The Beginner Coral Guide

Corals I Would Actually Recommend for Your First Reef Tank

Walking into a coral shop for the first time can be overwhelming.

There are hundreds of colors, names and varieties. One person tells you a coral is easy. Somebody else tells you it’s difficult. You start reading about PAR, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, flow, nutrients and trace elements, and suddenly keeping your first coral sounds considerably more complicated than it needs to be.

It doesn’t have to be.

I’ve kept, grown and worked with a lot of coral. I also operate an active coral farm and collect marine life here in the Florida Keys. If you’re starting your first reef tank, my advice is pretty simple:

Start with coral that gives you room to learn.

Your first coral doesn’t need to be the rarest thing in the store. It should be something you genuinely like that can tolerate some of the small mistakes almost every new reef keeper makes.

There will be plenty of time for Acropora, Euphyllia and more demanding coral later.

For now, let’s get some coral growing.

Before You Buy Your First Coral

There is one thing I care about more than whether your nitrate is 8 instead of 10 or whether somebody online says your light should be three inches higher:

Stability.

A reef aquarium doesn’t need perfect numbers every minute of every day. It needs to stop changing dramatically.

Make sure your aquarium is fully cycled. Keep salinity stable. Learn how your temperature behaves throughout the day. Get into a routine with testing and water changes.

And don’t make five adjustments at once because one test result scared you.

Corals are living animals. Most of them handle a slightly imperfect but stable aquarium better than an aquarium whose owner is constantly chasing numbers.

Before you buy anything, learn what it is.

That sounds obvious. It isn’t.

Two corals sitting next to each other in a store can have completely different requirements. A beautiful gorgonian, for example, can either be a relatively straightforward photosynthetic coral or an advanced non-photosynthetic animal with very specific feeding requirements.

Identification comes before husbandry.

That’s one of the reasons we built the TUG Coral Field Guide.

The Short Version: Where I Would Start

If someone walked into The Underwater Gardener today with a healthy, established first reef tank and asked me where to start, these are the groups I would show them.

Coral	My Take	Light	Flow	What You Need to Know
Mushrooms	Excellent first coral	Low–Moderate	Low–Moderate	Some varieties spread
Zoanthids	Excellent first coral	Low–Moderate	Moderate	Handle carefully; some spread rapidly
Green Star Polyps	Extremely forgiving	Moderate	Moderate	Can take over rockwork
Pulsating Xenia	Very easy to grow	Low–Moderate	Low–Moderate	Can spread everywhere
Leather Corals	Excellent first coral	Moderate	Moderate	Periodically close and shed
Clove Polyps	Good beginner coral	Moderate	Moderate	Can spread quickly
Photosynthetic Gorgonians	Great with basic stability	Moderate	Moderate–Strong	Correct identification matters
Pipe Organ	Beginner-plus	Moderate	Moderate–Strong	Needs good flow and stability
Candy Cane	Excellent first LPS	Low–Moderate	Low–Moderate	Start paying attention to chemistry
Leptoseris	Great next-step coral	Low–Moderate	Low–Moderate	More sensitive than the softies

These aren’t the only corals a beginner can keep.

They’re the ones I think give a new reef keeper a good combination of beauty, reasonable husbandry and margin for error.

1. Mushroom Corals

BEST FOR: Your first coral
DIFFICULTY: Very forgiving
WATCH FOR: Spreading

If you asked me to pick one group for somebody who has never kept coral before, mushrooms would be very high on my list.

They’re hardy. They’re available in an incredible range of colors. They don’t require extreme lighting or flow, and they give you a chance to learn how a coral responds to placement without punishing every small mistake.

And “mushroom coral” doesn’t mean one animal.

Discosoma, Rhodactis and Ricordea can look dramatically different from one another.

A Discosoma generally has a relatively smooth disc. Rhodactis can have a much more textured, almost hairy appearance. Ricordea florida is covered in distinctive rounded vesicles that give it an unmistakable beaded appearance.

That variety makes mushrooms one of the easiest ways to put serious color into a new reef without immediately moving into demanding coral.

Where I would put them

Start mushrooms lower in the aquarium and out of extremely strong direct flow.

You want movement around the coral—not a powerhead blasting it hard enough to fold the animal over itself.

Then watch the coral.

A happy mushroom generally tells you.

Plan for growth

Some mushrooms can multiply very successfully once they’re happy.

That can be great. It can also mean the single mushroom you carefully positioned today isn’t going to remain a single mushroom forever.

Plan for the colony you may have six months from now, not just the frag you’re holding today.

