Please Help Me Stock the Best Softie Tank Ever!

[Yedgy]

...well, after seeing some of the beauties on this forum, maybe not the best ever, but hopefully pretty close!

Hi everyone! :bounce3:

After a couple of false starts, I've assembled my new 55G aquarium and begun the cycling process. When it's ready I'd like to stock it with a very colorful and harmonious collection of soft corals, mushrooms, and zoanthids, complemented by a peaceful community of fish and inverts. Luckily, I have a few weeks yet before the cycling is done, so I have time to research my stocking list.

I haven't had much luck finding reliable places online that stock a wide selection of premium soft corals (LiveAquaria being the only one that I've discovered so far). Lots of places have WYSIWYG SPS, LPS, mushrooms, and polyps but softies seem rarely represented. Where do you folks like to shop for WYSIWYG corals, especially pedigreed corals like ORA, Tyree, etc.?

Tentative stocking list is as follows (PLEASE comment and make suggestions!):

Centerpiece:
I'd like to build around a large showpiece, likely a nice Sarcophyton toadstool or S. Elegans Fiji leather.

Branching Corals:
Cauliflower colt (Klyxum)
Brightly colored tree corals (Neospongodes, Stereonephthya, etc.)
Branching leathers (Sinularia, etc.)

Isolated islands of matting corals:
Green star polyps (Pachyclavularia)
Pulsing Xenia or Cespitularia
Small rocks with ultra-colored mushrooms and Zoanthids

Other inhabitants that add visual interest and that can peacefully coexist with the above:
Blue ridge coral (Heliopora)
Photosynthetic gorgonians

Inverts:
Trochus and Cerith snails
Serpent star
Coco worm
Fire or cleaner shrimp

Fishes:
Not researched yet, but since I have an open-top tank they'll have to be of the mythical "non-jumping" variety

Any suggestions, comments, criticisms, etc. are gratefully requested. I throw my reef on the mercy of this forum! :wave:

 

[TheGodParticle]

Some of my favorite sorties are; Green Encrusting Gorgonian, ORA green polyped toadstool, green finger leather, chili leather coral, and Pulsating Xenia to name a few. Just remember this is your tank, stock it with what you like!

 

[wireefman]

while i appreciate your title... it needs to be changed, because shortly i will have the best softy tank...

and i love the yellow fiji leather as a centerpiece... im not sure what your doing for lighting, but from my experiance they need to be more closer to the 10k spectrum to keep that true yellow coloration... im a 20k guy myself and i have found they turn more green under that spectrum

 

[wireefman]

this is your tank, stock it with what you like!

best advice ever, i usually say it in recomendation threads myself... whatever appeases your eyes is what you should stock it with

 

[Yedgy]

Some of my favorite sorties are; Green Encrusting Gorgonian, ORA green polyped toadstool, green finger leather, chili leather coral, and Pulsating Xenia to name a few. Just remember this is your tank, stock it with what you like!

Ooh, the chili leather (Alcyonium) looks very nice. Great suggestion! At first I thought you meant Nephthyigorgia, which is non-photosynthetic.

 

[Yedgy]

while i appreciate your title... it needs to be changed, because shortly i will have the best softy tank...

Sounds like a challenge! Well, bring it on! And may both tanks win! :beer:

i love the yellow fiji leather as a centerpiece... im not sure what your doing for lighting, but from my experiance they need to be more closer to the 10k spectrum to keep that true yellow coloration... im a 20k guy myself and i have found they turn more green under that spectrum

I'm running a pair of AI Sol Blues, so theoretically I can reproduce anything from 6500K to actinic. I'm not sure how well these LEDs will bring out the color in soft corals.

 

[tom obrecht]

Guess my advice would be to find tanks you would like to emulate and perhaps contact the owners to gather ideas from them. Softies aren't quite as easy to find as they use to be due to the sps craze but still can be found on sites like LA as you mentioned. I have found some nice zoas and ricordias at coral morphology. Good luck!

 

[Yedgy]

Good advice, Tom. I'll do more outreach to folks whose tanks I admire. I'll check out Coral Morphology's website.


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[Yedgy]

Just visited ORA's website and saw some beautiful cultured corals to investigate:

• MIMF Marshall Island Green Polyp Leather
• ORA Blue Cespitularia
• ORA Toadstool Leather
• ORA Grube's Gorgonian (Pinnigorgia flava)
• ORA Pom Pom Xenia

My usual LFS stocks plenty of ORA livestock, but I think they're almost entirely LPS and SPS. I'll have to check them out.

Does anyone have the Grube's or other photosynthetic gorgonian?

 

[discocarp]

I'm running a pair of AI Sol Blues, so theoretically I can reproduce anything from 6500K to actinic. I'm not sure how well these LEDs will bring out the color in soft corals.

I don't know about the Sol's, but I got great softy colors from reef brite leds. I imagine the sols will be wonderful.

As for corals, I love the Tyree green polyp toadstool. Gorgeous. My favorite of all the green polyp'd ones. I'd also try to get a frag of the palau neon green nepthea. Another gorgeous softy.

 

[Radioheadx14]

For color, definitley do ricordea. Phishy business and coral morphologic never let me down.
I know they're not softies, but torch corals are amount my favorite for their incredible movement in flow.

 

[trinidiver]

As for corals, I love the Tyree green polyp toadstool. Gorgeous. My favorite of all the green polyp'd ones. QUOTE]



Thats no lie, Its a gorgeous coral to have. I got one about 9mths ago, and at the time it was about 3"dia. Today, its 9" dia. When my deep blue LED's come on in the night alone its a sight to see. The florescent green polyps waving in the current is outstanding. Allot of people that come to my house the first time is amazed by it beauty. Of all the corals theylove that one the most.

 

[cloak]

You can't really beat a tank with all them differen't flowers, I mean zoanthids...

 

[wireefman]

the japenesse gren toad is the most intense... it comes with a hefty tag as well and is a very slow grower... but it will make any other toadstool you put next to it seem like nothing

 

[Yedgy]

Haven't seen the Japanese toadstool yet, but the Tyree green toadstool looks awesome! Beautiful long polyps. I wonder how common it is for clownfish to host in those?

Steve Tyree's site doesn't list any soft corals. Are they no longer raising them?

 

[discocarp]

My oscellaris host in my Tyree toadstool. No guarantee, but it is very common for them to host in a toadstool. I actually prefer it to the japanese and ora ones, but that's all personal preference.

 

[trinidiver]

Haven't seen the Japanese toadstool yet, but the Tyree green toadstool looks awesome! Beautiful long polyps. I wonder how common it is for clownfish to host in those?
Steve Tyree's site doesn't list any soft corals. Are they no longer raising them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCanZyCjmrs


Thats when i first got the toadstool some time last year. The clownfish died a few mths ago though. Her other half used to host my purple tip frogspawn

 

[trinidiver]

Another pic of the same toadstool.................its about 9" now.

 

[Yedgy]

Thanks for the video of the Tyree coral with the hosting clown. It's a beauty and I love how the loooong polyps sway in the current.

Sorry about the loss of your clownfish, though.

The pic of the grown-up toadstool isn't coming up for me ATM but I'd love to see it.


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[trinidiver]

Will try again