Corals

[Willie_6]

Here is a list of corals I am interested in adding to my tank:

Bubble Coral
Leather
Candy Can
Brain (Open or Closed, not sure which)
Xenia

How are these corals as far as aggresiveness, difficulty to keep, and maintenance level? By maintenance, I mean have to specially feed. My tank is 75 gal. More info on my tank listed in the my current tanks section.

FYI-I currently have 2 SPS, a Montiopora, Frogspawn and a toadstool. None of which require extra feeding. Let me know what you think.

 

[Willie_6]

Bump

 

[thehedge]

All of them are great corals for your tank.

The Bubble Coral you will need to feed with krill, silversides, or I use Formula 1 cubes.

If you get an Open Brain, you will need to target feed rotifers or dose with phytoplankton.

The others will all do fine with just regular dosing of phytoplankton.

The Bubble Coral is arguably the most aggressive out of your group, and should be placed with about 3inches of clearance around it, minimum.

They are all pretty hardy corals, except the Bubble Coral might take some time to acclimate.

 

[Willie_6]

Hmmmm...thanks for the feed back. I am concerned about the various feeding requirements. Are they fed nightly, or do you have a schedule?

 

[thehedge]

I usually dose with Phyto every day usually about 2 hours before my lights go out.

As for the Bubble coral feeding, it usually is only 2 times a week...

 

[MCsaxmaster]

I would leave out any leather corals, and maybe Xenia, as they tend to damage some of these other corals (or vice-versa, leave out the stonies and keep the soft corals).

Bubble corals really don't react well to most leather corals IME. I've seen them die in tanks that housed them no matter what the owner seemed to do (e.g. everyother day 1/3 water change, skimming, and activated carbon). You may want to rethink if you plan to keep your Sarcophyton. Then again, I've seen people that were successful before too, so it is variable. I suppose the thing to do is try it if you like and remove something immediately if there is a problem.

These are all fairly easy corals to maintain, with the caveat I just mentioned, but they (like all corals) do require food. Sometimes the food intended for fish (and their waste) is enough to maintain a tank's corals, but often times this is not so. Even if they do survive without supplemental feeding, they never seem to be as healthy as if they are well fed (obviously). See Eric's food recipe maybe. All corals need to be fed meaty food. Small food (microscopic even) is preferable to large food.

Chris

 

[Willie_6]

I will check out Eric's recipe. I have glanced over it a couple times and everytime my stomach gets qweezy. Does anyone else have input on Xenia's and Leathers? Leather's I could do without, I suppose. I really like Xenia. With that said I would not want to jeopardize my other corals.