Soft corals for marine aquariums , feeding, which are dangerous for fish and which are the easiest to maintain. Complete list of soft corals.
Inexperienced people who look at soft corals or hard corals for the first time think that they are plants. In reality, corals are animals . At a descriptive level , corals undergo an initial distinction: those that have a calcareous skeleton (called hard corals) and those formed exclusively by soft tissue (soft corals).
Soft Corals: Feeding and Description
Corals are animals that are made up of an outer layer of tissue known as the ectoderm and inner tissues such as the endoderm or gastroderm. These tissues are divided by a middle layer called the mesoglea. Corals may have one or more mouthparts used to convey nutrients into a gastrovascular cavity (a sort of ancestral stomach where the “digestion” of nutrients takes place). A series of tentacles usually surrounds the mouth. Small filaments called cilia transport captured food to the mouth where it is then transported to the gastrovascular cavity and digested, meaning that the larger the tentacles and the more extensive the soft coral, the larger the food they “can catch”.
For this reason, before introducing a soft coral into a marine aquarium, it is important to know its profile: what does it eat? The soft corals known as “elephant ears”, for example, are not actually soft corals but anemones and can pose a threat to small fish such as clownfish or the smaller gobiodon , but it all depends on the size of the soft coral or anemone in question. From experience, I can tell you that many dealers offer elephant ears as soft corals but as mentioned they are anemones.
Soft corals are mostly sessile animals, which means that they are anchored to a substrate and simply absorb (filter) nutrients from the water and feed on small organisms such as copepods… but also small fish, costals and invertebrates. The diet of soft corals varies from species to species.
Some soft corals are even “predators” that is, they can be “armed” with nematocysts, particular cellular clusters capable of “harpooning” fish, crustaceans and other inverted corals. Other soft corals have mesenteric filaments capable of partially digesting prey outside the body before engulfing it.
All soft corals are filter feeders, so they should be supported in the tank with the addition of phytoplankton and zooplankton or the same formulation of foods recommended for Goniopora ( Goniopora is a hard coral that has similar needs to soft corals, so they can coexist well in the tank as long as abundant doses of plankton are administered).
Soft corals do not have a respiratory or circulatory system, so most can be easily propagated by cutting or colony division. In practice, it will be enough to cut the soft coral into two sections to obtain two specimens. The speed of growth of the tissue depends on the species.
Are jellyfish soft corals?
No! Many soft corals are placed, taxonomically, in the Phylum Cnidaria , the same Phylum as jellyfish, but this does not mean that jellyfish are soft corals! Jellyfish are much more evolved and already have the first outline of a nervous system.
Soft Corals: Taxonomy
The distinction between soft corals and hard corals is only descriptive but at a taxonomic level it does not see any placement. Soft corals are almost all part of the Phylum Cnidaria, in the class Anthozoa, which has three subclasses where soft corals properly speaking, gorgonians , zoanthids and anemones are identified. It is therefore good to clarify that what we call “soft corals” belong to different families and different subclasses of the class Anthozoa.
Easy Soft Corals
It is not true to say that all soft corals are easy to breed. In this section I propose you some very beautiful soft corals that are also suitable for the novice but not because they are banal, but because they can tolerate high levels of nitrates in the aquarium.
- Heliopora coerulea or blue coral, its colonies give a very scenic effect
- Studerioti longiramosa, is a soft coral shaped like a Christmas tree, of the Viguieriotidae family and genus Studeriotes. It is not easily found on the market and is also suitable for neglected aquariums because it lives in generally turbid waters.
- Clavularia, in this genus there are many soft corals of different colors. The most common species is Clavularia viridis.
- Distichopora and Stulasteridae, in these genera there are soft corals that prefer marine aquaria with higher calcium levels (about 450 mg/l), an occasional calcium test may be required.
- Gorgonians, even if they are included among soft corals, should have a category of their own, there are many of them and they have very different taxonomies, Calcaxonia, Holaxonia and Scleroxonia.
- Tubiporidae, this family includes several species of soft corals such as tubipora musica and briareum violacea.
- Family Alcyoniidae, there are many species.
- Cap-shaped or mushroom-shaped corals, these should not actually be considered soft corals but corallimorphs as described in the article dedicated to discosomes . The genus Rhodactis is very interesting. In this category there are 3 families ( Corallimorphidae , Discosomatidea and Ricordidae, containing 9 genera and 59 species, you will understand that each one has its own needs and you have a great variety to choose from).
- Xenia , here too the species are very numerous, Xenia glauca, elongata or unbellata. The pumping xenia is very popular because it can create small forests in the marine aquarium. It is the first to be included among the easy soft corals because it thrives strongly.
- Family Nephtheidae, the most spectacular is the genus capnella, that is, the tree-shaped soft coral . Very easy to breed.
- Zoanthids, there are several families, some species have very particular colors. Not only zoanthus but also Protopalythoa, acrozoanthus, palythoa, parazoanthus, neozoanthus…
Other soft corals:
- Millepora, in this genus there are soft corals that can be stinging for humans, so they should be handled with caution. They should not be raised near gorgonians.
- Cavernularia, requires a little more attention than other soft corals.
- Dendronephthya, is a soft coral that is difficult to breed and usually loses its bright colors in the marine aquarium (in captivity).
- Coelogorgy
They are not counted among soft corals, but in the marine aquarium you could think about introducing some sponges, especially if you have shaded areas, some sponges in shaded areas can also thrive spontaneously as happens with the yellow sponge and the white sponge that can stratify on your live rocks .