what is a good coral for beginners?

[kambiz]

I have been contemplating for a few months to start adding corals into my 55 gal that has been running for about a year now.
Any suggestions?
From what I read, I understand that maintaining corals is a lot of work, and also a delicate task.
What is a good coral for me to start to experiment with?
I always see those pink tip anemones at the store. They are pretty cheap. How about those? Are they sensitive to water quality?

 

[striker]

I would stay away from any type of anemone for atleast awhile. Most require sufficient lighting and often do not last long in captivity without proper care. The easiest corals I have experience with are mushrooms and polpys. Star polyps, button polyps and different types of mushrooms can add alot of color and diversity to a beginners tank and don't require as much lighting as other corals. I'd wait a few months until a tank is established and has enough biological filtration and stability before venturing into other corals.
Your best bet is to read up on them and check past postings. Good luck.

 

[wrassecal]

My first coral was a colt coral and it's always done great, medium light, medium water flow. Mushrooms are good too. The anenome you are describing sounds like a haitian pink tip condylactus and I'd wait a while for one if I were you. The thing that bothered me about the condy when I had one was it liked to wander all around the tank and I had to provide it plenty of room cause it would swell up to size of a plate and shrink down to size of a golf ball. They are pretty though.

 

[kambiz]

Wrasse:
You’re right. The pink tip I was describing IS the Condy.
How do you feed the corals? What about other additives hat they need? Would I have to monitor my water more carefully? And do more water changes? I heard some of them are really sensitive. Is that true? How fast do they grow? Are they all compatible with eachother? Or is there a chart?
I guess Striker is right I need to do some more reading before I venture into this area and get one.

 

[mlm]

You feed different corals different ways. Some are filter feeders (phytoplankton) and some you can direct feed meaty foods like krill and clams. Yes you need to do more water changes, check calcium, nitrate, alk, and ph levels more often. You also need a lot of light some corals need more than others it just depends on what type of corals you plan on keeping in the end.

 

[mlm]

Some corals grow much faster than others and some are much more sensitive to changes in water quality and lighting than others. Most of them can all be put in the same tank but they will sting each other if they are place to close together although some can touch each other without any problems.

 

[mlm]

Sorry about all the posts I just keep thinking of things. You should buy the book Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman. It contains a lot of useful information.

 

[kambiz]

So any suggestions as to a fast growing less expensive coral that is good for beginners and is not too sensitive to water quality and easy to keep?

 

[maroonclownfan]

As earlier mentioned.....
Star polyps
Button polyps
Mushrooms
are probably the most common and hardy beginner corals. They feed off simbiotic zooxanthallea(sp?) algae that grows in there tissues which inturn feeds off the light. They don't require any additional feeding.
HTH....MCF

 

[jonthefb]

id have to agree with all of the above statements. mushrooms are great beginner corals, that dont need mcuh light, dont need to be fed and really dont need andy supplements. same goes for button and star polyps. i also second the notion of picking up borneman's coral book. very good with tons of info. search the board, search the net, talk to your lfs and see what they reccommmend, but just try to familiarize yourself with the organism before you purchase it!
good luck
jon