Thanks for all the advice on the anemones want try any yet. I am however going to start with a colt and a yellow toadstool leather. I've heard they are easier corals to keep. Suggestions welcome. thanks cclown
carolinaclown. I don't know much about the toadstool, but I have read that the colt coral is relativly easy to keep providing that you have high water quality. I would suggest that you invest in a couple of marine reef aquarium books. One book that has a lot of good info about corals is Aquarium Corals Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History. It is by Eric H. Borneman. Somebody on this board recommended it to me and IMO it is a very good book.
Sinularia trees. Easy to keep. Tolerent of low light or high, as well as tolerant of less-than-stellar water conditions. Fast growers, too, to you'll get something to trade with.
Mushrooms are always good starters. They come in TONS of colors, are low-maintnance, very hardy, and spread quickly. My tank is about 8 months old and i have five different kinds all of which doubled in size and split within a month. I now have stray shrooms all over my sandbed!
Good luck
As long as the leather you are talking about isnt a Sarcophyton elegans you should be fine with your choices. This Sacrophyton comes from high light and turbulance areas are reqiures a more mature system.
What about zooanthids, you can get some very nice colored ones. This was my first coral about 5 years ago and I still have the colony with me and have traded numerous colonys of these polyps.
I have found like the others that mushrooms do well. Colt coral grows like a weed. You will also have frags to trade soon...Brain corals are pretty easy to keep and colorful. Finger leathers and I have a white tipped leather (sacrophyton) that has been easy to keep and is now my largest coral. It is beautiful and gives the tank lots of movement too...
I also highly recommend a couple of good books. Narual Reef Aquariums by Tullock is an excellent book for beginners that I use as a bible. Also, Eric Borenman's book Aquarium Corals Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History (already mentioned above) is impressive, and highly useful. I would invest in the book before you invest in any corals.