Top 6 'Beginner' Corals That Aren't Actually Easy

Join this channel to get access to perks:

My vlogging equipment

Video

Audio

Sliders

Lighting

Art

Some of these links have an affiliate code - so if you make a purchase, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

For any commercial enquiries, please send me a PM, contact me via Instagram or leave a comment below.

0:00 Hello
0:15 Hammer corals
1:11 Acans
2:04 Zoas
3:32 Scolymia
4:38 SPS corals
5:53 Torch corals

[ReefDorkXtra]

Which of these corals have you bought?!

[davideamer]

A man in a dark van with a packet of haribo 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I thought that's everytime you walk into a local fish shop

[smokeandkippers]

You must have a camera in my living room because you’ve pretty much perfectly described my own experiences with all five of those corals. Love my branching hammers and never had an issue with them. My torches I’ve had approximately 50% success with and frustratingly lost torches that are the same genus as one that’s thriving right next to it. My Zoas always melt. Even stunning colonies that have looked amazing for months and months. My acans are moody and I’ve given up wasting money on SPS. 😂😂

[TehSharkX]

Finally someone ranked torch corals away from beginner. When it comes to my coral loss, torches are 90% of that list. The rest of the tank is literally growing too.

[dogofthemight]

You have perfectly explained my experience with zoas. I have 5 or 6.

All have grown completely different. And the sole one that was a single head didnt survive the initial drop into my reef.

Some have only added 4 or 5 heads, where as others are well branched out onto my rocks and are spreading fast

[NewburystBoi]

SPS do have more needs for sure, but a newbie can put a Monti or two in and they will do fine. You just can't neglect your tank.

[juanfernandez]

All my acans have gained color in my tank most a year old all growing with multiple heads fairly high flow keeps them happy in my tank.

[RogueAquariums]

You’re exactly right Alex concerning Zoas. I won’t make the same mistake again by just buying one polyp and watching it melt.

[rudra]

agree on torch..
what I've learned (from experience) is to not buy single frags that seem cheap. I picked one gold torch frag for £99 thinking "bargain!".

it lasted 7 days..and I realised why. it's cause it was a fresh cut..I've had a frag that was in an established tank and sprouting a second head..and it still is fine.

so before you see a sick deal on your local LFS..check if it is a fresh cut..I would hold fire, pay a little bit more and get one that has matured in the tank abit.

I do wish local LFS stores didn't sell such fresh cuts though

[anthonyswindells]

I actually found SPS corals easier to keep, than half of my LPS! I started LPS and transitioned in to a mixed reef. Frogspawn are the best euphillia by a country mile!

[jackkain]

Huh, the aussie gold torch thing surprises me. The one I have was both one of my first corals and has been doing amazing for over 2 years now. Started as a single head and is well over 8 at this point.

[sunnygoold]

Awesome - agree with everything particularly zoas, scolies and wall hammers (the rest are pretty obvious I think).

[falcolf]

Thank you for the note about single head zoa frags, there's a seller here in Canada who does that and I was concerned that it wasn't a good idea. This proves my suspicion! Thank you!

[leeleecee]

I prefer the wall euphyllia. I have both but my wall frogspawn is just massive and stretches over the entirety of my Kole Tang’s cave. I agree it’s not a beginner coral but once you get an older established reef going, def a beautiful coral to add

[henrydelbosque]

Before knowing if corals are easy or not, first and crucial point is to obtain and keep optimal maintenance conditions with correct parameters on long term basis in your tank. And that is not easy. Should you be a capable to do that the rest is quite easy…

[michaeljetten]

At 3:16 I do see 3 astarnia little starfish on the frag plug lost some zoas myself to these suckers aswel

[itsanarchy]

100% agree with you on torches. I had 7 different ones at one point all looking great and then in a span of 5 months I lost them all slowly. Other than that Bubble corral and symposium clover corals are the only ones that have died on me

[chrissreef]

Aussie gold torch, still going strong for 16 months🎉 but yes it’s 100 times more difficult than my other torches

[Boogerdick]

I’ve owned 3 torch frags in the 3-4 years back into the hobby. I killed 1, one has split to 2 heads and the other has only just begone to grow lol. They grow so slow for me, hammers and frogspawn grow really fast in my tank.

[annebartells]

I would never get a hammer coral or torch as a beginner coral. They are very expensive in the states. If it died, you would be spending a lot of money to learn how to reef. Of course, I did this and of course they died when I first started reefing. We all make those mistakes, no matter what kind of advice we are given. I love your advice on sps corals. Yes, I learned the hard way too. I was an expert fresh water aquarist and made the jump to reefing about 7 years ago. Salt water and fresh are two different animals. I learned real quick I didn't know how to control my perimeters and lost a lot of livestock that I never should have tried in the beginning. This is a great video. I hope others take your advice. About a year ago i started growing sps corals. It took me awhile to get brave enough to try them. I don't like killing livestock. The expense does bother me as much as the thought of those animals dying