NephCompFAQs

FAQs about Soft Corals of the Family Nephtheidae Compatibility

Most fishes leave these soft corals alone. Hemitaurichthys polylepis

clownfish and Kenyan coral 5/8/17
Good Evening! First, let me thank you for all your help years ago (circa 2003) when I initially set up my little marine tank. I still have my 2 ocellaris clowns, going on 14 years now. They have moved across state lines
with me 4 times. I think I'm on my fourth cleaner shrimp. In 2011 I upgraded from my 20 gallon tank to a 36 gallon bow-front. That's all I have in the tank except for about 30 lbs of rock, sand substrate, and currently
a couple of tiny red-legged hermit crabs. I can't seem to keep any snails alive.
<The Hermits may be working them woe; or perhaps there's an alkalinity/Ca issue, BGA?>
I have a Fluval canister filter and a reef-octopus hotb skimmer. My question, which I attempted to research but couldn't find anything specific: I just visited my cousin and he gave me a small piece of a "Kenyan tree coral". In his words, it is easy to keep and doesn't need pristine water conditions, which is good because mine are not. I have to admit that over the years as my fish appear to have done well, I have slacked off on taking regular water quality checks. I do use R/O water from a filter I installed and Instant Ocean sea salt for water changes. I
thought the coral looked cool and would like some things in my tank to make it look a bit more natural than just rocks. I did research on the coral today and have found out that it grows fast and needs to be cut back often.
I cannot find anything that says whether or not it will harm my clowns.
<As long as the colony is healthy and not too large... all should be fine>
I currently have the little piece of coral in a hastily put together 'quarantine bucket' with a heater, a small rock from my tank, and a air tube on a small pump. If there is a chance that it will harm my clowns, I'm not going to put it in my tank. He had a couple of damsels in his nano tank that he took it out of.
<Ahh; Clownfish are Damsels>
The other thing that kept me from just plopping it in my tank (aside from not having had time to research it at
all be for he gave it to me) was that his large tank just got wiped out by a case of Ich that he says came from his lfs. I'm not sure about his tank hygiene practices, so I'm worried that even though the coral came from his other tank, there's a possibility it could be in both & he just doesn't know it yet.
<Better to quarantine it for a few weeks then>
If the Kenyan tree is compatible with my tank, how do I know when it is safe to put it in there? Oh, and one more thing, how do I get it attached to the rock I want it on? He said to just use super-glue?
<You can/could, or just let it set in a crevice; or pierce it with a plastic tooth pic into the spot you want it>
That doesn't sound right to me. Thank you so much for your help in the past and I look forward to your response.
Karen Garrett
<Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Re: I killed my fish... Soft Coral comp. 12/28/09
Hope your holiday was wonderful.... Happy New Year. I went on line this weekend and Looked at some Taro Tree Corals that I really liked.
<Aka Kenya... Capnella sp.>
Since I have a fish only tank at this time can I add this coral and can I just add it or is there a curing time??
<Mmm, best to wait until your system is well-established before adding Cnidarian life>
I have a 100 gal tank with a wet/dry filter and have community fish - damsels, Angel Eibli, Niger Trigger fish,
<This fish may chew your Soft Coral/s>
2 Clown fish and a Red Banded Coral shrimp. I don't not want to introduce something that will not make my babies happy. Also, with the Angel Eibli can I get a Beatty Angelfish (not sure on spelling)..
<... a Coral Beauty? Centropyge bispinosus?>
Or because they are both Angels I will have problems. The Beatty is not a big fish - maybe 1-1 1/2 inches long and my Eibli is about 3 inches or so.
Thanks for your help..
Cecilia Lester
Paris Texas
<Mmm... The two dwarf angels might chase each other about quite a bit...
Please see WWM re compatibility w/in the genus. Bob Fenner>
Re: I killed my fish... soft coral addn.
Thanks for the info - I trust what you guys say - I read up on things on the internet - but I'd rather get it from you all.... I will just leave my tank as is. Like I said I want my babies happy.... My trigger fish almost met his maker this weekend - I cleaned my tank and did my water change - I decided to clean the castle we have for every one to hang out in and I did not realize when I took this out my Trigger was up in it.
<Yikes!>
I washed it in the bathtub - did my cleaning and went to put the castle back in the tank and I saw a weird shape in my tub - it was my Trigger fish - I screamed and my daughter came running in and we carefully put him back
in the tank and he sank to the bottom - I cried and told my daughter to get the net - MUCH to my surprise - he swam away and hid - after an hour I decided to try and feed everyone and he came to eat and is just fine - I
think the Fish Gods were with me this weekend. I don't know if I could handle another fish death. Isn't it funny how attached we can get to a fish?
<Life attracts, embellishes life eh Cecilia?>
Have a really great weekend
Cecilia Lester
Paris Texas
<BobF>

Kenya Tree Deforestation 4/25/09
Hello! I have a Kenya tree coral problem. I bought one, and now I have about 40 of them. They drop off branches to form new Kenya trees at the rate of a couple a day.
<A problem that many would like to have.>
They are attached to many big pieces of live rock which, if moved, would result in the collapse of my aquascaping, so removing the rock is something I can't really do.
<Okay.>
I am assuming, since they are multiplying so quickly, cutting them off with a razor blade won't do the trick, as they would just grow back from the little bit left of the stump.
<Likely so.>
What is the best way to remove these corals from my tank without pulling the rock out? And wouldn't cutting them in the tank risk hurting my other corals due to the slime it would produce?
<Well, I would pull out/cut out what you can, then use the technique
outlined here: http://www.asira.org/killingaiptasiaxeniaetc>
As always, thank you for your advice.
Never thought I would have a problem with too much coral growth! Anybody want some Kenya Trees? Ha!
-Tom
<Welcome, Scott V.>

Nephtheidae compatibility... re the dangers of small system-induced troubles 6/21/07 I have a 10g softie tank with only Xenia and Briareum. <Trouble in such a small, unstable volume...> I have space to add one, maybe two other compatible <Not possible here> soft corals to the left side of the tank. The Briareum is in the center on a rock, Xenia cover the whole right side. Doctors Foster and Smith have under their aquacultured section two different colors of Neospongodes sp. Both are noted to rely on symbiotic zooxanthellae within and easy care; the temperament is listed as "semi-aggressive". They also list a Heliopora caerulea that I was looking at and although they are currently out of stock it is listed as a 'peaceful' coral, containing zooxanthellae as well. Whatever soft coral I add would be closer to the Briareum but of course the concern is the unseen allelopathy. Would either of these corals be okay? Thank you. <I'd use the money saved up for new livestock to buy your time back to investigate more... save up for a much larger system... You're otherwise setting yourself up for failure here by jamming too much incompatible life in too little space. Bob Fenner>

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