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Aquarium Corals

Corals - the gastrovascular marine

Corals are gastrovascular marine cnidarians existing as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically forming colonies of many individuals. The group includes the important reef builders known as hermatypic corals, found in tropical oceans, and belonging to the subclass Zoantharia of order Scleractinia (formerly Madreporaria). The latter are also known as stony corals in as much as the living tissue thinly covers a skeleton composed of calcium carbonate.

Coral, the leathers, that carry the same traits of being readily available with plenty of species to choose from, inexpensive, very hardy, and an easy coral for the beginning aquarist.

The leather aquarium corals from the genus Sarcophyton, from the Order Alcyonacea, are soft corals that are fast growing and appear as large mushrooms or toadstools. From the top of the head, or capitulum, a large number of polyps emerge. There are actually two types of polyps found on the leathers. Autozooids are tubular with tentacles while siphonozooids appear like freckles. Leathers are usually attached at the base to a rock or piece of dead coral. The skin of the leathers is soft, although tough, to the touch. Trying to pick up a leather will cause it to retract the polyps and will shrink up, feeling like a wet piece of leather, albeit a bit more slimy. They are found in various shades of brown, green, red, and yellow.

Another species of leather aquarium coral is the genus Lobophytum, mainly an encrusting species, which includes the cabbage, lettuce, and finger leather corals. These tend to group together, forming a patch of leathers on one or more rocks. Their care is the same as the genus Sarcophyton.
The hermatypic corals are usually found not far beneath the surface, although in clear waters corals can grow at depths of 60 m (200 ft). Other corals, notably the cold-water genus Lophelia, do not have associated algae, and can live in much deeper water, with recent finds as deep as 3000 m. Corals breed by spawning, with many corals of the same species in a region releasing gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon.

Corals are major contributors to the physical structure of coral reefs that develop only in tropical and subtropical waters. Some corals exist in cold waters, such as off the coast of Norway and the Darwin Mounds off western Scotland. The most extensive development of extant coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Indonesia is home to 581 of the world's 793 known coral reef-building coral species.
Corals do contain symbiotic algae, zooanthellae, so there is no requirement to be manually fed. They do require moderate lighting for the zooanthellae to provide the nutrition the leather corals need. Some like more intense lighting than others, which can be determined if the polyps stay retracted for more than a few days at a time. If this occurs, move the leather to a different location in your tank. Be careful, metal halides can 'burn' some leathers that are too close to the surface. Thus corals are a good bet for aquariums.