When you think of the word coral, the first thing that comes to most people's minds is definitely the small hydra body hard coral (SPS) and the large hydra body hard coral (LPS). In fact, there is a large class of corals that are more suitable for novices, do you know?
Soft corals can be regarded as one of the most accessible entry-level categories in the family coral tank. Although labeled as a must-have for novices, like any creature, they have their own needs and personalities. Xiaobian hopes to talk to you about them today, which can help you on your first road to the sea.
In fact, soft corals do not have much in common with stony corals or hard corals, but there are some superficial similarities. Although their tentacles and polyps may look similar to stone corals, they do not have hard calcium carbonate bones and have eight-spoke symmetry (polyps have 8 pinnate tentacles symmetrical on both sides) rather than six-spoke symmetry. Things like leather, fingers, turf, mushrooms, flashing hands, etc. can all be classified in this category.
In fact, they have a genetic relationship with hard corals just as they do with other marine invertebrates. Soft corals can or may not photosynthesize, and although most soft corals have commensal zooxanthellae to help them meet their food and energy needs, they still rely on eight tentacles to catch plankton.
The amount of zooxanthellae possessed by soft corals is directly related to the depth of these corals in the wild. The deeper corals live in the ocean, the less yellow algae they have in their bodies. In depths where sunlight cannot penetrate seawater, soft corals don't need the help of zooxanthellae.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the novice gospel</h1>
For those reef tank beginners, soft corals are an excellent choice for several reasons, first of all, they are less likely to be injured and infected than hard corals during the collection process. After entering the tank, it can quickly adapt to the captive environment of the sea tank and grow rapidly, which is easy to raise, more hardy and cheaper.
Secondly, soft corals do not build coral reefs, but only rely on coral reefs to live, so they can be easily transferred from the tank, and the damage to the environment is small.
Individual soft corals have hard cores inside that can help shape them. However, because soft corals don't have reef structures like stony corals, their calcium needs are usually much lower than stony corals, which also means that you don't need to start replenishing water calcium right away, which is another point where soft corals are good for beginners.
There are many kinds of soft corals that are an excellent choice for our sea tanks, such as mushroom corals and some leathers that can tolerate parameter changes in the new cycle of sea tanks and help stabilize it.
The crested and leather have a wide variety of appearances, such as the crest coral looks like a ball, and the fleshy soft coral looks like lettuce or cabbage. There is a popular species in the soft coral family, often referred to as carnation tree corals, which come in a variety of attractive colors such as red, pink, yellow, and purple. One particularly striking variety is the Japanese pink spike coral, which presents a brilliant and bright pink color.
It should be noted that some varieties are not recommended for our family sea tank at all. A good example of this is Dendronephthya/scleronephya, and although they are almost impossible to keep in captivity, aquarists covet their beautiful colors.
Because they lack zooxanthellae commonly found in other species of corals, and because they are greedy filter-feeding corals, they require a lot of plankton, and it is difficult to produce plankton in our sea tanks, plus there is no symbiotic zooxanthellae, so they require us to feed a lot of extra food to make up for the lack of nutrients, which is likely to cause the water to be contaminated.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the living environment of soft corals</h1>
There are thousands of soft coral types, so it is impossible to generalize on all the feeding methods of soft corals, and as a qualified aquarist, you need to understand the needs of each coral before entering the tank.
In order to create an ideal living environment, you need to provide them with low to medium lighting, at least a lot less lighting than your SPS coral. Another stable food supply and a gentle flow of water are also important.
Regular feeding is also important, for example, seajet crown corals need dim light and feed at night, and many soft corals in zooxanthellae will only provide the sugars that corals need to survive, but that is only energy and not nutrients, so soft corals need a lot of food on a daily basis to meet their protein needs.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the reproduction of soft corals</h1>
Soft corals can reproduce sexually/asexually, they sprout and produce new polyps, and then these can be cut to produce a new individual, or by hatching and reproduction, the sperm released by the male is captured by the female polyps, or the sperm and eggs are released at the same time, and the fertilized eggs settle to the bottom of the sea to hatch and grow.
One of the characteristics of soft corals is that they are usually easier to divide and breed than stony corals, and only need to be fixed in the right place with a rubber band or glue. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that cutting soft corals creates a lot of slime, making it difficult for them to stick to the right place, which can be avoided by cutting a portion of the foundation that connects with the coral. As a reminder, soft corals can also sting like stony corals, so please wear gloves when touching.
Finally, I hope that our introduction will make you interested in raising soft corals, many aquarists who raise coral tanks think that stone corals are more beautiful, more choose SPS corals, in fact, soft corals look cute and should not be underestimated.