What Defines Your Perfection in Corals…..and Why?

[AKL1950]

Have you ever wondered why when people post pictures of a favorite coral, your reaction can be somewhere between “that is so beautiful” to “ that’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen”. The beauty and diversity of ocean life definitely provides something for everyone. I think each of us has ideals of what beauty is and our selections of what we want in our own little slice of the ocean reflects our particular personality and how we view beauty and consider what is perfection.

I definitely have my own ideas about it, but have always been curious of what other people see and why. Since we are all different ourselves, I suspect our visions of what is beauty will be as diverse and numerous as the number of us who keep reef tanks.

I would love to hear why each of us think a particular coral is beautiful and why so. Since I started this, I’ll go first.

I have several things that catch my eye, and when I can get all of them in one coral, that’s what I want to see. They are uniformity, symmetry and bright colors that blend together (to my eye). It should be extremely intricate in its growth pattern. The more intricate the structure, the better. The corals that do that best for me are Acropora and Zoanthids. Even if I have a beautiful Acro, if it is not growing symmetrical, it tends not to be my favorite while another with less color but perfect symmetry I will stare at for hours. I can’t seem to get into corals like torches or softies (which I know people love) because I can’t see symmetry (if one tentacle of a torch was longer than the others I would want to cut it off). Also, I would never keep a Stag Acro because it would be growing everywhere in different directions with no symmetry. I know, I’m OCD.

So, what does everyone see as their perfect coral……and why?

Picture of one or two of one of your corals that show your particular idea of perfection. This is one of mine. Not the best of color, but excellent symmetry.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I like seeing big happy colonies. I'd rather have an 8" Kenya tree than a single head of Holy Grail torch. I've went snorkeling in the Caribbean, and the smallest corals I saw were as big as a baseball, and those were only small brain corals in a shallow area. Most corals were around the size of an American football. In my opinion, it goes against the interest of the coral to create frags smaller than 1.5". I also like to see red/blue colors. Most corals we grow seem to be mainly orange or green, so different colors are good to see.

 

[AKL1950]

I like seeing big happy colonies. I'd rather have an 8" Kenya tree than a single head of Holy Grail torch. I've went snorkeling in the Caribbean, and the smallest corals I saw were as big as a baseball, and those were only small brain corals in a shallow area. Most corals were around the size of an American football. In my opinion, it goes against the interest of the coral to create frags smaller than 1.5". I also like to see red/blue colors. Most corals we grow seem to be mainly orange or green, so different colors are good to see.

Small frags can have the beauty you seek once they’ve had time to grow.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I like seeing big happy colonies. I'd rather have an 8" Kenya tree than a single head of Holy Grail torch. I've went snorkeling in the Caribbean, and the smallest corals I saw were as big as a baseball, and those were only small brain corals in a shallow area. Most corals were around the size of an American football. In my opinion, it goes against the interest of the coral to create frags smaller than 1.5". I also like to see red/blue colors. Most corals we grow seem to be mainly orange or green, so different colors are good to see.

I have to agree with the colonies. It is always cool seeing a tank with these huge colonies of various corals. Really reminds me of what a true reef in the ocean would look like.

 

[X-37B]

For me its watching a small frag do this.
14 months of growth.

 

[kevgib67]

I have to go against the grain. Torches, hammers and frogspawn. I love the colors and movement. The Torch on the left was given to me by another reefer because it was on its way out. That was about 2 months ago. It has doubled in size but has not got back its original color. There wasn’t any flesh on the skeleton when I got it.

 

[billyocean]

You know I love acros. Just like to see the color change and watch it form. I too love seeing the big colonies. Torches are awesome for the movement..zoas are cool for thr variety of colors and if kept on islands are awesome. Still love the challenges of acros though

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I love seeing either corals that are hard to keep being kept well and healthy looking, or just seeing the big thriving colonies of various corals.

 

[X-37B]

I have to go against the grain. Torches, hammers and frogspawn. I love the colors and movement. The Torch on the left was given to me by another reefer because it was on its way out. That was about 2 months ago. It has doubled in size but has not got back its original color. There wasn’t any flesh on the skeleton when I got it.

I have to go against the grain. Torches, hammers and frogspawn. I love the colors and movement. The Torch on the left was given to me by another reefer because it was on its way out. That was about 2 months ago. It has doubled in size but has not got back its original color. There wasn’t any flesh on the skeleton when I got it.

Love the save. Most dont have the patience.
I like frogspawns. I have had this one for almost 7 years now. Was 5 heads, it has a large clown that has been with it the whole time.
Its been fragged many times.