Euphyllia vs "Invasive" Softies

Sully32 · Oct 27, 2022

I have not personally had these types of interactions in my tanks, and I have heard conflicting stories on the matter.

The question at hand is: Will invasive corals such as Anthelia, GSP, etc. encrust over and kill Euphyllia? Or will the Euphyllia sting them to keep them at bay?

lucyretz · Oct 27, 2022

hmmm i like this question, in my opinion i dont think it has as straight forward of an answer as some may think.

put it this way, if i have lets say a 10 gallon tank and i put my euphyllia frag on the left hand side and say my pulsing xenia on the right, a year later they are completely established and the xenia starts growing close to the euphyllia colony. the euphyllia colony will definitely sting the living daylights out of it keeping it at bay.

Now, say i go out and buy a euphyllia frag and put it in that same tank, within a week the xenia starts overgrowing the already stressed and struggling coral. its still going to sting the xenia, but its going to stress the euphyllia further potentially causing it to die off.

so in my opinion, i think this is possible with established euphyllia. I could be wrong however, so I look forward to seeing what others say :)

alton · Oct 27, 2022

A picture is worth a 1,000 words. I have not had Xenia since 2008 when I sold the complete setup. Even the slimmer was able to hold off Xenia.

Sharkbait19 · Oct 27, 2022

Like mentioned it really depends on the species at hand and the conditions they are in.
That said, my torch did kill off most of a zoa colony. Back when I had my Xenia and euphilia near each other there would always wind up being ample space between them so I’m sure it was holding it at bay (at least a bit).