than LPS.
LPS are easier than SPS.

Some Softies are harder than others
Some LPS are harder than others and some are easier than some softies
Some LPS are harder than some SPS
Some SPS are easier than some LPS
Some SPS are darn near impossible