A write up on Soft coral

spanko

spanko

Active Member
I came across this in another site and thought it might be worth something to people here.
Softies
Toadstool Leathers (Sarcophyton Sp.)
Requirements: Generally adaptive to any situation or conditions thrown at them.
Lighting: Medium
Flow: Medium
Husbandry and Care Level: Very easy corals. These corals require no meaty feedings, but are filter feeders. They benefit greatly from live phytoplankton being added to the water.
Notes: These corals are generally inexpensive. They mucus over and do not extend polyps during growth. A very very good starter coral for anybody new to the hobby. Colors of this coral range from brown polyps to neon green polyps.
Propogation: These corals naturally propogate by budding. To propogate yourself, the steps are as follows: take out your healthy specimen from your tank. Remember to always have your tools ready before hand (scissors, towels, cup or bowl with tank water, goggles and
safety gloves). Cut the top of the coral into pieces of your own desire. Place eat piece into your holding cup or bowl until your propogation session has ended. After, you finish the session, place all the frags on pieces of LR rubble in a low flow spot in the tank. ***DO NOT USE SUPERGLUE ON THE LEATHER SUPERGLUE BURNS LEATHERS*** A week after your frags have been in the tnak in a LOW FLOW area, they should have attached to the LR rubble, and you can now glue the frags to a frag disk, plug or tile.
Finger Leathers (Sinularia Sp.)
Requirements: Also very adaptive to whatever conditions are thrown at them.
Lighting: Medium
Flow: Medium
Husbandry and Care Level: Care level is easy. No meaty feedings, but phytoplankton and oyster eggs are very beneficial.
Propogation: Same as Toadstool Leatheres
Notes: Comes in many colors as well, from brown to neon green all around. It is a very beautiful starter coral.
Zoanthids (Zoanthid sp.)
Requirements: Very adaptive to anything as well. Water quality that is not pristine will actually speed up growth on these corals.
Lighting: Medium
Flow: Medium
Husbandry and Care Level: Care level is easy. Zoanthids benefit from meaty feedings such as cyclopeeze. They are also filter feeders so should be fine on a diet of phytoplankton.
Propogation: There are many techniques for propogating zoanthids. Zoanthids do naturally propogate by budding. Technique number one is only to take the xacto blade and slice at the base of the zoanthids you want to remove from the mother colony. You can either from there cut rock off or completely peel off the mat of the zoanthids. Superglue to frag plug, disk, or tile. Technique two uses bonecutters and requires no form of mounting media. All you need to do is use the bone cutter to break off the substrate that the zoanthids are mounted on (works on branching substrate only).
Notes: These corals can come expensive or insanely cheap. They are very colorful and another great starter color (not to mention a great space filler).
Palythoas (Palythoa sp.)
Requirements: Very adaptive to anything as well. Water quality that is not pristine will actually speed up growth on these corals.
Lighting: Medium - Low
Flow: Medium - High
Husbandry and Care Level: Care level is easy. Palythoas benefit from meaty feedings such as cyclopeeze. They are also filter feeders so should be fine on a diet of phytoplankton.
Propogation: There are many techniques for propogating Palythoas. Palythoas do naturally propogate by budding. Technique number one is only to take the xacto blade and slice at the base of the palythoas you want to remove from the mother colony. You can either from there cut rock off or completely peel off the mat of the zoanthids. Superglue to frag plug, disk, or tile. Technique two uses bonecutters and requires no form of mounting media. All you need to do is use the bone cutter to break off the substrate that the palythoas are mounted on (works on branching substrate only).
Notes: These are another great starter coral. Prices for these range from dirt cheap to extremely expensive (as in $50/polyp). Sizes on palythoas also have a very large range. You can get a polyp smaller than most zoanthid polyps or some that are 1 1/2" across (Palythoa Grandis).
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Mushrooms (Wide varieties, no scientific names will be named)
Requirements: Very adaptive to conditions like any other softy.
Lighting: Medium
Flow: Medium
Husbandry and Care Level: Care level is easy. Palythoas benefit from meaty feedings such as cyclopeeze. They are also filter
feeders so should be fine on a diet of phytoplankton.
Propogation: I do not recommend propogating mushrooms type corals unless you are going to use bone cutters and are going to break off the substrate. They grow quick enough that it is not required.
Notes: Another starter coral that can bring plenty of color to a tank. Polyps can range from 1" to 12" in size. There is plenty of color to be found in these corals.
Ricordea (Ricordea sp)

