Chosing Corals

[C0kadoodledood]

I am sure every newb has a post on here about choosing corals. I am not super new to SW. I AM new to corals tho. I have never really kept any. I am cycled, but, still building bio-filtration up; all parameters but NO3 are in check.

I will have my new Fluval Reef & Marine LED 2.0 lighting on Monday=more coraline/bio-filtration... I will have a 10g fuge tied into the bio-cube once I get a decent set of cheap pumps to run it all. So, I have me some time to figure out what I will stock.

I have a 75g SeaClear II and a BioCube 29g.

Obviously, I will keep clowns and anemones in the BioCube. I will want to keep a few corals in the tank with them though. I might, hopefully, keep one or two small fish in addition like a firefish or goby.

In my research, I am seeing most of the anemones that are suggested are aggressive or they're difficult to keep. I would like to keep things easy to start. I work FT and weekends are really my only days to focus on the tanks unless there's an emergency.

Can I keep Bulb Anemone (Entacmaea Quadricolor) [the easiest one I found] in the foreground on the bottom and smaller corals above on the rocks in the background? I have read these are semi-aggressive; I would like to know how much and which corals I can keep in my BioCube 29 with them.

For my SeaClear II 75g, I would like some suggestions for three to five easy coral/anemone/invert combos to go after and what fish away from which to steer. It's a big tank and I will be adding a 30-40g fuge below. (My LFS is getting rid of their DPs SUPER cheap!)

Anyhow, any help would be appreciated. I wish there was a graph or online program where I can put in my wants and it picks my tank mates for me! Alas, research (and your help) it is!

p.s. Any suggestions for first-time coral keepers to keep me from making classic mistakes?

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

To give you an idea on some of the coral you can add take a look at this list. This will help you decide what type of coral is right for you.

Coral that is good for beginners: zoanthids, mushrooms (avoid jawbreakers and Bounces), favia, star polyps (caution needs to be taken as these can be invasive), nepthia trees, montipora, trumpet coral, chalice coral (must be less that $60 for about a 1 inch frag)

Moderate level corals: expensive chalice, frogspawn, hammer coral, galaxy coral, brain corals, plate corals, bubble coral, blastos (only solid red, or red and green) acans, cynarina (green only) torch coral (green) Duncan coral

Hard Level corals: scolymia, acanthrophyllia (meat coral), cynarina (reds, yellows, pinks), red gonoporia (red flowerpot), gold torch coral, jawbreaker mushrooms, blastos (the ones with yellow are the hardest), high end zoas (stratospheres and speckled kraks are some of the hardest),

Expert Level corals: gorgonians, all non-photosynthetic sponges, sun coral, green flowerpot, carnation trees, elegance coral,

Since I do not have any sps I did not list them here. From what I have heard I would put them on the moderate to hard level corals.

And to answer your question, yes you can keep a bubble tip anemones, I would advise waiting about a year to add one though. I added one too early (at the 6 month mark) and it died. I currently have 8 nems in my tank right now.

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

That's a pic of one of my bubble tip anemones.

 

[mcarroll]

Keeping corals + anemones is risky. Keeping anemones is an expert move. That's two votes for a different strategy.

Honestly, I would pick either/or in a tank that small – not both.

Anemones and corals can both grow pretty huge, generally speaking.

Plus if the anemone ever lets go to find a new spot to live in, he'll murder every coral he touches as he bangs around the tank.

This will happen around 10am on a work day so he's got hours and hours to bang around before anyone finds out.

 

[randy4083]

I thought that light wouldn't support an anemone I thought that they needed strong light and that light isn't that strong at all because I bought one for a fish only tank

 

[Chefbill]

If you really want the look of an anemone without the hassle of a going walkabout, Duncan corals are a perfect choice. I have a clarkii clown hosting my Duncan right now.

 

[xREEFINaintEZx]

This is something I wish I saw befor I we t shopping


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/corals-that-you-regret-buying.280294/page-3#post-3463143

 

[mcarroll]

I dunno if I'm repeating myself in this thread, but I think "beginner corals" make the absolute worst corals for beginners.

Zoanthids both die and take over for no apparent reason.
Mushrooms go everywhere they want – nothing can stop them.
GSP will blanket anything it can touch.
Xenia ".
Kenya tree coal will auto-frag your whole tank.

The list goes on.

Avoid beginner corals UNLESS YOU'RE AN EXPERT and can manage them properly.

It's not 1986 anymore – we know how to keep corals alive very well. Get your brain in gear FIRST and grow the corals you want to grow!!

 

[Axifuga]

If you're not too concerned about having the clowns hosting the anemone I would go with Rock Flower anemones, really colorful and don't really move. With Bubble tip anemones, once larger if they decide to move they will kill off coral until they find a good place to rest. I'm keeping a very small one in a twenty gallon and its been fine for now, but I have seen it move around quite a lot in just one day, luckily its still small and doesn't have a far reach. I would also be concerned about the stock lighting with the biocube. Mine are under metal halides.

As for corals,
DONT keep Xenia unless you are ok with it taking over the tank. I have some and sometimes parts of the mother decide to detach and float off to attach to random other corals.
Nicely colored Zoanthids can really help fill in a tank and make it more colorful.
My personal favorite coral are acans, in my tank they grow fast and are very hardy. I had a sweeper tentacle from a head of frogspawn attack an acan frag, It took off nearly all the flesh but with a sliver of it remaining its making a comeback.