Beginners guide to identifying undemanding corals

[kered]

Being new to the reefing world it can be a little overwhelming at first. I'd like to start keeping some corals but I want to dip my toes in the shallow end before diving in. There are hundreds of thousands of corals and I figured it would be nice to have a database of the types of corals beginners should start with that are a little more forgiving. Please post a picture, average price, and a little about each one. Hopefully this will not only help me but many others looking to get into reefing.

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

Green Star polyps, very forgiving but a good indicator of water quality. Low light and decent flow and they will thrive. Recommend keeping them isolated on their own rock because they will grow and take over everything they can reach

 

[ihavecrabs]

Zoanthids, Ricordia mushrooms, kenya trees.. all good starter soft corals.

Some acans and hammer corals tend to be more forgiving, but not always.

As far as SPS, you can get away with birdsnest or pocilloporas. Much more forgiving but harder than the softies for sure.

 

[ScottR]

As someone mentioned, ric mushrooms. I have never ever killed any mushroom ever. They just don’t die. I had some fall into the sand in my old tank. I broke it down and set up a new tank and found the one that fell. It was half buried with no light. It oddly came back to life. You can feed them but you don’t have to. Just give them low/moderate lighting. Pricing depends. I’ve seen these priced all over the place.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Zoanthids, Ricordia mushrooms, kenya trees.. all good starter soft corals.

These are all good options

 

[krash7172]

I have a low maintenance tank that is 80% zoas, mushrooms, kenya trees and gsp. I check SG and alk once a week. Water change once a month. I had planned on getting into hard corals but I am happy with my softies

 

[Reefer_Rob]

I follow both of these guys on YouTube lots of good info.