Right size animals for the right size tanks

[Grey Guy]

A lot has been said and established about minimum tank size for the growth of different fish. But, shouldn't there be guidelines for what tank size is best for certain corals. It doen't make sense to me, to grow shelf coral in a nano tank. Maybe it's too much for a 100 gallon tank. I am not challenging what may be possible, but based on growth rate, it would be nice to have more guidelines on what is or isn't for the best of the coral being grown. What do you think?

 

[Maritimer]

The risks for going against such recommendations are probably smaller with corals ("You're going to have to frag that pretty often.", vs. "This tang will kill all your other fish out of aggression and territoriality, and then die itself."), but guidelines for which corals will thrive or grow within manageable limits ... not a bad idea, really!

~Bruce

 

[Tahoe61]

As evidenced by beautiful pico and nanos with a wide area of every coral available it seems to me be that given proper lighting and water chemistry it really does not matter the size of system. You can always frag corals, and corals are not stressed by smaller enclosures the same way that fish exhibit stress by the development of disease, and neurotic behaviors and aggression.
I am trying to think of a coral that would not due as well in a 100 gallon system as it would in a 20 gallon system given that chemistry and lighting were optimal for both systems. The degree with which those corals have the potential to become invasive does seem like a concerning variable.
If I put Xenia in a 5 gallon tank and it takes over the remedy to rectify that is significantly less troublesome than if Xenia or another coral takes over a 100 gallon system.