Requirements: Ricordea are more picky corals in terms of conditions, though they will also tolerate dirty water.
Lighting: Medium - Low
Flow: Medium - High
Husbandry and Care Level: Care level is MEDIUM. Ricordea benefit from meaty feedings (stepping up to mysid shrimp now). Will also filter feed.
Propogation: I recommend only trying force propogation with Ricordea Florida as they are less sensitive than Ricordea Yuma. I also do not recommend propogating unless there is already two defined mouths on the coral in question. Then, it is as simple as slicing in between the mouths.
Notes: Ricordea are more of an intermediate coral because they cannot exactly be found cheap. Prices can range from $10 a polyp to $100 a polyp. They are very beautiful and bring very vibrant color to your tank. I will say I do recommend to beginners though if they can be found cheap.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Very good stuff. Just to let you know though, the Mushroom and Palythoa "Husbandry and Care" areas are the same. This will help alot of people.
PS: For leather propagation as well, you can use the toothpick method. Put a toothpick through the frag, and rubberband both sides, with the band going underneath the frag. Then the wounded area will attach to the plug, and you can remove the toothpick and band. Elapsed time varies but Ive seen it take 2 weeks or so. Youtube has alot of videos on it.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Thank you I will let the original poster on the other site know. He will also be doing this for LPS in the future and I will post that here too.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
LPS
Frogspawn, Torches, and Hammer Corals (Euphyllia sp.)
Requirements: These corals require good water quality. They will take meaty feedings, although it is not required. They naturally filter feed from the water column phytoplankton and zooplankton.
Lighting: Medium - High (Indirect Bright Light)
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: These are easy LPS to keep.
Propogation: Use a bone cutter or dremel (with diamond blade). I recommend a dremel because a bone cutter can crack the skeleton to where the tissue is torn, damaging the coral. Simply use the dremel (or bone cutter) to cut the stem of the coral. I do not recommend fragging wall frogspawn or wall hammer corals.
Notes: These corals are normally found in a green variety but can be found in orange and pink varieties as well. They are generally inexpensive, although wall hammer corals can be expensive.
Bubble Corals (Plerogyra sp.)
Requirements: Bubble corals are photosynthetic and filter feeders as well. They will accept meaty feedings though.
Lighting: Medium - High
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: These corals are Medium LPS to care for. They take awhile to become used to new environments, but thrive once they are acclimated (but this can take a while).
Propogation: As bubble corals are one large polyp, I do not recommend propogating bubble corals. Meaty feedings will cause this coral to grow much quicker than without.
Notes: Bubble corals are a beautiful addition to any tank that can handle one. They get large fairly quickly (and have a very potent sting) and so I do recommend more space for this coral. The coral is found in white, green, pink, purple and orange varieties (orange is rarely found in the trade for this coral).
Elegance Corals (Cataphyllia sp.)
Requirements: A very hardy coral IF collected from AUSTRALIA. Like the previous LPS listed, these corals will filter feed as well as take meaty portions.
Lighting: Medium - High
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: An Easy LPS to care for. They will tolerate high flow, but will not grow or thrive as they do in medium to low flow.
Propogation: I do not recommend forcefully propogating this coral as it is a wall type LPS.
Notes: Found in white, green, and pink varieties. Always ask the origin of the coral before buying. Indo elegance corals are most likely doomed to die because of horrible collection methods. Make sure origin is AUSTRALIA.
Scolymias (Scolymia sp.)
Requirements: Meaty feedings help this coral stay healthy and grow. You can just get by with live phytoplankton and zooplankton though.
Lighting: Medium - High
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: Care level for this coral is Medium. Best kept on the sand.
Propogation: I do not recommend propogating this coral, although it can be done.
Notes: Found in a huge variety of colors, and are usually marble colored. Easily confused with Cynarina sp. in the trade. There are many varieties of scolymia though. A personal favorite of mine is the Scolymia Australis, which has smoother tissue, smaller polyps, and more distinct color patterns.
Meat Coral (Cynarina sp.)
Requirements: Meaty feedings help this coral stay healthy and grow. Phytoplankton and zooplankton in the water quality is a must.
Lighting: Medium - High
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: These corals are Easy LPS to care for. Also better kept on the sand.
Propogation: I do not recommend propogating this coral as it also is just one large polyp.
Notes: Found in many color varieties. I try to monitor these corals for a few weeks in my LFS before I purchase because they are collected in Indonesia. They are most easy to identify from scolymia by looking for skeleton through the tissue, because it is usually translucent.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Plate Corals (Fungia sp, Heliofungia sp.)
Requirements: Phytoplankton and zooplankton in the water column for feeding. Meaty feedings are also accepted.
Lighting: Medium - High
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: Easy corals to care for and extremely hardy. For Heliofungia (long tentacle plate corals) it is a different story (explanation in Notes)
Propogation: Again, another LPS I recommend leaving propogation to the pros.
Notes: These corals are found in many color varieties as well. Heliofungia should be observed for at least three weeks in an LFS before purchasing. I found that the green ones with yellow tips have the highest rate of survival. These corals are inexpensive to extremely expensive (the red variety of the fungia is extremely expensive).
Acans (Acanthastrea sp.)
Requirements: Decent water quality is all it takes with this coral. Their growth explodes with meaty feedings, but they can get by on phytoplankton and zooplankton alone.
Lighting: Medium - Low
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: Very easy corals to take care of and extremely hardy.
Propogation: Use a dremel with the diamond disk, screwdriver, and Xacto blade to propogate these corals. Find which polyps you want to take off the mother colony first. Use the dremel and cut about halfway through the skeleton (bottom up). Use the

