How do you plan your reef so corals can grow together without eventually killing each other?

[capreef]

Im trying to plan out my first reef in a way where I can actually let the corals grow out instead of constantly having to frag or move things around because they start fighting.

I really like the look of little mixed coral communities growing together on the same rock, so Im wondering how people plan this from the beginning.

For example, are there certain corals that you guys will intentionally put on the same rock and eventually let grow into and touch each other without issues? (besides zoa with zoa, hammer with hammer, etc).

I know the obvious ones like hammers, frogspawn, Goniopora, cloves, GSP, etc. would get their own little islands. Im more curious about the ones that are considered more peaceful.

For example, can Micromussa / Acans and Blastomussa eventually grow into and touch each other? What about Duncan and trumpet / candy cane? Can different softies like mushrooms, Rhodactis, toadstools, etc. eventually touch without one killing the other, and touch these LPS?

My full wishlist right now is:

Hammers
Frogspawn
Candy cane
Alveopora
Scoly
Favites
Acan Lord
Mushrooms
Brain coral
Plate coral
Blue long polyp toadstool
Clove polyps
Pink Kenya tree
Duncan
Rhodactis
Purple GSP
Pink Corky Sea Finger
Blue Sinularia
Lobed Leather
Trachy
Goniopora
bubble tip nem

Im wondering how you guys would divide these up between community rocks/arches and individual islands on a shallow lagoon tank like an IM 25 lagoon or a uns 75S or uns 60cs. Ive read that many reefers have ran into problems where corals eventually touch each other and kill and overtake the other over years.

 

[Timfish]

If you're lucky, looking at your list, you may be able to find different species within a genus that will cohabitate but even then you'll find sibling species that won't tolerate each other. Trying to get species from different genus and falimilies to cohabitate will be an exersize in frustration. Another problem you'll run into is two species that are hapy together but one grows much faster than the other eventually taking it over.

Welcome to the wonderfull, and frustrating, world of reef keeping. :D

 

[Ryan - Serious Reefs]

Reality is, if you do this well, the corals are going to thrive and eventually grow into each other. They also grow at wildly different and hard-to-predict rates, so it’s difficult to know ahead of time which one is going to win.

One thing you can be pretty sure of: the most expensive coral will grow the slowest and be bothered the most. :)

Moving things around is just part of the game.

 

[MoshJosh]

Put any corals that can coexist together in "gardens", so a group of hammers and spawns, a group of torches, etc. Generally different morphs within a species will get along just fine. . . Keep flow in mind and ensure flow will take tentacles and l sweepers away from other corals. . . And get a bigger tank. . .

If we are performing good husbandry, eventually corals are going to outgrow the spaces we have given them. . . Or eventually you will be fragging which is fine of course!

 

[capreef]

would you consider things like Acan Lords, Blastomussa, Duncan, candy cane, toadstool, etc good candidates for a mixed community where they grow close to each other, or would you still expect to end up fragging them in the end as they grow into each other?

I read these corals can "coexist" on the same rock, but if their living tissue grows directly into each other, which seems inevitable, one may eventually damage the other and then overtake them, so is the long term strategy just fragging repeatedly? And just minimizing the frequency of intervention via placement?

What if you wanna upgrade the tank after years? Do you just cut the rock so the corals are separated and then put them in a new tank?

 

[CHSUB]

Purchase the corals you like and place them several inches apart. You will be rare in the hobby if it ever becomes a problem that corals kill each other and by that time you will know the answer.