29 Gallon Tank Considering some coral options!

After reading the FishLore e-book, looking over profiles and doing some general searches I am considering starting with some coral frags in my 29 gallon tank. Could you take a look over this list and give any insight / tips? Anything that doesn't play well with the others, or that you'd just not recommend?

I looked for ones that in general seem to be hardy, forgiving to newbies and non-aggressive. Of course appearance comes into play as well. How quickly do these grow? That's the only thing I've not been able to find much information on. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Candy cane coral
Green star polyps
Montipora sponge (staghorn?)
Button polyps
Kenya trees

The tank currently has live rock only.

 

Hi,
GSP, buttons and kenya tree are all fairly easy to keep, you shouldn't have any trouble with them. Kenya might over-run a tank if given the right conditions, like Xenia, it tends to grow like a weed IIRC. Button polyps contain palytoxin, and should be placed away from other corals to avoid stinging.

Candy Cane is a LPS and can be hit and miss, but are generally considered easy to keep.

Montipora is a moderate to difficult SPS to keep, a little easier than Acropora, but require pristine water, high calcium/magnesium/alkalinity levels and good lighting to truly thrive and grow.

 

Hi,
GSP, buttons and kenya tree are all fairly easy to keep, you shouldn't have any trouble with them. Kenya might over-run a tank if given the right conditions, like Xenia, it tends to grow like a weed IIRC. Button polyps contain palytoxin, and should be placed away from other corals to avoid stinging.

Candy Cane is a LPS and can be hit and miss, but are generally considered easy to keep.

Montipora is a moderate to difficult SPS to keep, a little easier than Acropora, but require pristine water, high calcium/magnesium/alkalinity levels and good lighting to truly thrive and grow.

Thanks Ryan.... do you have any other suggestions, or tips on how much I should get? It sounds like I get Kenya I should only get one of those, but what about the others? How far is "away" for the button polyps? 10"?

I'm open to other corals... these are just the ones I've found. Looking around the lfs I'm seeing a wonderland lol but I figure most are way beyond my current skill level! Want to do baby steps first.

 

5" is probably a good distance - enough that when the flow waves them around, they're not hitting other corals. That said, you want to leave some room for growth of surrounding corals, and for the polyp colony to grow. It's kinda hard to to give an exact measurement.

For buttons, I'd start with a small colony of say 10-12 polyps. GSP, a small piece will grow and spread over time into a large 'mat' (check out Mike's threads) - My GSP started as 2x2" square, and is now about 12" x 4" [took about 12 months]

Kenya, just confirm if they grow like weeds the way I think they do, you may not want such an 'invasive' coral in a 29G.

Others to consider:
Mushrooms, in fact any of the soft corals and morphs. Zoanthids maybe.
LPS: Scolly, Goniopora are quite cool, and easy to keep. Acans if you're a little more adventurous, Duncan coral, brain corals, blasto

Check out the following for a good guide to coral care:

And some of the Fishlore profiles: https://www.fishlore.com/profiles-coral.htm

 

LPS: Scolly, Goniopora are quite cool, and easy to keep. Acans if you're a little more adventurous, Duncan coral, brain corals, blasto

Goniopora IMO are not an easy coral and require quite a bit more care, however the rest of the corals ryanr suggested should do fine.

 

Goniopora IMO are not an easy coral and require quite a bit more care.

Really ??? - mine are bullet proof! I reckon I could pour acid in the tank and they'd still live. Maybe it's the species I have

It goes without saying, looking after any coral requires a bit of care, and proper feeding etc.

 

Sounds like the fish that swim around them.... different ones even if they're the same type have their own personality

 

Try some MontI caps. I've been fairly successful with them and they look really cool.