Corals placement

[Canadianeh]

I always have this thinking on the back of my head. How do one person place their all kinds of corals on their rocks and make sure they don't kill each other? In mature tanks, many of them have their rocks all covered with all kinds of rocks and they are very close to each other or touching each other. 

What rules that I need to use before I affix LPS, SPS, and all of other corals onto my rocks? I only have a 40 gallons tank so space is precious and I want my rocks fully covered with all type of corals.

[Clown79]

Its hard to, at some point one coral will win and the other will get stung.

 

Its also hard providing all the needs for the different types of coral.

 

You have to read on each coral and place them accordingly.

[fishfreak0114]

It's partly trial and error. Just recently I put a Duncan next to a trumpet. Duncan started to sting trumpet. I moved trumpet away. Now I know those two can't be together. To fill the gaps, I try to put Zoas in between things. I figure eventually they'll grow in and less rock will be visible. 

[jambon]

Another thing to keep in mind is there sweepers. Many corals can grow up to one another and they kind of go there own way. Sps are not as aggresive as some lps. Light plays a big part also... it's all part of the fun in growing them.

[jambon]

BTW my plate coral spit out a young one. About 1cm big or small

[Nano sapiens]

40g...you have lots of room

 

Know your corals.  Generally, the less aggressive your selections the easier it'll be to keep them from annihilating each other.  Like-with-like is also a good strategy for reducing, or eliminating, coral warfare.

 

When placing, have in your mind's eye what the space will look like once they are grown in and have an idea of how the various species are likely to react to each other.  

 

You can use coral placement up top to slow down aggression from corals below (aka 'overtopping').

 

Have a good pair of cutters handy for pruning