Easy beginner soft coral
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Not 100% sure if it’s considered a soft coral but the green star polyps are probably one of the easiest fastest spreading coral I know of. You have to make sure they are on a rock that’s not touching any other live rock cause it will take over your tank if you let it. I have some on a chunk of live rock right in the front of my tank , it looks like grass when it blows in the wind it’s very nice and pretty simple stuff to grow oh yea it’s pretty cheap too.
theKoolAidMan
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I always find this an interesting discussion because easy beginner soft coral can also be some of the most undesirable later on! Don't get me wrong, some of the classic beginner corals are gorgeous, but because they're so hardy and easy to care for, they spread like crazy. This may make you happy, but at the same time a year or two down the line when you're trying to add more advanced SPS coral and your rock is covered in a sea of GSP or a forest of Xenia, you may not be as happy. It's really a double edged sword. They're great because they're easy! But they're also prone to covering every inch of rock in no time, because they're so easy. It's to the point, that if you're not a bit more seasoned in coral propagation and controlling them, they're far from beginner corals later on, in a way.
That being said, the following are commonly recommended as being easy to care for and tough. They're tolerant of less than ideal water chemistry and fairly ubiquitious and affordable in the hobby:
Green Star Polyps (GSP)
Zoanthids
Xenia
Toadstool Leather
Mushrooms.
Out of those, the best bets for not dominating your tank would be the Zoanthids and Leather, but both still can grow quickly and out-compete any future LPS or SPS corals you add. I'm not saying to avoid the Shrooms or GSP or Xenia, just be careful about where you place them as they will spread a LOT. A lot of folks will place Xenia or Muchrooms on a small to medium sized rock on the sand as a sort of "island" rather than directly on their main rock structure, as the sand will generally keep them contained on that island. GSP, however will grow on just about anything. I've seen it on glass, sand, egg crate, etc.
I've kept all of them in the past and am currently cycling a Reefer 450 which will be primarily a softie and LPS tank. My wife and I both love Zoas, GSP, and Pulsing Xenia, and our tank will have them, we're just going to be thoughtful about where we place them and keep them "pruned" as much as possible, or they will spread like wildfire.
This also brings up another question, and that is do you really want any of these corals or you're asking because you feel like you should start with something easy to care for? I know I've been in that spot before. I think a lot of people are intimidated by the "more advanced" LPS or SPS corals, so they get easy softies and then may regret it later when they fall in love with SPS or LPS and have a carpet of GSP covering their rock. I don't mean this in any way disrespectful toward you, so please don't take it that way. I'm speaking from past regrets of my own!! I'm getting more at that I would recommend finding out what you really WANT to keep, and then starting out with more tolerant versions of that. Do you want a mixed reef with a bit of everything? Do you really like the look of LPS? or do you actually want a softie tank? For example, if you really want a torch or frogspawn, then work towards that, rather than getting some shrooms just to get something easy in the tank. Likewise, if you really want one of the easy softies mentioned, then by all means, go get some, just be aware that you'll want to place them in such a way that they won't take over. I just don't want to see you go out and get some mushrooms, which are really cool, don't get me wrong, but that you're not in love with, and have their spread cause problems down the line.
That being said, the following are commonly recommended as being easy to care for and tough. They're tolerant of less than ideal water chemistry and fairly ubiquitious and affordable in the hobby:
Green Star Polyps (GSP)
Zoanthids
Xenia
Toadstool Leather
Mushrooms.
Out of those, the best bets for not dominating your tank would be the Zoanthids and Leather, but both still can grow quickly and out-compete any future LPS or SPS corals you add. I'm not saying to avoid the Shrooms or GSP or Xenia, just be careful about where you place them as they will spread a LOT. A lot of folks will place Xenia or Muchrooms on a small to medium sized rock on the sand as a sort of "island" rather than directly on their main rock structure, as the sand will generally keep them contained on that island. GSP, however will grow on just about anything. I've seen it on glass, sand, egg crate, etc.
I've kept all of them in the past and am currently cycling a Reefer 450 which will be primarily a softie and LPS tank. My wife and I both love Zoas, GSP, and Pulsing Xenia, and our tank will have them, we're just going to be thoughtful about where we place them and keep them "pruned" as much as possible, or they will spread like wildfire.
This also brings up another question, and that is do you really want any of these corals or you're asking because you feel like you should start with something easy to care for? I know I've been in that spot before. I think a lot of people are intimidated by the "more advanced" LPS or SPS corals, so they get easy softies and then may regret it later when they fall in love with SPS or LPS and have a carpet of GSP covering their rock. I don't mean this in any way disrespectful toward you, so please don't take it that way. I'm speaking from past regrets of my own!! I'm getting more at that I would recommend finding out what you really WANT to keep, and then starting out with more tolerant versions of that. Do you want a mixed reef with a bit of everything? Do you really like the look of LPS? or do you actually want a softie tank? For example, if you really want a torch or frogspawn, then work towards that, rather than getting some shrooms just to get something easy in the tank. Likewise, if you really want one of the easy softies mentioned, then by all means, go get some, just be aware that you'll want to place them in such a way that they won't take over. I just don't want to see you go out and get some mushrooms, which are really cool, don't get me wrong, but that you're not in love with, and have their spread cause problems down the line.
Haha I know I probably will. I just have this vision of how it would look completely green on the bottom with the Xenia on top moving around I’ll have to see if it comes out how I imagine it. Thanks guys
theKoolAidMan
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This times 1,000. Believe me from being in your shoes years ago. It will look amazing at first. You'll be so excited. High growth and your tank will start to look full. It will be amazing...until you get REALLY into coral and want to start adding all sorts of stuff and are running out of room due to your Xenia forest and GSP meadow. Again, absolutely not saying don't do it. They're awesome, beautiful corals that will glow under some blue tinted lighting, just be thoughtful about placement and future expansion plans.
While I own and love all of these corals, as a beginner I would not recommend gsp, Xenia or any fast growing zoas/palys. As a beginner it is very easy to let them grow wild because it’s neat to watch them grow and you don’t realize how quickly they can take over. It can really limit you down the road.
I would recommend some nice leathers like toadstool and sinularia. Both are hardy and grow well but are not as prone to take over as the others.
I would recommend some nice leathers like toadstool and sinularia. Both are hardy and grow well but are not as prone to take over as the others.
theKoolAidMan
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The majority of corals do not need to be target fed. Some people will do so, and some will more generally feed the tank with a coral food, like reef chili, but by and large, it is not necessary for the vast majority of photosynthetic corals in the hobby.
https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/5000337/
Check out the photos posted in my thread I created today
Notice my picture is first and the zoas took over the live rock then look at some of the other pics where they took time to place the zoas , it’s pretty amazing how nice those pictures look under my pic.
Check out the photos posted in my thread I created today
Notice my picture is first and the zoas took over the live rock then look at some of the other pics where they took time to place the zoas , it’s pretty amazing how nice those pictures look under my pic.
408Dartfish
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Kenya tree coral grows super fast and spreads easily. Dustin.
theKoolAidMan
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Personally I've also found it easier to control as well, as it expands by dropping branches. Keep and eye out for them and you can pick them up when it does and either put it on a plug or rubble to grow yourself and then trade in to your LFS or just chuck it out.
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