Coral Question

[Orion120]

Hello everyone,

Looking for some advice (again)
Earlier this month I started a Pico reef in a fluval spec (pic below). Tank has live rock, live sand, hermit crabs, and is fully cycled. Been doing 50% weekly water changes, temp is holding at 79F, and salinity is at 1.0255.

I think it's ready for coral, and I was wondering what is a good "beginner" coral to start with? Zoanthids? This will be my first time keeping coral.

Feeding - Do you have to supplement the tank with food for them?

Placement - Do I have anything to be worried about with hermit crabs in the tank knocking over the coral? They seem to be clumsy, and when food pellets are placed in the tank they go nuts.

Thanks everyone!

 

[brandon429]

All corals must be feed either directly or indirectly which is the case for zoanthids, there are no exclusively photosynthetic corals we keep

By simply feeding other animals a good majority of corals can get what they need from the water. Any coral other than these are good starter corals, id list the ones to wait on, and then any others are good to go

Ask lfs if what you are buying is non photosynthetic, don't get em yet
Wait on sps frags

That's about it, the rest of the options are pretty much equal as starter corals.

You should get a refrigerated feed that stays suspended in the water column for a while, look for roti-feast its perfect.

 

[brandon429]

All corals must be feed either directly or indirectly which is the case for zoanthids, there are no exclusively photosynthetic corals we keep

By simply feeding other animals a good majority of corals can get what they need from the water. Any coral other than these are good starter corals, id list the ones to wait on, and then any others are good to go

Ask lfs if what you are buying is non photosynthetic, don't get em yet
Wait on sps frags

That's about it, the rest of the options are pretty much equal as starter corals.

You should get a refrigerated feed that stays suspended in the water column for a while, look for roti-feast its perfect.

 

[Markdiego]

Looks like you had something in there already. How did it do? Id stay away from sps as thet can be picky with your parameters and lighting. Imo id go with GSP or maybe some xenia. Those are pretty hardy softies.

 

[Orion120]

Nope never had anything in there before. I did exactly what has been suggested and got a small GSP frag. Most of the polyps are closed right now. Will take a picture once they all open up.

 

[RL206]

GSP is a good starter, they were the first coral in my current tank, as well as my last. I am about 7 weeks in on my current tank and added an sps frag about a week ago. It is doing well so far!