[hr]
driver and pry inside the cut you just made. The skeleton is now broken, and you can simply use the Xacto blade to cut through whatever polyps are on the cut. If there are half polyps on the cut, both sides will survive.
Notes: Theses corals are found in many color varieties and can be very expensive. There are many species of acans, but the most common in the trade are Acanthastrea Lorhowensis and Acanthastrea Echinata. Also found in the hobby are Acanthastrea Bowerbanki, Acanthastrea Hillae, and Acanthastrea Rotundaflora.
Blastos (Blastomussa sp.)
Requirements: Good water quality. From my experience, I could not keep these corals if I did not feed meaty portions at least once a week. They will also eat phytoplankton and zooplankton from the water column.
Lighting: Medium - Low
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: I am going to put the care level of these corals at Medium. They do better lower in the tank.
Propogation: These have the same propogation techniques of Acans.
Notes: A very beautiful coral. Most commonly found with red, they come in a huge variety of colors. Two varieties found in the hobby are Blastomussa Merletti and Blastomussa Welsi.
Flowerpot Corals (Goniopora sp.)
Requirements: Weekly feedings of cyclopeeze, phytoplankton, zooplankton, oyster eggs, and/or coral frenzy are REQUIRED for this coral. They will not live alone on photosynthesis.
Lighting: Medium - High
Flow: Medium - High
Husbandry and Care Level: Care level is Hard. They
Propogation: I will not post any propogation techniques as these corals are hard enough to keep alive. If happy in your tank, they will naturall drop little buds.
Notes: This is a very inexpensive, very hard to keep coral (especially with the green variety). Found in green, purple and red. Yes, beautiful, but not a beginners coral. These corals will appear to be fine for six months, and suddenly will decline quickly if they are not properly fed.
Chalice (Echinophyllia sp, Mycedium sp, Oxypora sp.)
Requirements: Phytoplankton and zooplankton in the water column should be enough, but meaty feedings wil speed up the growth a little bit.
Lighting: Medium - Low
Flow: Medium - Low
Husbandry and Care Level: These corals are Medium to care for. They do best in the lower regions of a tank.
Propogation: Sorry, no steps for this.
Notes: Very colorful and by far my favorite coral in the hobby. They are generally on the expensive side though.
Cup corals (Turbinara sp.)
Requirements: They will accept meaty feedings despite their small mouths. Phytoplankton and zooplankton again are musts.
Lighting: Medium
Flow: Medium
Husbandry and Care Level: Easy corals to care for. They do well in lower regions of your tank.
Propogation: Same steps as Acans should be followed.
Notes: These corals are usually found green. Any cup corals you find bright yellow are dyed that color, and therefore not exactly healthy corals. Great beginner LPS. It grows by expanding its skeleton and does not encrust.
Leptastrea (Leptastrea sp.)
Requirements: Phytoplankton and zooplankton in the water column should be good for survival. Will accept meaty feedings.
Lighting: Medium - High
Flow: Medium
Husbandry and Care Level: Medium to care for.
Propogation: Same steps as Acans.
Notes: These corals are rarely seen in the hobby. They come in many colors. Because they are rarely seen in the hobby, not much is known about them.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Micromussa (Micromussa sp.)
Requirements: These corals will accept meaty feedings. They require phytoplankton and zooplankton as well.
Lighting: Medium - Low
Flow: Medium
Husbandry and Care Level: Easy to care for. Best in lower regions of your tank.
Propogation: Follow same steps as Acans again.
Notes: These corals come in a variety of colors. They are generally expensive.
Favias (Favia sp.)
Requirements: These corals will accept meaty feedings. They require phytoplankton and zooplankton as well.
Lighting: Medium - Low
Flow: Medium
Husbandry and Care Level: Easy to care for. Best in lower regions of your tank.
Propogation: Follow same steps as Acans again.
Notes: These corals come in a variety of colors. Can be found expensive and inexpensive. There are also many types of favias, which will remain unnamed.
 
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