After publishing our article going over why toadstool coral may not be opening recently, we started to notice a number of people reaching out and asking questions about Tyree toadstool corals as the Tyree coral range does seem to be very popular right now.
There is a large amount of misinformation out there about Tyree corals and peoples opinions on the Tyree coral range often warp the actual facts about the corals so we wanted to publish our own dedicated article on the topic.
A Tyree toadstool coral is just a toadstool coral that has been developed by Steve Tyree who is one of the initial pioneers of coral keeping.
Officially, a Tyree coral is a coral that is purchased directly from Steve Tyree but some people within the aquarium keeping hobby will class any coral that can trace its roots back to Steve Tyree as a Tyree coral but this does open people up to purchasing regular corals at inflated prices.
Officially, you are only able to purchase Tyree toadstool coral via Steve Tyree’s website but there are a number of Tyree corals listed on eBay at very reasonable prices.
We are unable to confirm if those corals are real Tyree corals or not but they are listed for sale at very reasonable prices while also having the same unique color patterns as a genuine Tyree toadstool coral so it may work out much cheaper for people looking to purchase a Tyree coral to get them via eBay.
Even if they are not genuine Tyree corals, they still tend to have the rare color combinations with a lower price tag than the official Steve Tyree website.
What Is A Tyree Toadstool Coral?
A Tyree toadstool coral is a toadstool coral that was originally developed by Steve Tyree at his coral farm.
Tyree toadstool corals and the other Tyree corals originally had rarer color combinations and patterns that used to fetch a high price tag but other people have since been able to duplicate his work bringing the prices down.
Steve Tyree is one of the original pioneers of selling the rarer coral frags to regular aquarium keepers at a budget that is much more affordable for most people.
We honestly do think that this is one of the reasons that reef keeping and coral keeping has seen such a huge spike in its popularity over the last couple of decades.
Although Tyree corals are not as popular as they once were, a large number of the commercial coral frags that people do purchase today would not be available if it was not for Steve Tyree’s original work.
After seeing the profit potential for selling corals, many other people jumped on the band wagon and developed many of the more unique looking corals that are common within the hobby today.
There is a debate one what is actually classed as a “Tyree toadstool coral” and these days, people often accept a coral that has the same colors or pattern as the listed Tyree variant of the coral as a Tyree coral rather than the coral actually having to come from Steve Tyree himself.
Are Tyree Toadstool Corals Rare?
Tyree toadstool corals are not as rare as they once were with prices also falling as the corals became widely available.
This is partly due to the shift in attitude amongst coral keepers away from classing a Tyree toadstool coral as a coral purchased directly from Steve Tyree to a coral that matches the same color and patterns as the frags offered by Steve Tyree.
This has opened up the market to other people who produce and sell coral frags with a huge number of Tyree corals listed for sale on eBay from a wide range of sellers at a range of price points.
This is controversial within the coral keeping community as some of the people who have been keeping corals for a longer period of time still only refer to corals purchased directly from Steve Tyree as Tyree corals.
The majority of people within the hobby do seem to have shifted their definitions to either corals that can trace their origins from an original Steve Tyree frag or corals that match the colors and patterns that Steve sells.
This is why some people still class Tyree toadstool corals as rare as their definition of a Tyree coral has to be purchased from Steves’s business.
Other people tend not to class Tyree toadstool corals as rare due to their definition of a Tyree coral being broader and allowing the coral to be purchased from a number of different vendors, often at a lower price than from Steve himself.
In reality though, some Tyree corals are very similar to the normal variants of the coral with only minor changes so they are not exactly rare anyway.
How Do You Care For A Tyree Toadstool Coral?
Tyree toadstool corals tend to have very similar care requirements to regular toadstool corals making them a very beginner friendly coral for people to keep in their tank.
Tyree toadstool corals usually thrive in the typical conditions of a beginner’s reef tank and the fact that toadstool coral can do well in a range of lighting intensity provided they have moderate water flow, they are generally easy to keep.
Just keep in mind that a Tyree toadstool coral should still be kept in a tank with reef safe fish that will not nip or eat the coral.
It is very common for people new to keeping corals to just add them to their tank without double checking that their fish, shrimp, crabs, and snails will be fine and not end up trying to eat their coral.
Most people who are new to keeping a marine tank tend to stick with the reef safe species anyway due to often having a lower price tag due to their popularity so this is not as much of an issue for most people but it is still a very common mistake.
One more thing that we want to point out is that your Tyree toadstool coral will need nutrition! So many people who are new to keeping coral fail to realize that in some tank setups, they may have to feed their corals or at least supplement their diet with something like Reef Roids.
There are ways that you can balance your reef tank so that it is very close to being self-sufficient removing the need for you to feed your corals though but just remember that your Tyree toadstool coral is a living thing and does require nutrients either from you feeding it or from high nutrient levels in the tank.
Are Tyree Toadstool Corals Easier To Care For?
Tyree toadstool coral are one of the easiest Tyree coral variants to care for due to normal toadstool corals being so easy to care for.
If you are new to coral keeping and are set on adding a Tyree coral to your tank then a Tyree toadstool coral is one of the better options until you build up your experience level but Tyree leather coral is another great option for beginners.
Still, the higher price tags for anything that is either directly from Steve Tyree himself or marketed and sold as a Tyree coral will pump your initial costs up. It is more difficult to keep corals, even beginner friendly corals than most people who are new to coral keeping initially realize.
This is way we usually recommend that our readers try their hand at keeping a zoa only tank or something like that with cheap corals until they develop their skillset and build up some experience.
We really would highly recommend that you make your first coral tank a coral only tank to remove the risk of a potential tank mate eating your corals as well as keep your initial corals as cheap as possible.
This is why zoanthid corals are such a common recommendation for beginners due to their low price, how easy they are to care for, and the wide range of colors that zoanthids can offer helping to keep your tank as bright and interesting as possible.
Are Tyree Toadstool Corals Worth The Higher Price?
The price tag of Tyree toadstool coral is very controversial, especially Tyree toadstool coral purchased directly from Steve Tyree’s business as they can be considerably more expensive than the regular variant of that coral.
Some people do feel that the higher price tag is worth it for the coral but the majority seem to disagree and opt for a cheaper alternative to a Tyree toadstool coral instead.
You can usually pick a regular toadstool coral up for a couple of dollars where as some of the Tyree toadstool corals can cost far more than the regular version of the coral. As we always say though, something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it and corals are no different.
There will always be people who do think that Tyree corals are worth the money and happily pay it and there will also be people who feel that they are overpriced and refuse to pay the asking price and opt to go with the regular variant of the coral.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over the tyree toadstool coral to an end. We hope that we have been able to help our readers better understand the basics of the Tyree toadstool coral and that we really wouldn’t recommend that you go for a Tyree toadstool coral if you are brand new to keeping coral in your tank. There are much better and cheaper corals out there for first time coral keepers that we would highly recommend to our readers over Tyree toadstool corals until you have developed your skillset.
