Help picking out corals?

[~Erik3.8.07~]

Well i went to my lfs yesterday and ventured my way over to the saltwater section. I found that they have 3 big long tanks of corals, and as i was looking at the colors and shapes i had an epiphany and thought.... "I have no idea what the hell i'm looking at!" I'm trying to research but have found only very little. I'm not even 100% sure what the difference is between soft and hard corals (is it that the soft corals are the ones you can see swaying in the current and hard corals stay firm in place?)

So i come to you, o mighty reef keepers of aquatic community, for guidance and knowledge! I really want to have something that sways back and forth and that a clownfish would be able to go through.This is for a 10g tank and will have a 80-100 watt pc light.

[cocoa_pleco]

heres a good link, the cocoa toadstool looks good (and no, im not being biased about it since it says cocoa, lol)

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[~Erik3.8.07~]

lol thx cocoa, i really like those toadstool leathers!

Is it possible to get some type of sea anemone for my tank? i think they are really pretty

EDIT- i was also looking at the green torch corals, they look nice but ive read they can sting other corals, could they sting the fish too?

[cocoa_pleco]

no anemone, theyre a beginners nightmare. most are hard to care for, require perfect water, and high light. anemone minimum tank sizes are usually for high light 55g's

EDIT- and the torch corals only sting other corals i think

[Rue]

I have to admit...all the corals are very confusing...it's only now that I've gotten them all straight in my head...well, for the most part...

First you have the soft corals...like the leathers...they don't have a bony skeleton, rather they have spicules of calcium...

Then you have the hard corals, that do have a skeleton. Those are broken down into large polyped stony corals (LPS) and small polyped stony corals (SPS). But the break-downs are often arbitrary...so take them all with a grain of salt. A LPS would be something like a brain coral...and a SPS would be something like Acropora.

Then there are others that aren't really corals, like zoanthids.

Can you have an anemone in a small tank? Yes, but you have to be very careful...they need a mature tank with very stable water...and that's hard to provide in a small tank.

[Rue]

...oh yeah...and to answer your question...I'd start with 'easy-keepers' until you sort it all out. The good thing is that easy-keepers tend to be the most appealing corals in many ways.

Start with the zoanthids...gorgeous colours...and the mushrooms...the candy cane/trumpet corals are also easy...

[cocoa_pleco]

ditto with zooas, there are many pretty ones.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

wow thx rue that answered a lot of questions! :D

cocoa i just read that contact from torches can cause extreme pain even to humans so weather they can sting the fish or not i'll be to afraid that it will sting me :ssuprised:

i'm thinking now of getting polyps and some types of soft corals and mushrooms.

now what about the live rock, my lfs has fiji, florida and some other type (african maybe?). The fiji is the cheapest at 4$/lb and the florida is like 7$/lb. So whats the difference?

[Rue]

...location, obviously...availability...and initial cost...

Other than that, it's mostly personal preference...get what you like...

[~Erik3.8.07~]

ok just wanted to make sure one wasnt better then the other or something so cheap stuff it is :c8: thx for the help guys but i just have one more question (for now:14: ) can a spotted cardinal go with a clown and a fire fish?

[cocoa_pleco]

i heard cardinals are harmless, but the best stock would be a clownfish and firefish

[~Erik3.8.07~]

ok then i guess what i'll go with is:
fiji live rock
polyps, mushrooms, toadstool leathers, and acropora
clownfish, firefish, possibly a cardinal fish later on, and some type of clean up crew?
and then of course all the other stuff i'll need to get started

how's that sound?

[cocoa_pleco]

good! cleanup crew can be 2 turbo snails and 4 hermit crabs, and if you want a coral banded shrimp

[Rue]

Get the clean-up crew first.

The acropora isn't an easy-keeper...plus it needs high light...if you want to try, I'd leave it for last...

[~Erik3.8.07~]

awesome thx for your help guys, I cant wait to get started, im getting the lights for christmas and im starting to save my money to have a 250$ budget for the rest. Should be up and running (i hope) by end of winter early spring. I'm sure i'll have tons more questions so keep on stand by lol:ezpi_wink1: