What should my first corals be? *Autism friendly*

[Gobies&Guns]

Hey everyone! I have a 14g cube, I want to get some corals into it. I’ve never bought corals and this is my first SW tank. We have an autistic son that doesn’t understand the danger of certain things so I want to stay away from zoas and palys. We love torches and hammers but after some research I don’t want my clown fish or anything in the tank to get hurt or eaten. Any recommendations on some fun or unique corals for beginners?

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

why not torches, also leathers might be fine, do you mean your son puts his hand in the tank?? (i think if thats the case im worse)

 

[smitten with ocean life]

i have never heard of torches or hammers harming clowns, but i could be wrong! how about some leathers? there are some really neat ones out there

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

i have never heard of torches or hammers harming clowns, but i could be wrong!

Same!!

 

[fish_collector]

I love your skull, it'll be really cool when it's encrusted with coralline and zoanthids.

 

[Gobies&Guns]

why not torches, also leathers might be fine, do you mean your son puts his hand in the tank?? (i think if thats the case im worse)

Haha

why not torches, also leathers might be fine, do you mean your son puts his hand in the tank?? (i think if thats the case im worse)

lol he’s the type of kid if unsupervised I would catch him chewing on a Zoa or putting it in his water bottle and drinking from it all day. So I’m just gonna avoid anything actually toxic. We don’t plan on letting him do that lol but even with us locking the door you never know with him. He’s sneaky when he wants to be. If everyone thinks the clowns and everything are chill with the hammers and torches we all love the look and movement. Our LFS has some nice ones.

 

[JTP424]

Despite it being considered a "nuisance" by some, the forgiving nature of green star polyps might be a good option to start.

 

[towels]

Haha

lol he’s the type of kid if unsupervised I would catch him chewing on a Zoa or putting it in his water bottle and drinking from it all day. So I’m just gonna avoid anything actually toxic. We don’t plan on letting him do that lol but even with us locking the door you never know with him. He’s sneaky when he wants to be. If everyone thinks the clowns and everything are chill with the hammers and torches we all love the look and movement. Our LFS has some nice ones.

Have you considered a lid? If you’re still worried about him removing the lid, there are terrarium locks that you could get. If you put zoas on an island on the sand bed they’ll be harder to get to as well

If it helps-I have had no issues with clowns around torches and hammers

 

[Gobies&Guns]

Have you considered a lid? If you’re still worried about him removing the lid, there are terrarium locks that you could get. If you put zoas on an island on the sand bed they’ll be harder to get to as well

I have a lid. Terrarium locks are a good idea though I have not looked into those. A lock on the door into the room with the tanks is gonna be are biggest safety precaution but rather safe than sorry all it takes is one slip up.

 

[JonErik]

Green star polyps or pulsing Xenia are really hardy and not any more toxic than any other coral besides zoas. The pulsing Xenia might capture their attention but I’d put both on a island so you can upgrade later to torches or hammers without having to replace all your rockwork cause they can grow fast

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I would highly recommend a solid rock work large piece and having encrusting corals this way they can't be pulled out. Jb water weld can be used to glue all the rocks together and if done right it will be impossible to pull apart. There are others as well. Some encrusting corals do not need a lot of light which will be good if they decide to push or knock the light over or off to get to it. You could also install it into a cabinet where it cannot be accessed from top and can be locked but still viable from front.

Any coral can be dangerous if ingested. You may be safer growing certain macro algae even. Quite a few are non toxic and will be safer. Go with hermits over snails for a cleanup crew as well. If he can stick his hands in the tank to grab things, then you are very limited to be safe or need to have tank locked up tight with some unique ideas. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested as well.

 

[VintageReefer]

Get a scolymia

Very colorful, unique patterns, stays at the bottom (hardest to reach lol)

Warpaint

Bleeding apple

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

For the door as I read you were going to keep it locked, I don't know the form or how they are effected by autism but a door with auto lock feature could be great. Have keypad for entry or even a door lock with phone app. Have it to where when it's shut it auto locks and you don't need to worry about a key. Could even add a camera on the room to keep an eye on things with alert to phone just in case.

 

[Gobies&Guns]

I would highly recommend a solid rock work large piece and having encrusting corals this way they can't be pulled out. Jb water weld can be used to glue all the rocks together and if done right it will be impossible to pull apart. There are others as well. Some encrusting corals do not need a lot of light which will be good if they decide to push or knock the light over or off to get to it. You could also install it into a cabinet where it cannot be accessed from top and can be locked but still viable from front.

Any coral can be dangerous if ingested. You may be safer growing certain macro algae even. Quite a few are non toxic and will be safer. Go with hermits over snails for a cleanup crew as well. If he can stick his hands in the tank to grab things, then you are very limited to be safe or need to have tank locked up tight with some unique ideas. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested as well.

All great suggestions and tips. We have 2 Astraea Snails and one Halloween hermit we love the hermit we want to get another one. I don’t know much about macro algae besides Dragons Breath it has caught my eye

 

[Gobies&Guns]

Get a scolymia

Very colorful, unique patterns, stays at the bottom (hardest to reach lol)

Warpaint

Bleeding apple

These are awesome

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

All great suggestions and tips. We have 2 Astraea Snails and one Halloween hermit we love the hermit we want to get another one. I don’t know much about macro algae besides Dragons Breath it has caught my eye

There is also blue knuckle which looks nice and polkadot hermit. Just search macro algae and there is a huge variety. Blue hypnea is a really nice algae. Most you find available will be safe. But they absorb what is in the water. That's where most issues come in.

 

[VintageReefer]

These are awesome

I have a “Superman” also

Superman and Warpaint are 3”
The bleeding apple is more like 1.75-2

Better pic of warpaint

Group

Can also go for other sandbed lps like trachyphyllia or Cynarina

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Haha

lol he’s the type of kid if unsupervised I would catch him chewing on a Zoa or putting it in his water bottle and drinking from it all day. So I’m just gonna avoid anything actually toxic. We don’t plan on letting him do that lol but even with us locking the door you never know with him. He’s sneaky when he wants to be. If everyone thinks the clowns and everything are chill with the hammers and torches we all love the look and movement. Our LFS has some nice ones.

a clown would be great then. bit bit bit!!, no more hands in the aquarium!!, no worries it ill just hurt

 

[jsmkmavity]

I would think the rythmic movement of pulsing zenia and your torches would appeal to his nature. Lots of colorful corals are nice to look at but dont have much noticable movement, and the bright colors might encourage more desire to touch unfortunately. A clownfish might be a good addition due to its rythmic and consistant movement patterns.

 

[Gobies&Guns]

We have a nice stock of fish and invertebrates already two small clowns a red scooter a watchman goby and
candy cane pistol shrimp. Two astrea snails and a Halloween hermit for our clean up crew so far it’s a small tank 14g so we’ll stock as it goes. I added another rock to the tank today gonna get a light this weekend and start with a frag or two.