Reef corals, soft to stony.
Corals are not plants and not rocks - they are animals, colonies of tiny relatives of jellyfish and anemones, and keeping them is its own hobby inside the aquarium world. Here are 40 profiles sorted the way reefers actually progress - soft corals first, then LPS, then the demanding SPS - with the lighting, flow, water and how hard each one is.
Soft corals The hardy starting point - no stony skeleton, forgiving of light and flow. Where every reefer begins. Open the full Soft corals page
Beginner Green Star Polyps
Beginner Mushroom Coral
Beginner Discosoma Mushroom Coral
Beginner Rhodactis Mushroom Coral
Beginner Ricordea Mushroom Coral
Beginner Kenya Tree Coral
Beginner Toadstool Leather Coral
Beginner Colt Coral
Intermediate Zoanthids
Intermediate Pulsing Xenia
Beginner Clove Polyps
Intermediate Finger Leather Coral
LPS - large-polyp stony corals Fleshy, feedable, flowing - the colourful middle ground. Many sting, so mind the spacing. Open the full LPS corals page
Beginner Candy Cane Coral
Beginner Duncan Coral
Intermediate Hammer Coral
Intermediate Frogspawn Coral
Intermediate Torch Coral
Intermediate Acan Lord Coral
Intermediate Favia Brain Coral
Intermediate Plate Coral
Intermediate Blastomussa Coral
Intermediate Lobophyllia Coral
Intermediate Scolymia Coral
Advanced Goniopora Coral
Intermediate Bubble Coral
SPS - small-polyp stony corals The demanding, fast-growing show corals. Rock-steady water only - not for new tanks. Open the full SPS corals page
Advanced Montipora
Advanced Birdsnest Coral
Advanced Acropora
Advanced Stylophora Coral
Advanced Pocillopora Coral
Intermediate Montipora Digitata
Intermediate Pavona Coral
Intermediate Hydnophora Coral
Advanced Porites Coral
Intermediate Cyphastrea Coral
Intermediate Leptastrea Coral
Intermediate Psammocora Coral
Intermediate Turbinaria Scroll Coral
Intermediate Astreopora Coral
Intermediate Echinopora Coral
Reefers climb a ladder for a reason: master a stable tank with soft corals, graduate to LPS, then try SPS - and only reach for acropora once the water has been rock-steady for months. Anemones (like the bubble-tip that hosts clownfish) are a separate, mobile, stinging animal with their own care - not covered here. And remember: despite the "flowers" and the "sea plant" look, a coral is an animal, so its care has nothing in common with an aquarium plant.
Reef tank gear
Links go to Amazon or a partner brand's own store and may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. An Amazon link leads to a type of gear and you choose the exact product; a card that names a store leads to that partner's own shop.