What's the FIRST coral you ever bought?
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Gtinnel
10K Club member
That's one thing I've never diy'ed. Ironically that 15 year old skimmer actually does a better job than my current skimmer. I just replaced it because it splashes water everywhere.
MaxTremors
2500 Club Member
I saw some for sale the other day for I think $40, they were just little 2 inch frags, I would’ve bought one because they’re one of my favorites, but I don’t really have room for one right now (at least a spot with lower light).
damsels are not mean
Valuable Member
The first coral I explicitly bought was a nice big rock of green zoanthids, but technically the first coral I bought (as a live rock hitchiker) was a couple of discosoma mushrooms. They survived the cycle and went on to take over the tank, developing all sorts of interesting color forms in different lighting conditions.
wilsonline
Active Member
My first test coral was a green Montipora capricornio. Second an Acropora. They're both doing fine here, bought them almost 2 years ago when I started in the hobby.
For me it was a small green Candy Cane It had like 3 heads and ended up with hundreds and about the size a Grapefruit.
In the late 80's I had a 20 gallon tank full of Xenia and Green Star Polyps surrounding a carpet anemone inhabited by two Percula Clowns. I fed the fish, the fish fed the anemone, and their waste fed the corals. I still like having some invasive soft corals in my mixed reef.
Fishy888
2500 Club Member
I love those. I had them years ago. I would love to have them again. They'd have to have their own island though especially in a SPS dominated tank.What's the FIRST coral you ever bought?
Oh my gosh,, for me,, we're talking 2007.... but I'm pretty sure it was Yellow Polyps
For some reason everyone thinks they're invasive and ugly and only one step above Aiptasia.... but I always thought they were pretty cool and add color to your tank.
You never see these for sale anymore
Reclassify them as a zoa and give them a cool marketing name like Yellow Jacket Stingers and they'd probably sell for $15/polyp. Lol
First coral I bought or got? I was working in the industry so my first coral was a free rock with 1 mushroom and some GSP. They survived fine in the 20 gallon with T8 lights, but didn't grow much. The first one I actually bought was a pipe organ. It did not fare so well in that tank. I learned a lot since then and upgraded the system multiple times over the years. Now I put more coral into the trade than I take! SPS, LPS, and softies.
People like me that started with no budget, little knowledge, and a dream probably killed our early purchases. People with the silver spoon tanks, a big budget, and maybe a maintenance guy fared much better. The important part is learning and doing the right thing moving forward, whether a situation like this or something else.
People like me that started with no budget, little knowledge, and a dream probably killed our early purchases. People with the silver spoon tanks, a big budget, and maybe a maintenance guy fared much better. The important part is learning and doing the right thing moving forward, whether a situation like this or something else.
Fishy888
2500 Club Member
Lol that was my first skimmer too...and the Meek shall inherent the Earth
Oh Lord help me.... my first skimmer, 2007
The Coralife 75 Super Skimmer hang on back
Ha, yeah those yellow polyps! Those were one of my first, along with green button polyps (do those even exist anymore), and maybe some green mushrooms? Hard to say which was actually first, as this was circa 2001...
Colodano
New Member
From memory the first coral that I actually bought was a Galaxia frag. I had a few hitchhikers at that point as I had a FOWLR going for I would say 3 years already. That Galaxia made it through a phase where I had no fish in the tank and let it basically sit with no feeding, just water topups for a year or more. I eventually added some more fish, and started feeding again, and eventually got back into caring for the tank a bit.
Then I moved across Canada from Calgary to Toronto, and the tank came with me in buckets. At that time, I kept everything in a bare 10 gallon while I let some new rock and sand cycle in a 55 I had, instead of the 36 cube that I had going for years. With more water changes and better light, I actually saw great growth in that quick period, and then in the 55 it absolutely exploded. At the start of the move I maybe had 5 polyps left alive, within a month of being in the 55 post move, it was up to closer to 100.
Unfortunately life hit, split from my wife and moved back to Colorado. Tank stayed there, under her less than watchful eye. At least she filled the ato bucket and fed everything...
she moved, and had a local company home all of the rock and fish etc, and they sold her a used 90 gallon for the new place. Lost a few cool specimens in that time, but the Galaxia was doing good, and in the 90 it got up to the size of a football. I was up for a visit, and fragged a piece off and let it heal for a few days, and brought it back in my luggage wrapped in wet paper towels in a hard water bottle, and put it in the 15 gallon I had running here.
That frag took off here, and I have gone up to a 20 long, but the coral is now 3" by 4" roughly, when it was maybe 1/2" by 1.5" when it arrived. And it killed a GSP frag I had about 5" away on the same rock, even though I never saw a sweeper more than maybe 1.5" long.
Dang sorry for the wall of text.
TLDR Glaxia has made it through crazy life and neglect, and has a frag growing well in another country
Then I moved across Canada from Calgary to Toronto, and the tank came with me in buckets. At that time, I kept everything in a bare 10 gallon while I let some new rock and sand cycle in a 55 I had, instead of the 36 cube that I had going for years. With more water changes and better light, I actually saw great growth in that quick period, and then in the 55 it absolutely exploded. At the start of the move I maybe had 5 polyps left alive, within a month of being in the 55 post move, it was up to closer to 100.
Unfortunately life hit, split from my wife and moved back to Colorado. Tank stayed there, under her less than watchful eye. At least she filled the ato bucket and fed everything...
she moved, and had a local company home all of the rock and fish etc, and they sold her a used 90 gallon for the new place. Lost a few cool specimens in that time, but the Galaxia was doing good, and in the 90 it got up to the size of a football. I was up for a visit, and fragged a piece off and let it heal for a few days, and brought it back in my luggage wrapped in wet paper towels in a hard water bottle, and put it in the 15 gallon I had running here.
That frag took off here, and I have gone up to a 20 long, but the coral is now 3" by 4" roughly, when it was maybe 1/2" by 1.5" when it arrived. And it killed a GSP frag I had about 5" away on the same rock, even though I never saw a sweeper more than maybe 1.5" long.
Dang sorry for the wall of text.
TLDR Glaxia has made it through crazy life and neglect, and has a frag growing well in another country
