Nano Corals that Stay Small

[phinatic]

I'm planning out my my nano after being out of the hobby for 10 years. I'd like to go with SPS corals, but want to go with variants that stay small / grow slow to avoid over growing the tank. Most posts are looking for explosive growth. I'd prefer color over size. I love montipora and would like to grow it on the overflow. I just don't want it to shadow the tank after 12-18 months. Any suggestions that would stay "nano"?

 

Planned stocking for a Fluval Evo 13.5 is: Two Clowns, small inverts and some SPS. Considered an anemone, but leaning toward no given my concern about tank crowding.

[InAtTheDeepEnd]

Following with great curiosity. I have a pavona and it's going mental 😂😂

[phinatic]

Found this video of top 10 nano corals. Not much for SPS since it was beginner focused, but there are a few interesting ones in there 

 

[fenderchamp]

don't all corals continue to grow and spread when they are healthy? 

[Tired]

Button scolys are about the only corals that will actually stay small. The rest are just corals that will do well if you keep the colony trimmed to a smaller shape, like zoas and acans. All SPS will grow into a large colony if given the space, conditions, and lack of pruning to let them get there. 

[phinatic]

3 hours ago, fenderchamp said:

don't all corals continue to grow and spread when they are healthy?

I suppose I should have asked about corals that keep their relative appearance after fragging and are slow growers. For example, a leather can be fragged, but the trunk continues to grow, getting larger. It would outgrow a little tank. For SPS, I'm thinking branching corals would be easier to frag, but plates would grow and can't really be "trimmed" as easily.

[Tired]

Encrusting SPS can be trimmed to pretty much any size, and IMO they often look better as reasonably small colonies. Encrusting montis, psammocoras, leptoseris. Branching montis might be a good option, as they're hardy, though they are rather fast-growing. Plating/shelf-type corals do need more space to look good, I think.

 

You can also take a colony, chop off a nice-sized frag, keep the frag, and give away the colony. You don't necessarily have to trim the colony itself. That does mean repeatedly setting the colony size back, but it would allow you to grow corals that you would otherwise not be able to keep to a small size.

[phinatic]

8 minutes ago, Tired said:

You can also take a colony, chop off a nice-sized frag, keep the frag, and give away the colony.

True. I could flip it around and just keep the frags. I live in a pretty remote area without anyone to trade frags with, so that is the other reason I am trying not to grow too much. I have nobody to give it to.

[Tired]

You could potentially ship it to people, particularly if you're in the US. I'm sure plenty of folks would be happy to cover 2-day shipping.

[InAtTheDeepEnd]

On 4/21/2023 at 3:06 PM, Tired said:

Button scolys are about the only corals that will actually stay small. The rest are just corals that will do well if you keep the colony trimmed to a smaller shape, like zoas and acans. All SPS will grow into a large colony if given the space, conditions, and lack of pruning to let them get there. 

small corals, not small price tags on em though

[phinatic]

18 minutes ago, InAtTheDeepEnd said:

not small price tags on em though

Guess it will force me to go slow :)