Are there any "Easy to keep" SPS?

[acrohead500ppm]

+1, montipora, just be careful for what you wish for, they can really take over. Also, pocillopora is historically a good aquarium coral. One went sexual in my tank, now I have baby corals everywhere.

just saying Montipora is easy, is pretty broad and incorrect.

some species of Montipora can be more difficult to keep then some species of Acropora.
M. verrucosa, M.danae M. palawanesins M. tuberculosa

can all be VERY difficult to keep for some as most species I just listed have water flow requirements that of Acropora and are very sensitive to unstable alkalinity.

Lets get specific people!!!!:bounce3:

 

[Pallobi]

imo, its not a matter of easy or not easy... most sps will do jus fine if your setup is proper and your husbandry is up to par... its jus a matter of understanding requirements and executing them properly... ir your looking for sps that will allow you to be "lazy" with your husbandry, maybe sps isnt for you... not the OP in particular, jus anyone in general... sps, imo, require daily diligence and care...

as far as some of the "easier to keep" ones... orange cap, pink birdsnest, green stylo seem pretty hardy to me, to name a few...

 

[SPSEMPIRE]

The absolute easiest sps coral to keep is a hydnophora coral. This thing is so easy to keep that most don't even consider it to be a sps coral. Be careful because it will sting just about anything.

Next would be a pavona coral. Really easy to keep. They have a rather strong sting as well. Same as the hydnophora, most sps hobbyist don't like calling this an sps coral although it is much closer than the hydno.

Then you get into your montipora capricornis, but they do vary some depending on a few things. These are really easy to keep and grow like weed. No real need to ever buy a maricultured colony of montipora corals. Just get a frag from a hobbyist in your local club. The only thing you have to watch out for is montipora eating nudibranches, which are the worst pest that you can get IMO.

Birdsnest are easier than acropora corals but they can take some time to get adjusted to new parameters. They also tend to burn their tips before acros will when they are in really high alkalinity. Once they get settled in and are happy, I would say that they can grow as fast, if not faster than montipora corals. HTH

 

[treylane]

IMOP - digis aren't allll that easy. Sure they can do well for awhile in "ok" tanks but certainly I've had them give up and rtn even in a relatively stable tank, if they find some reason to get annoyed. If this is your first foray into montis, start with a captive orange cap frag, that's about as hardy as montis get.

As SPSEMPIRE said, hydnos and (some kinds of) pavonas are excellent choices, they've tough, and have more interesting textures than you see in most "sps tanks" ... also I strongly recommend branching psammocoras. Short of nuclear winter, they are unkillable, branchy, and colorful. Orange branching psammo colonies are relllllatively easy to come by at the moment, and green and "purple(ish)" ones exist as well.

 

[acrohead500ppm]

IMOP - digis aren't allll that easy. Sure they can do well for awhile in "ok" tanks but certainly I've had them give up and rtn even in a relatively stable tank, if they find some reason to get annoyed. If this is your first foray into montis, start with a captive orange cap frag, that's about as hardy as montis get.

As SPSEMPIRE said, hydnos and (some kinds of) pavonas are excellent choices, they've tough, and have more interesting textures than you see in most "sps tanks" ... also I strongly recommend branching psammocoras. Short of nuclear winter, they are unkillable, branchy, and colorful. Orange branching psammo colonies are relllllatively easy to come by at the moment, and green and "purple(ish)" ones exist as well.

thanks for saying some kinds..... just because a handful of species of a genus is considered "easy to keep" doesn't mean the whole genus is.

 

[N-dog]

I have had good luck with most Montiporas, I want to try a Pocillopora. I have heard that they grow pretty well.

 

[Frick]

I have had good luck with most Montiporas, I want to try a Pocillopora. I have heard that they grow pretty well.

In some cases too well. IMO poci is the most likely to give you a spawning event. Which can be good and bad.