Suggestions For First Soft Coral To Add To Tank?

[Lnbates2000]

Hi,

I'm wanting to add some soft corals to my marine tank, and am not sure which are relatively easy to care for, and will do well in a fairly new tank!
So far, I have live rock, 2 cleaner shrimp, 3 turbo snails, and 2 clownfish.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

My tank is 75 UK litres.

Thanks, Laura

 

[chrissaysyes]

Its always good to start with zoanthids and mushrooms.

 

[1entra]

What lighting do you have on the tank? Yes I would agree wuth the above from chris with regards to adding mushrooms and Zoa's or zoo's first as the are very hardy and come in a vast range of different colours and so are excellent beginner corals to get a reef system going!

 

[Lnbates2000]

What lighting do you have on the tank? Yes I would agree wuth the above from chris with regards to adding mushrooms and Zoa's or zoo's first as the are very hardy and come in a vast range of different colours and so are excellent beginner corals to get a reef system going!

Not sure on lighting, but have 3 different settings in an enclosed lid - blue lights, white lights, and blue LEDs!

thanks for advice, I'll look up each of the suggestions, and take it from there!

 

[1entra]

Let us know what you decide to get

 

[timpetty]

My first (and only so far) coral is Colt Coral. I like that it has some movement but wont devour my whole tank as fast as a Xenia. It seems to be very hardy and opened right up after a few hours of placing it in the tank.

 

[Lynden]

I ordered a large furry colt coral for a whopping $50. Unfortnately, it came on a massive piece of rock that I had to break. Over the next few days the coral simply fell to pieces as some sort of reproduction method. My entire tank is now littered with frags and my normal attachment methods, such as cyanoacrylate glue and rubber bands, have all failed. Basically my point is avoid the colt as a first coral, but the closely related Kenya tree (Capnella) is an excellent starter, being "dryer" (as opposed to slimier) and easier to attach to substrate. I suspect most Kenya trees are misidentified as colts.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Kenya is an awesome first coral but it will spread and grow really fast. I bought a medium sized frag a while back ago for like $29 and it has since grown enough that I have fragged it and used the frags to seed two other tanks. The frags and the original have all grown a LOT in only a couple of weeks.

 

[timpetty]

I should have probably added.... i bought the colt coral from a LFS about 10 mins away so it didnt have much time to become damaged

 

[Lynden]

Are you sure yours isn't a Kenya tree? Most of the "colts" I have seen are misidentifications.

I would like to add that colts have an incredible ability to compete with others. It brushed up against my largest sarcophyton for half a day (my largest anemone also does this, with no effect) and this caused the sarcophyton to close for a week. Beautiful when cared for properly, but are too demanding in my opinion for a beginner.

 

[timpetty]

Its possible its a kenya but i doubt it. Im a beginner myself but a showed a couple friends who have SW tanks and they identified it as a colt without me telling them what i thought it was. Its doing well so far but like i said its my only coral right now. Ill try and get you a pic tomorrow while the lights are on. Right now its justt shriveled and looks like pale berries on a stalk haha

 

[chrissaysyes]

Is it true that Kenyas are purplish and Colts are usually more brown?

 

[Lynden]

I own both, and Kenya trees are more of a orange-y brown with powdery markings on the stalk, whereas colts (the species I own at least) are dark brown with more purplish stalks.

 

[Lnbates2000]

Thanks for all your advice, I'm leaving it til next weekend now, but I'll let you know what I get! It also depends what they have when I go!

Laura

 

[chrissaysyes]

I own both, and Kenya trees are more of a orange-y brown with powdery markings on the stalk, whereas colts (the species I own at least) are dark brown with more purplish stalks.

Is this a certain thing? I have a kenya that I have fragged, while the original is sort of an orange brown, the frag in another tank has started becoming a very deep purple with a lot of white/silver highlights...