Compatability Question

[manfish]

I am about to add some purple mushrooms and some star polyps to my tank and was hoping they would be okay with my other inhabitants.

125 gal. tank
sump for bio-filtration (more rock needed)
Fluval 404 for extra circulation
2-powerheads
130 lbs. LR/DSB

yellow tang
flame angel
percula clown
yellow chromis
yellow damsel
various snails
peppermint shrimp
green emerald crab (small)

I would appreciate any input if you see any problems. I am a newbie and would like to do this right. Thanks in advance.

[mogurnda]

Some emerald crabs can become evil and start eating things, but I don't see a compatibility problem with your group and mushrooms/polyps.

How much light have you got? Star polyps are pretty adaptable, and mushrooms are excellent in low light, but there is a minimum.

One other thing to think about is that both of those corals can be somewhat invasive. If you are thinking about other corals down the road, make sure you can keep the mushrooms and star polyps from overrunning the tank.

[Gealcath]

The clown and the damsel might get into a few fights though.

[manfish]

Sorry I haven't responded sooner. I got called into work.

Dave,

I am running 4x96w pc's ( a little over 3w per gal.)

I read a post where you said "applying some kalk along the edge of the polyps would stop them from spreading." That is my plan for the polyps. How would I keep the mushrooms in check?

Gealcath,

The Clown and damsel have squared off a couple of times already. I've been trying to remove the Damsel for a while now, he's just too darn quick. I'll get him one day.

[mogurnda]

Sucks when you have to work ;)

The light will be nice for mushrooms and polyps.

So far, mushrooms have been less of a problem for me. The ones I have seem to spread in the lower regions of the tank, away from the bright lights. That's kept them away from the other corals for the most part. Decapitating them and putting kalk paste on the stump will probably work if they become pesky. You can trade the caps to other reefers.

Any tissue left on the rock will become a new mushroom. It's amazing to watch a shroom "walk" across a rock (over the course of days), leaving little blobs of tissue that develop into mushrooms.

[manfish]

Thanks Dave,

I was also looking at a Colt Coral. It was about 4"-5" tall. I love movement in the tank. Could you share some info on these?

[mogurnda]

I haven't kept them. People who keep them here say they're pretty easy, and you would probably be fine if you keep it near the top of the rockwork. Hopefully, somebody with personal experience will post on this.

Other soft corals that will give similar motion, and that I have kept, are sinularia (finger leather) and litophyton (called nephthea by some authors). Litophyton is especially easy to keep.

[OrionGirl]

Colts are pretty easy. They want a moderate, steady flow, and I haven't had any problems with them being toxic to neighbors. They will grow rapidly--one I picked up about 4 months ago has more than doubled in size, under VHO's. Very pretty, but avoid the 'chili', or dark red ones--they are not a true colt, but are often sold as such and come from deep waters. They don't do well in the average reef.

[manfish]

thank you for the info. The colt I saw looked like a light brown. I will have to check out the litophyton. When I changed over to SW, I intended to go fowlr. Now that I've been looking at the reef set ups in a number of different lfs, I think I'm hooked. Before I go too far I will read, read, and read some more. I want to do this right. My thanks go out to the people of this forum for all the help and advise I have received.

[mogurnda]

If you're gonna be reading, and want to know about keeping corals, there's no better book than Borneman's Aquarium Corals.