Reccomend Me Some Nps

[crazyforcordoras]

Hello all, since i will be setting up a 1.5 gallon pico at some point soon, i need something to put in it. Its the tetra waterwonders kit. The lightis poop, so i will be doing NPS. I know i want sun coral, but i need others. They have to like. Lot of flow, i will have a hydor koralia powerhead in it. I am thinking a chili coral, dont kow. Open to suggestions!



C

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

I'm willing to recommend some but I'll also pre warn you they need loads of direct feeds for survival

I have a carnation tree coral (dendronephyta sp) there are various varieties of these of which my favourite has to be the red sea.. Mine however looks like its from the Maldives. I also have anuther variety of tree coral (scleronephyta) which was cultured, these are some of my favourites too because you can get them in pink/purples or orange and red like mine. Kenya tree corals (capnella sp) seem to be the hardiest from what I've read but their colours tend to be more creams/browns/greens.

If you wana check mine out look at the last photo update Ive done in my journal and theyre in a photo labeled "right side of my tank"

 

[crazyforcordoras]

I have already seen yours. They are really cool! Kenya trees get 2 big for a 1.5 gallon tank, but i will put in a carnation tree.

Stocking so far

2 sun coral pieces
1 carnation tree coral

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

Oh I read it wrong lol didn't see the point thought it said 15 gallons lol umm my carnation tree coral is pretty big too tbh, although mines a colony... I don't know much about frags

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Hmm, maybe a frag.

 

[Lady J]

I don't want to curb your enthusiasm but NPS generally are extremely demanding and a plethora of them require expert care. Many of them need almost constant feeding for survival which means your water column almost ALWAYS has food in it. This sounds simple enough until your nitrates get so high that the corals die. It seems that running a little 1.5g. pico will be simple but actually for saltwater tanks, the smaller they are, the harder they are. In a reef tank, you want your nitrates to be very low, with the best being 0. That is very difficult to do when you're constantly supplying the tank with food.

A sun coral is a good choice because you target feed vs. putting food into the water column. It's pretty awesome to feed each polyp and watch it close and digest the food (and, each polyp must be fed or that polyp will die). Have you considered some low light, soft corals? There are some very pretty ones that are relatively undemanding and don't get huge.

Again, I'm not trying to be discouraging, but I just broke my reef tank down after running it for 7-8 years and I can tell you from experience that if you cannot run a pretty-close-to-perfect system, your corals will die, especially NPS, and especially in a pico.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Turned out im not going to do the pico. I know about nps. I was prepared for the mintenance. And as i said, it wouldnt be for another year, and by then i would have much more experience. Instead, next year i may try breeding my Amphipipron Ocellaris pair. Trust me, i have to 10 gallon nanos, and no deaths in those yet.

 

[Lady J]

I meant no disrespect towards you, please know that. In your original post you said "sometime soon" so I took it as that. However, I also know expert reef aquarium people who have been running successful SPS tanks for 15+ years and hesitate with NPS systems because of their difficulty. When you said
maintenance--well, how are the nitrates going to be controlled in such a small system? You can't run a skimmer, the tank is too small for a DSB, there is no sump, and even a 50% weekly water would maybe keep the nitrates in check but would be very stressful for the corals. As I'm sure you know, a 50% water change is huge and should only be done when something is seriously out of whack. Again, I was in no way trying to be rude. Unfortunately, many NPS corals should simply be left in the ocean because very few people worldwide can keep them alive, or keep them alive for a long time and have them thrive. I think your choice of a sun coral is spot-on. They're beautiful and easy to feed and with good flow and low nitrates they can thrive. And, I hope you have great success breeding your clowns. It's awesome to see when people can get them to pair up and eventually mate.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

I hope they do breed. I was only planning on sun corals, as carnation trees get too large.

 

[Lady J]

I hope they breed too, little buggers. lol Here's a thought regarding sun corals: a black one. They're expensive (and very difficult to find) but man they are gorgeous. How pretty would it be to have a bright orange/yellow one, one pink one, and one that's black. That would ROCK!!!

 

[crazyforcordoras]

I may add one to one of the current rrefs i have, i think it may do better in the nvert only. So i will get one soon.

 

[Lady J]

Sounds great! They love to eat mysis shrimp and will grow nicely. I always thawed mine and then used a small turkey baster and squirted some directly onto the polyp(s). If the baster touches them though, they quickly close and then ya gotta wait till they open again to get the food in (stubborn little things lol) They do well even if you only feed them 3-4 times a week which certainly helps keep the nitrates down. I miss my reef (can ya tell) although I'm excited to get fish in my new freshwater tank, whenever it's finished cycling.

 

[lljdma06]

My I suggest that for a pico you avoid Tubastraea species altogether and head towards members of the Dendrophilia genus? Possibly even Balanophilias as well.

Having kept an nps pico, I know the various pratfalls that accompany such a system.

Dendros are a bit easier to manage and don't require the heavier target feeding that Tubastraea species do to really thrive. Dendros are a good beginner nps.

 

[Lady J]

Oh yeah, an even better suggestion than the tubastraea! Those might actually make it.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Like i said, i wont be doing the pico, but could easily add a few to my invert only tank. The only problem with dendros is that they are very expensive.