See the mushrooms we currently have →

2. Zoanthids

BEST FOR: Huge color without complicated care
DIFFICULTY: Beginner friendly
WATCH FOR: Growth and safe handling

Zoanthids are popular for a reason.

You can get an incredible amount of color from a very small piece of reef. Different varieties can contain green, orange, red, yellow, blue and purple combinations that look completely different under reef lighting.

They’re also relatively forgiving once established.

Give them reasonable light, enough water movement to keep debris from sitting on them, and stable water conditions.

You do not need to put your first zoanthids directly underneath the most powerful part of your lights.

Don’t buy them only because of the name

The zoanthid trade has accumulated an enormous number of trade names.

Some are useful. Some are inconsistent. Some get applied very generously.

Buy the coral you actually like.

The name doesn’t keep it alive.

One serious handling note

Zoanthids and related Palythoa can contain palytoxin.

Don’t cut, scrub, boil or otherwise abuse them without understanding what you’re working with. Wear appropriate protection when handling or fragging them, keep them away from your eyes and mouth, and never boil rock containing zoanthids or Palythoa.

This isn’t a reason to be afraid of keeping them.

It’s a reason to respect the animal.

Browse zoanthids → · Browse Palythoa →

3. Green Star Polyps

BEST FOR: Movement, color and rapid growth
DIFFICULTY: Very easy
WATCH THE GROWTH: Absolutely.

Green Star Polyps prove an important point:

Easy to keep does not mean easy to control.

A healthy colony can be spectacular. Bright green polyps extend from a purple mat and move constantly in the current.

They can also spread across rockwork very quickly.

That’s why I still recommend them to beginners—with a plan.

Give GSP its own island

If possible, put Green Star Polyps on a separate rock where you can control where the mat grows.

Don’t put a small frag at the base of your primary reef structure simply because that’s the empty spot you have today.

Think about where it can go tomorrow.

GSP can make a beautiful isolated island, back wall or intentionally covered piece of rock.

It becomes a problem when you let it decide what it’s going to cover.

Don’t panic when it closes

Green Star Polyps can occasionally remain closed.

Check water quality, flow and whether anything is irritating the colony before deciding something catastrophic has happened.

Give the animal a chance to tell you what’s wrong.

See our Green Star Polyps frag →

4. Pulsating Xenia

BEST FOR: Movement and watching coral grow
DIFFICULTY: Very easy
WATCH THE GROWTH: Seriously.

I understand why new reef keepers love Xenia.

It moves.

It pulses.

It grows.

When you’re brand new to reefing and a coral starts multiplying, it feels like proof that you’re finally getting this right.

And Xenia can be beautiful.

Why I personally don’t love it in a mixed reef

It can become a weed.

Once Pulsating Xenia is happy, it can spread rapidly onto surrounding rockwork and into places where you never intended to have Xenia.

That doesn’t make it a bad coral.

It means placement matters before the frag ever enters the aquarium.

If you want Xenia, I would much rather see you isolate it somewhere its growth can be managed.

Then enjoy it.

If you put it into the middle of your primary rock structure because you want to fill an empty space, you may eventually spend considerably more time trying to remove it than you ever spent trying to grow it.

That’s a lesson I’d rather tell you before you buy it.

5. Leather Corals

BEST FOR: Larger shape, movement and presence
DIFFICULTY: Beginner friendly
WATCH FOR: Normal shedding behavior

Leather corals are one of my favorite ways to give a young reef some size and movement without immediately jumping into more demanding stony corals.

Toadstools, finger leathers and other commonly kept photosynthetic leathers can become substantial centerpiece animals.

They generally appreciate good water movement and reasonable lighting, but they’re considerably more forgiving than many of the stony corals beginners are tempted to buy.

The day your leather looks terrible

Eventually, a healthy leather coral may close.

It can develop a shiny or waxy appearance. Its polyps disappear. It looks like something is wrong.

Then it sheds a thin surface layer and opens again.

That shedding behavior is normal for many leather corals.

Good flow helps the animal remove that layer.

This is exactly the kind of thing that scares a new reef keeper into making unnecessary changes.

Learn the normal behavior of your coral before treating every change in appearance as an emergency.

See leather corals in stock →

6. Clove Polyps

BEST FOR: Delicate movement and detail
DIFFICULTY: Beginner friendly with reasonable stability
WATCH FOR: Spreading

Clove polyps are beautiful when you actually get close to them.

Each individual polyp rises on its own stalk and opens into a delicate crown of eight feathery tentacles.

That’s an important identification feature, and it’s something I want you to actually see rather than simply read about.

They appreciate moderate light and enough flow to keep the colony clean without hammering the polyps.

Plan for growth

Depending on the variety and conditions, clove polyps can spread very successfully.

