Sk8r
09/20/2008, 03:10 PM
First of all, what's a coral? If it's marine life, not an algae, not a crustacean or worm, not a fish, or an anemone or starfish, among things commonly kept---you're probably down to coral.
Basically it's a polyp of some sort: got a mouth, a gut, and usually a frill or other sweeping thing that helps gather food to the mouth. It comes in several yes/nos. Soft?/stony? High light/low light?
Most corals are photosynthetic: contain zooxanthellae that take in light and produce food for the coral. If your coral sheds brown poop, this is not good: it is shedding dead zooxanthellae. It's had a 'light' crisis.
Most corals are sessile: ie, you put them, they stay put. A few can get up and move. Mushrooms do. And a variety of stony does: plate coral. It puffs up until it's mostly water and lets the current carry it. NEVER glue down a plate coral!
How to care for them? First, use a dip (varies considerably by type of coral!!!!) to be sure they're not carrying anything. Get advice for this part.
Do they get ich? no. They probably eat it, imho. Do they get other things. You betcha. Ask.
Do you feed them? Your fish do that. Corals love fish poo specially prepared by bristleworms. They eat light and chemicals out of your water/saltmix. (Especially calcium, in the case of stony.) If you keep stony corals you will be supplementing alkalinity and calcium---a lot, as they start to grow. Most softies eat light and just fish poo, though a few (plate corals, eg) like thin slices of shrimp. Or pellets. Or whatever.
Are they hard to care for? Not really. I've had corals survive after being dumped face down in the sand for a month. Not well, understand, but they're hurricane-proof, and if they break, you have 2 corals. You just glue the other half to a rock and sell it.
Can you put them into a brand new tank? Yes. If you're a brand new hobbyist? No.
Explanation: You can put them into a brand new tank if you're an old hand and are NOT going to have your water quality all over the map, with 3 topoff accidents in one week and no test kits...if, I say, you DON'T make newbie mistakes, you're perfectly fine to take on the hardier corals---sooner than you dare take on most fish. If, on the other hand, you are a new hobbyist and are still learning about calcium/alkalinity balance, it's a pretty good idea to go learn about that first...not that your tank can't in theory support corals, but that corals really hate bouncing water parameters, and new tanks, especially small new tanks, have a lot of problems with stability. Keeping hardy corals in really small tanks is perfectly possible ... but it is challenging.
So don't be spooked about the 'reef' thing. Corals are very friendly in one regard: they're completely honest with you---and if your water is 'off' you'll see it first in your corals, which will be pinched and unhappy looking. So trust them even ahead of your tests. If your corals ain't happy, no matter what your tests say---something's wrong, something you haven't figured out yet.
If you ARE a complete newbie, bear down on learning water quality, and stabilize that in your tank, and you'll be ready to give it a try.
Basically it's a polyp of some sort: got a mouth, a gut, and usually a frill or other sweeping thing that helps gather food to the mouth. It comes in several yes/nos. Soft?/stony? High light/low light?
Most corals are photosynthetic: contain zooxanthellae that take in light and produce food for the coral. If your coral sheds brown poop, this is not good: it is shedding dead zooxanthellae. It's had a 'light' crisis.
Most corals are sessile: ie, you put them, they stay put. A few can get up and move. Mushrooms do. And a variety of stony does: plate coral. It puffs up until it's mostly water and lets the current carry it. NEVER glue down a plate coral!
How to care for them? First, use a dip (varies considerably by type of coral!!!!) to be sure they're not carrying anything. Get advice for this part.
Do they get ich? no. They probably eat it, imho. Do they get other things. You betcha. Ask.
Do you feed them? Your fish do that. Corals love fish poo specially prepared by bristleworms. They eat light and chemicals out of your water/saltmix. (Especially calcium, in the case of stony.) If you keep stony corals you will be supplementing alkalinity and calcium---a lot, as they start to grow. Most softies eat light and just fish poo, though a few (plate corals, eg) like thin slices of shrimp. Or pellets. Or whatever.
Are they hard to care for? Not really. I've had corals survive after being dumped face down in the sand for a month. Not well, understand, but they're hurricane-proof, and if they break, you have 2 corals. You just glue the other half to a rock and sell it.
Can you put them into a brand new tank? Yes. If you're a brand new hobbyist? No.
Explanation: You can put them into a brand new tank if you're an old hand and are NOT going to have your water quality all over the map, with 3 topoff accidents in one week and no test kits...if, I say, you DON'T make newbie mistakes, you're perfectly fine to take on the hardier corals---sooner than you dare take on most fish. If, on the other hand, you are a new hobbyist and are still learning about calcium/alkalinity balance, it's a pretty good idea to go learn about that first...not that your tank can't in theory support corals, but that corals really hate bouncing water parameters, and new tanks, especially small new tanks, have a lot of problems with stability. Keeping hardy corals in really small tanks is perfectly possible ... but it is challenging.
So don't be spooked about the 'reef' thing. Corals are very friendly in one regard: they're completely honest with you---and if your water is 'off' you'll see it first in your corals, which will be pinched and unhappy looking. So trust them even ahead of your tests. If your corals ain't happy, no matter what your tests say---something's wrong, something you haven't figured out yet.
If you ARE a complete newbie, bear down on learning water quality, and stabilize that in your tank, and you'll be ready to give it a try.