I completely agree. If you are going to grow mostly soft coral, then there is nothing wrong with Palythoas, Xenia, Kenya Trees, and the like. IMO, it really depends on the corals you will grow, and the look that you want. I fixed the problem by having two display tanks, a softie tank, and an LPS/SPS reef.Palythoas (aka button polyp) like the one you have there are a legit soft coral, sold by all fish stores as an appropriate starter coral. They grow easily and are easy to take care of. They don't sting other corals but they can crowd out slower corals. Some (can't tell which) do contain varying amounts of palytoxin, which is a seriously bad actor, but the incidence of injury to reefers is minuscule compared to how many people have these in their tanks, they are one of the most common corals. Just wear googles and gloves when handling. You are way more likely to get injured by the electrical work in your tank or using a step stool around your tank than by paly polyps.
If you don't like the look of them, they can be a serious nuisance because they grow well, and you could get rid of it now. Kind of like Xenia. But many people (like my wife and most non-reefers who look at the ones in my tank) like them more than most other corals, maybe because they haven't been told not to.
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I agree, and like I said in the other thread where the "doom and gloom" corals were mentioned, I had a soft coral tank that wasn't anything over the top crazy as far as corals and it was featured in a magazine (granted UK magazine), they absolutely can look fabulous, but you have to want that kind of tank from the get go. The big problem is you have all this advice of "beginner corals" and there are a large number of them that yes are great corals to start with ... except the fact that if you no longer want them they are a problem when you want to do other corals down the line (if that's your goal). Unfortunately very often you beginners that want the "fancy sps" tanks or what not, and think "oh well these grow great for instant gratification, I'll just remove them later when I get more experience under my belt" and that's where the issues lie.I completely agree. If you are going to grow mostly soft coral, then there is nothing wrong with Palythoas, Xenia, Kenya Trees, and the like. IMO, it really depends on the corals you will grow, and the look that you want. I fixed the problem by having two display tanks, a softie tank, and an LPS/SPS reef.
Did this come on rock you got from your LFS? If so looks like they basically are recycling rock they got from other tanks... or they are very blase about their live rock vats having all these undesirable creatures in them.Most of this can be traced to our LFS. And we are having fun with the hobby. Learning something new everyday
Yeah...I pretty much see aptasia at all the LFSOh my goodness. Which store is that?
I've come to expect aptasia and bubble agae from lfs's. Those are the two I seem to always be able to spot. It's no wonder with the volume of product that goes through them.