Is the “mixed reef” really a thing in the wild?

[Zionas]

For the vast majority of reefers, the goal is to end up with some kind of mixed reef to varying degrees. That means having a combination of softies, LPS, and SPS. However, one thing I would like to know is, how common are “mixed reefs” in the wild? Do these different types of soft and stony corals congregate together in the wild, or are we a lot more likely to see softies congregating with other softies, LPS congregating with other LPS, and SPS with other SPS?

I would imagine that the whe concept of the “mixed reef” might not be as common as we think in the wild due to the various flow and sunlight requirements necessary for these different kinds of corals to grow, and I would imagine that below a certain depth the amount of sunlight will not be enough to sustain large colonies of, if any stony corals (maybe 250-300+ feet), so all we find are softies and NPS at those depths.

Of course, I could be wrong though. But so far, every time I see large colonies of SPS (especially Montis and Acros) they always tend to be in relatively shallow, sunlit reefs above 100 feet.

From the few images and videos I’ve seen of deeper dives beyond recreational scuba depths, stony corals tend to be a lot more spread out, and at around 300 feet are mostly gone.

The really deep dives I’ve seen in videos by people like Brian D. Greene, the rock scapes are pretty much FOWLR by that point with the exception of some softies and Gorgonians (I assume non-photosynthetic filter feeders) here and there. This is 400+ feet.

Some videos I’ve seen of uber rare deepwater fish kept by Japanese hobbyists are also kept in these semi-reef / FOWLR reef tanks more than full-blown reef setups.

Could it be that for these species, most corals are unnatural to them?

(Ignore double post)

 

[damsels are not mean]

All reefs in the wild are "mixed" for sure, but I don't think anyone has made a reef that would anywhere near approximate a similar sized cutout of wild reef coral species. At least I haven't seen one. Even an "SPS dominant" tank is a mix of corals you'd find at wildly different depths. Also most reefs in the wild aren't as dense as our tanks with coral and have a mix of other things including huge sponges, bare rock, sand, broken branches and algae!

Look at this video. (there are more on this channel of similar dives at different depths) I like it because the guy behind the camera knows coral and knows the hobby. So he knows how to shoot a video that answers a lot of questions aquarists would have. But what I hope you get from this is that a "mixed reef" as we understand it (sticks and plates at the top, lps in the middle, softies at the bottom or something like that) is totally unnatural, and that most people in the hobby don't really want something that looks "natural" because nature is messy and a lot more spread out than what people want.

 

[Zionas]

This is really interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing.

 

[damsels are not mean]

All reefs in the wild are "mixed" for sure, but I don't think anyone has made a reef that would anywhere near approximate a similar sized cutout of wild reef coral species. At least I haven't seen one. Even an "SPS dominant" tank is a mix of corals you'd find at wildly different depths. Also most reefs in the wild aren't as dense as our tanks with coral and have a mix of other things including huge sponges, bare rock, sand, broken branches and algae!

Look at this video. (there are more on this channel of similar dives at different depths) I like it because the guy behind the camera knows coral and knows the hobby. So he knows how to shoot a video that answers a lot of questions aquarists would have. But what I hope you get from this is that a "mixed reef" as we understand it (sticks and plates at the top, lps in the middle, softies at the bottom or something like that) is totally unnatural, and that most people in the hobby don't really want something that looks "natural" because nature is messy and a lot more spread out than what people want.

Another takeaway from wild reefs is that you could easily do a big tank (180+) that consists of a single large staghorn acro and a bunch of damsels. That would be a "natural" reef tank.

 

[Zionas]

Yeah the only reef I’ve seen like that was from a guy called Haydn from a previous incarnation of his 530 gallon wall tank. He kept many different species of Chromis with Staghorn Acros. Other than that I rarely see people try to set up these habitats for their damsels and Chromis.

 

[damsels are not mean]

This is another good dive vid from them. This goes to deeper spots and shows a lot of our popular LPS corals. Wall to wall corals just doesn't happen especially at this depth. The amount of space between them is crazy! My next tank will be heavily inspired by this sort of environment (maybe a little less spread out )

 

[Zionas]

Nice idea. Another thing I noticed is that by the time you reach 300 feet or so the sand tends to become more and more muddy. Probably not the best environment for the fleshy LPS we keep.

Below a certain depth I see a noticeable absence of herbivores like Tangs, Rabbitfish etc. the mesophotic and rariphotic fish families are dominated by plankton feeders and other carnivores. This means wrasses, damsels, basslets, anthias, some angels, some butterflies, Tilefish, Jawfish etc.

I have never heard of a “deepwater” Tang or Foxface. Clownfish also aren’t found at very deep depths because of the lack of anemones, which need strong lighting much like many of the SPS corals we keep.

Anthias and basslets live in VERY deep waters, not even rebreather but submersible depths. It’s fascinating because when we get below 500 or so feet we start seeing more of an overlap between shallow water fish families and “true” deep sea fish families.