What Corals?

[reffer69]

I am hopefully going to be starting up a 200-250 liter aquarium and want it to look beautiful, what are easy corals to look after, and what would be the best volts for the corals? also how do i get them close together without stinging eachother? and what corals should i stay clear of?

Cheers
Nick.

 

[reffer69]

also how do i subscribe to a post?

 

[nyvp]

if your looking at this post look at the box where you would type in your reply there are three white boxes ......
Just below that are 3 blue links the third to the right says" Subscribe to this Thread "
Thats the one you want.
Hope this helps

 

[IslandCrow]

Well, a couple of your easiest corals are the Sinularia genus soft corals, a.k.a. leather corals. My first coral was a cabbage leather, which survived quite a bit of blundering and is continuing to grow quite nicely in my aquarium. Mushrooms are also a very good beginner coral. Generally, your soft corals are going to be some of your easier corals and require less lighting than stoney corals (not an absolute rule by any means, though). The biggest risk with soft corals is that many of them can expel toxic chemicals when they're threatened. I don't think this is generally much of an issue between soft corals, but if you add any stoney corals to the mix, they tend to be more sensitive to these chemicals. Many of the soft corals can touch each other without causing any damage, but you'll be best off giving them some separation.
As for the stoney corals, they tend to require a bit more light and better water quality. They're generally divided into two categories: SPS or small polyped stoney corals, and LPS or large polyped stoney corals. SPS are usually the most difficult to take care of and require the most light and water movement. LPS are often times easier to care for, usually need less light, and generally require light to moderate water movement. I don't have any experience with SPS, but a couple good LPS corals for a beginner are the Caulastrea genus, or "Candy Cane" corals and pretty much all of your Euphyllia genus, like frogspawn, hammer or torch corals. There are plenty of others that are very good for beginners. What I'd suggest is either going to your LFS or looking at online livestock dealers, and find some that you like. Don't trust the guy at the fish store, they'll often times just try to sell you the most expensive one. Find out the name of the coral and ask here about its care and feeding. If you can find out what the scientific name is, that's often times best, since there are many common names out there that refer to multiple types of corals that just happen to look similar, but are in fact very different when it comes to caring for them.

I'm not sure what you mean by "best volts". If you're referring to lighting, that's generally expressed in watts, and can vary depending on the type of coral you want to keep and what type of lighting you're using.

Hope that helps a little. Good luck.

 

[reffer69]

year sorry watts, my LFS dosnt have ANY marine equipment, so i have to have it orderd in for me and again same with the fish, mayby i could convince them to set-up a small marine section but at the moment they are big into the freshey. Also how do you feed corals? i thought they where like plants getting their food from the light?

 

[IslandCrow]

Corals are actually animals, and not plants. Most have symbiotic organisms (a type of algae actually) called zoothantellae that are photosynthetic and provide the corals with much of what they need to live. It is thought that probably all corals need nutrition from other sources, though. Different corals eat different sized foods. Many soft corals subsist mainly on microscopic phytoplankton while many of the stoney corals rely on bacterioplankton and larger zooplankton. So, what does that all mean? Most of your soft corals will not need to be directly fed. They'll pull their nutrients straight from the water. Dosing the tank with phytoplankton will help their growth. Many of your stoney corals and anemones benefit greatly from direct feedings. Depending on the coral, they can take anything from foods measured in microns like cyclopeeze and oyster egss, to brine shrimp, or even larger foods like bits of fish and shrimp. For these corals, most people will either "feed the tank", where the food is simply dumped in the tank to move around in the waterstream for the corals to grab, or they'll use something like a syringe to direct the food at the corals. You'll also need to find out when your corals eat. Some are daytime feeders, while others are nighttime feeders. Most have some sort of feeding tentacles or polyps that will be extended when they're ready to feed. There are also some corals like suncorals that are entirely heterotrophic and do not have any resident zooxanthellae, therefore, requiring direct feedings, since they don't get any nutrition from photosynthesis.

So, in short, most corals get a large degree of their nutrition indirectly through photosynthesis and don't necessarily require you to feed them directly. Still, most corals will benefit from direct or inderect feedings, so if it isn't obvious how best to feed a particular coral (and it many times isn't), it's best to just ask.

