Corals Touching

[kynekke]

I'm still a newb... after a year of reef keeping... anyway....
I was under the impression from books and such that corals shouldn't touch, however, looking through pictures and from tanks around town I see tanks LOADED with coral, Xenia touching Zoos, SPS touching mushrooms, etc. Is it ok for corals to touch? Is it specific though and if so.. how can I find out if a Brain can brush against a Kenya Tree type of thing?
TIA... I need some

Tanya

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by Kynekke
http:///forum/post/2517638
I'm still a newb... after a year of reef keeping... anyway....
I was under the impression from books and such that corals shouldn't touch, however, looking through pictures and from tanks around town I see tanks LOADED with coral, Xenia touching Zoos, SPS touching mushrooms, etc. Is it ok for corals to touch? Is it specific though and if so.. how can I find out if a Brain can brush against a Kenya Tree type of thing?
TIA... I need some

Tanya
Certain coral types can't touch, and it's mostly the LPS varieties. They use stinging tentacles to attack nearby coral and essentially devour them alive. You'll also have chemical warfare, where coral sends out hormones that "attacks" coral in the tank. Every so often I see my mushrooms shrivel up and then stay that way for a few days, then they all go back to normal; all seemingly with no reason... but it's because of the LPS and SPS in the tank sending out the chemical hormones.
Proximity is mostly an issue with faster growing coral, zoanthids and SPS are slow, but xenia, mushrooms, and some other soft coral grows quickly and are usually either overcome by or will overcome other coral nearby.

 

[kynekke]

Is it mostly trial and error then? Keep fast moving corals away from anything, don't let LPS touch anything but the rest are ok ... watch them and if there's a problem move it?

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by Kynekke
http:///forum/post/2517662
Is it mostly trial and error then? Keep fast moving corals away from anything, don't let LPS touch anything but the rest are ok ... watch them and if there's a problem move it?
Pretty much.

Leathers are the only thing I've heard to be tricky with compatibility (I don't have any of these), but I haven't had any personal issues with anything else other than what I've mentioned. I currently have birdsnest, porites, pocillopora, acros, montis, frogspawn, favia (brain), candy canes, spotted mushrooms, zoanthids, and palys in my various tanks, but they'll all be together in about a month.