I don’t consider that a reason not to own them.

I consider it a reason to decide where you want them before they start growing.

See clove polyps →

7. Photosynthetic Gorgonians

BEST FOR: Height, structure and natural reef movement
DIFFICULTY: Beginner to intermediate depending on species
WATCH FOR: Buying the wrong kind

I think gorgonians are underused in reef aquariums.

They add something that a collection of round coral frags simply can’t:

Height. Branching structure. Movement.

But this recommendation comes with an enormous qualifier.

I am talking about appropriate photosynthetic gorgonians.

Photosynthetic gorgonians contain symbiotic algae that provide a substantial part of their nutritional needs. With suitable light, good water movement and stable aquarium conditions, appropriate species can be very manageable.

They generally appreciate meaningful flow. Those branches and polyps need water movement around them, and good flow helps prevent debris and algae from accumulating on the colony.

Not every gorgonian belongs in a beginner tank

This matters.

Some of the most striking gorgonians are non-photosynthetic.

Those are advanced animals.

Non-photosynthetic gorgonians depend on specialized feeding and require an aquarist who understands what the animal eats, appropriate food size, feeding frequency, flow and the nutrient load created by providing enough food.

The same warning applies more broadly to non-photosynthetic corals.

If you don’t know which kind of gorgonian you’re looking at, ask before you buy it.

Color alone isn’t a care guide.

See the photosynthetic gorgonians we currently have →

8. Pipe Organ Coral

BEST FOR: Moving one step beyond the easiest soft corals
DIFFICULTY: Beginner-plus
WATCH FOR: Detritus, algae and stability

Pipe Organ is one of the corals I want to treat more carefully than many beginner guides do.

It’s an octocoral, but unlike the typical soft coral, it builds an unmistakable hard red calcium-carbonate skeleton made from closely packed tubes.

When the colony is open, the extended polyps can hide much of that structure.

When the polyps retract, the red tubular skeleton becomes obvious.

That structure is also part of its husbandry.

Debris can accumulate within the colony. It needs enough water movement to help keep those spaces clean without beating the polyps to death.

Why isn’t it in my absolute easiest category?

Because I think a beginner should learn the basics first.

Stable salinity. Reasonable nutrient control. Understanding light and flow. Recognizing when a coral is actually unhappy rather than simply reacting normally.

Once you have those basics, Pipe Organ can be a fantastic addition.

But if you ask me whether I’d hand somebody a mushroom or a Pipe Organ as the very first coral they’ve ever owned, I’m handing them the mushroom.

See the Pipe Organ coral we currently have →

Ready for Your First Stony Coral?

This is where I would change gears.

The corals above give you an opportunity to learn how your aquarium behaves.

Once you’ve gotten comfortable keeping salinity stable, maintaining nutrients, testing your water and understanding how coral responds to light and flow, you can start expanding your options.

And you don’t need to jump directly to Euphyllia or Acropora.

This is where I would introduce you to Candy Cane and Leptoseris.

9. Candy Cane Coral

The Kryptonite Green Candy Cane

BEST FOR: Your first traditional LPS coral
DIFFICULTY: Beginner-plus
WATCH FOR: Chemistry stability and room to grow

Candy Cane coral—also commonly called Trumpet Coral—is one of the first LPS corals I would be comfortable recommending to somebody who’s ready to move beyond the easiest soft corals.

The classic Kryptonite green Candy Cane is probably the form most reef keepers will recognize.

Look closely at the structure.

Individual hard skeletal branches terminate in large, fleshy coral heads. When healthy and expanded, the living tissue becomes plump around the end of each branch, with the mouth visible toward the center.

That anatomy makes Candy Cane useful for another reason:

It’s a very good coral for beginning to understand the relationship between living coral tissue and the skeleton underneath it.

This is where you start learning stony-coral husbandry

A Candy Cane is different from the mushroom or leather coral you may have started with.

It’s building a calcium-carbonate skeleton.

That means I want you paying attention to alkalinity, calcium and magnesium—and, more importantly, keeping those parameters stable.

You don’t need to chase perfect numbers.

You need to understand what your aquarium is consuming and stop allowing the chemistry to swing all over the place.

Don’t blast it

Candy Canes don’t need to sit directly under the strongest part of your lighting, and they don’t need a powerhead pointed straight at their flesh.

Give the colony reasonable light and enough indirect water movement to keep it clean.

Then watch the coral.

Healthy, fleshy polyps tell you a lot more than blindly copying somebody else’s light percentage.

Give it room

Don’t wedge a Candy Cane between three other corals because the frag happens to fit there today.

The colony can grow considerably as new heads develop.

