Coral Compatibility

[Formulator]

Hey Reefers, I’ve got a confession to make: I am ignorant when it comes to coral compatibility! Although I’ve been doing this for almost a decade, for various reasons I’ve never really packed my tank “full” of coral. I’ve almost always had some reasonable space between corals. Since my recent overhaul and reset, my corals are really taking off and I’m going to let them fill in. Does anyone have a run-down or article they can direct me to which covers compatibility, especially for SPS? Like what corals can touch and which ones will kill each other?

Specifically right now, I’m dealing with a monti plate about to grow into an acro frag. Can I let them duke it out and expect both to find their space, or do I need to take action? I know its just a frag and should be easy to move, but it just encrusted to its rock and I really like it where it is…

 

[Lavey29]

I've got different types of SPS stacked basically on top of each other. I just let them do their thing as nature intended. If something is getting shaded out then maybe a little trim but as far as base territory and growth, The strong survive but actually they all seem to eventually find their own space . What I find fascinating is when they graft together and 2 different acros become one.

 

[Formulator]

I've got different types of SPS stacked basically on top of each other. I just let them do their thing as nature intended. If something is getting shaded out then maybe a little trim but as far as base territory and growth, The strong survive but actually they all seem to eventually find their own space . What I find fascinating is when they graft together and 2 different acros become one.

That’s kind of what I was hoping to hear! I know some LPS have pretty nasty stings and have seen their sweepers at night, but I was hoping my SPS would be more friendly.

 

[Cell]

If you value that acro and/or other acros or the space near them, nuke the Monti while it is still semi-contained. It will absolutely outgrow and take over the acros and entire rock over time.

 

[Formulator]

If you value that acro and/or other acros or the space near them, nuke the Monti while it is still semi-contained. It will absolutely outgrow and take over the acros and entire rock over time.

Well I love big multi-level monti’s so that’s kind of the goal here. I suppose I need to move the acro then. Question then becomes, move now or wait until the monti is really encroaching on it? Do they actually sting other corals or is it just death by smothering?

 

[dakoop]

Monti will out grow the acro.

 

[Cell]

There will be some local stinging death but the Monti will eventually just smother or plate over.

 

[Lavey29]

You can easily kalk paste a DMZ line on that monti if it gets to close to the acro and you're worried about it.

 

[littlebeard]

I loved (past tense) monti caps until I had one go from about golf ball size to an 18 inch monster in about 18 months. Was a full time job keeping up with calcium and alk demands for just that coral. While some acros fight back, the growth rate on the monti will 100% eventually take out that acro.

I don't know of any lists of corals that won't fight. Seems like no matter what one coral will win out and it's up to the reefer to choose which...

 

[Lavey29]

That’s kind of what I was hoping to hear! I know some LPS have pretty nasty stings and have seen their sweepers at night, but I was hoping my SPS would be more friendly.

I've got LPS and softs rubbing all over each other with no issues. Only problem I've ever had is torches growing large and took out a huge beautiful favia and the bottom half of a nice big plating acro. But I'm sure we all know that torches are highly aggressive. Those would be one of the few to isolate.