 

[reffer69]

so what corals are a no no for begginers?

 

[IslandCrow]

Good question. So far, I've had pretty good luck with the corals I've been interested in. You'll probably want to stay away from the SPS (small polyped) corals initially. They tend to be the tougher corals to care for in that they generally don't do well unless you can provide them with a nice, stable environment, which you probably aren't going to have for at least 6 months to a year. The only coral I've had some trouble with is my hammer coral. The two I've had (the first one died) seemed to be rather picky about water flow and lighting. It may just be me, though, since most people say they're pretty easy to care for. Anemones are definitely not a good idea for beginners. I can tell you this from experience. Some will say they're not good for anyone, since there's still a great deal we don't know about how to care for these creatures. Otherwise, I'd say find corals you like and do research before buying. Impulse buys are usually where people run into trouble. Just because a certain coral is very hardy in one person's aquarium doesn't mean it will do well in yours.

 

[reffer69]

I wanted to get an Anemone for my clowns any adv?

 

[IslandCrow]

The best advice I can give you is to hold off for awhile. I got my first anemone when my tank was 4 months old, and it was dead in less than a month. I tried again a few months later, and it's been a struggle. The biggest problem with anemones is that no one really knows their exact requirements. We know they generally like a lot of light, very stable water parameters and pretty decent water flow, but that's about it. There are plenty of people with a decade or more of experience in the hobby who can't keep anemones alive.
Now, I'd be a hypocrite if I were to tell you not to get an anemone, but don't get one before your tank is 6 months old (1 year or more is preferable) with undetectable ammonia, nitrites and nitrates (probably phosphates as well) and stable PH. Make sure you have appropriate lighting. PCs or even VHOs probably aren't going to cut it. Many anemones seem to require Metal Halide lighting. I'm keeping my BTA under T5s with individual reflectors, but the jury is still out on how they stack up against MH.
Of course, there will be people out there who break some or all of these rules and still keep their anemones alive, but you'll more than likely fail if you rush into getting an anemone. Ask around in the anemone & clownfish forum as well. I definitely still have alot to learn about these creatures, so this is just a little of what I've learned from my own very limited experience and the experiences of others.

Lastly, do realize that clownfish in captivity certainly do not need anemones to live long and healthy lives, so don't let that be a deciding factor.

 

[bckey]

I bought an anenome (long tentacle but sold to me as bubble tip) when my tank was about 4 moths old. The anenome was small and barely big enough for 1 clown fish to get in. Well almost a year later that same anenome is bigger than a dinner plate. My aquarium is a 75 gallon and I can't put any corals on the entire right side of my aquarium because of the anenome. I wish now that I would never had gotten an anenome. Also I have power compact lighting so believe me you can have an anenome thrive with pc lighting and even a fairly new tank. IslandCrow is probably correct and I just got lucky with mine but it is possible. I feed him shrimp soaked in selcon. The clowns will take the shrimp right to the anenome.

I guess I said all that to say this. Think about it really hard before purchasing an anenome because there are some down sides to owning one. For me it is not being able to keep corals in half of my aquarium.

 

[fishhaven]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7588770#post7588770 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bckey
Think about it really hard before purchasing an anenome because there are some down sides to owning one. For me it is not being able to keep corals in half of my aquarium.

BCKEY

Are there any corals that can be combined with Anemones? Which is harmful to which? Corals are harmful to the anemone?

 

[IslandCrow]

Generally it's the anemone that's harmful to your corals. It could certainly go the other way as well. Soft corals can release toxins when threatened, which I'd imagine could be harmful to an anemone. Sinularia (leathers) tend to be the worst. Your SPS and LPS corals generally have some sort of stinging sweepers. I think an anemone's stinging tentacles are probably more potent in most cases, but that's certainly not to say they won't both do damage to each other.

Anyway, there are many who will say that anemones just aren't reef safe, and they certainly have a point. If you put an anemone in a tank with corals, be ready to move your corals around to accomodate the anemone. I'd say the best thing to do is add the anemone first, let it settle in one place, then add corals, but also realize you want a well established tank (6 months absolute minimum) before you add an anemone.