Think about the colony you’re trying to grow, not just the frag you’re buying.

Why I recommend it

Candy Cane gives a newer reef keeper something important:

A forgiving introduction to keeping a stony coral without immediately jumping into the deep end.

If you’ve successfully kept mushrooms, zoanthids, leathers or other beginner corals and your aquarium has become stable and predictable, this is exactly the kind of coral I would consider next.

See Candy Cane coral →

10. Leptoseris

BEST FOR: Fluorescent encrusting color
DIFFICULTY: Beginner-plus / early intermediate
WATCH FOR: Excessive light and detritus

Leptoseris can be spectacular under reef lighting.

Some varieties have intense yellow, orange or green fluorescence and develop a beautiful encrusting or plating growth form as they mature.

They generally don’t require the extreme lighting associated with many SPS corals.

That’s part of what makes them an interesting next step.

Give them enough flow to prevent debris from collecting on the colony, but don’t point a powerhead directly at them from a few inches away.

And remember that you’re now keeping a coral that builds a skeleton.

Stability becomes increasingly important as you move into stony coral.

That’s the progression I want a beginner to understand.

Not:

easy coral → expensive coral

But:

forgiving coral → learn your aquarium → stable husbandry → more demanding animals

See Leptoseris →

What I Wouldn’t Recommend as Your First Coral

This may be the most important section in this guide.

There are plenty of corals you can keep as a beginner.

That doesn’t mean they’re the corals I would recommend you learn with.

Euphyllia

Hammer, Frogspawn and Torch corals are enormously popular.

We keep them. We love them. We sell them.

I still don’t think you need a Torch as your first coral.

They’re more expensive, less forgiving of instability, and when problems occur they can become serious quickly.

There is plenty of time to get there.

Learn your aquarium first.

Acropora

No.

Not because Acropora are impossible.

They’re not.

But they demand a level of stability, lighting, flow and attention that makes absolutely no sense as the starting point for somebody who is still learning what normal daily evaporation does to salinity.

When you’re ready for Acropora, you’ll enjoy them a lot more because you’ll understand the aquarium underneath them.

Non-Photosynthetic Gorgonians and Corals

Also no.

Beautiful? Absolutely.

Beginner animals? No.

Their feeding requirements and the nutrient-management challenge that comes with meeting those requirements belong in the hands of an aquarist who knows what they’re doing.

There is nothing wrong with working toward advanced coral.

The mistake is thinking advanced means better.

A mature mushroom, leather or photosynthetic gorgonian colony can be every bit as impressive as an aquarium full of expensive named frags.

A Few Things I Wish Every New Reef Keeper Knew

Don’t fill every empty space.

Your coral will grow.

The little frag you’re buying is not the final size of the animal.

Leave room.

Don’t chase numbers all day.

Test consistently. Correct problems deliberately.

Stop trying to make your aquarium react to every opinion you read online.

Don’t change five things at once.

If something goes wrong after you changed lighting, flow, salinity, additives and feeding in the same afternoon, you’ve made it nearly impossible to know what helped or hurt.

Learn what “normal” looks like.

Corals close.

Leather corals shed.

Polyps retract.

Mushrooms change shape.

Not every ugly afternoon is an emergency.

Buy healthy coral.

A cheap coral that arrives stressed, freshly imported, carrying pests or already declining isn’t a bargain.

The condition of the animal matters.

Quarantine matters.

This is something we take seriously at The Underwater Gardener.

A coral can look beautiful and still bring pests into your aquarium.

We quarantine, inspect, dip and condition coral because what comes into your aquarium matters just as much as what you do after it gets there.

So What Should Your First Coral Be?

If you want the simplest answer:

Pick a healthy mushroom, zoanthid, leather, Green Star Polyp or another appropriate beginner coral that you genuinely like.

Don’t choose your first coral because somebody told you it was rare.

Don’t choose it because it has the longest trade name.

And don’t choose it because you’re worried that starting with an “easy” coral somehow means you’re not a serious reef keeper.

Your first goal isn’t to prove anything.

Your first goal is to grow coral.

Get something healthy.

Put it somewhere appropriate.

Learn how it behaves.

Watch it grow.

Then add the next animal.

That’s how a reef gets built.

Need Help Choosing?

If you’re not sure whether a coral is appropriate for your aquarium, ask us.

Tell us how old the tank is, what lighting you’re running, what you’ve already kept successfully and what you’re interested in.

If I think you’re ready for it, I’ll tell you.

If I think you should wait, I’ll tell you that too.

I’d rather help you buy the right coral once than sell you the wrong coral twice.

Browse soft corals → · Browse LPS → · TUG Coral Field Guide →