Corals stinging each other...

[kbolick]

I looked at Casey's tank and think this is amazing. It along with a few others is what I am trying to achieve in the future. I have always been told to give corals plenty of room from each other as they will sting and kill what is around it if any corals are too close. But in the case of Casey's tank, I see the corals are basically on top of each other which creates a really full tank like I want. So what is true? Do the corals actually sting each othere?

[Prismaco]

I have 2 pink tip anenomes and they decided to settle down side by side. Infact they both house my 2 clowns together. Sometimes my green chromis tries to sneak a place. I have heard that thet do sting.


-Paul

[ylmaya]

I think it depends on the types of corals but YES they definitely do sting each other. They sting via chemical warfare as well as via stinging tentacles. Some corals are more aggressive than others. Bubble coral for example - extends stingers at night that can be a few inches long. I was wondering the same thing about some of the incredible displays we see on TRT.

Is there a place to go that can show us exactly what can touch what? Anyone got ideas or a list?

[thefatman]

heheh someone made similar thread not so long ago. yo ualways find books that tell what fish can be compatible with what fish and what fish not to house htem with and so on. but not too much of that about corals.

some corals will tolerate some other species, but will go to war with another species, and yet may completley ignore another species.

i dont know if anyone has yet to put together some sort of cross referance database or what not. i woudl say that whenever you want to get something, jsut ask here at trt if what you are plannign to get can be hosued near whatever else you have.

when we see tanks likes casey's. there are corals on top of one another that get along, and no doubt, on the OTHER side of the tank are corals that are on the other side for a reason

think of them as humans.

take the middle east for example. so many countries in the middle east get along with one neighber, are at war with another neighbor, ignor the next neighbor. hundreds upon hundreds of lvoe/hate realtionships among a few small countries.

now think of the possibilites with all the species of coral available for our tanks.

[Prismaco]

Good point...


-Paul

[Casey]

Hey guys it took me a year to get them moved to not fight and dont think they didnt sting somethings including my right arm
(**** frogspawn) it is a crap shoot you just have to try a spot and watch if it starts to get ugly move a peice and try another spot no real recipe here.

[Mrs Smith]

In general...
-Sarcophyton/Sinularia will usually tolerate touching each other.
-Euphyllia sp. can be touching each other, but will sting everything else. (hammers, torchs, frogspawn, etc.)
-shrooms will sting non-shrooms
-LPSs may have long sweeper tentacles and require more clearance (bubbles, brains, candy-canes, etc)
-elegance corals have a very strong sting. Give 'em room. (Or better yet, don't keep them, but that's another thread.)
-anemones can sting and be stung. Keep an eye on them because they don't know any better.

That's just what springs to mind... there are a lot out there.
Danielle

[Rick O]

I have several corals touching. It get's to a point where you can't trim them to prevent them from touching. Usually the stinging only affects the immediate area that is touching and not the entire colony.

This isn't a hard and fast rule. Your experiences may be different.

[ylmaya]

Sorry to ask but Mrs Smith - why no elegance? I love them and was hoping to have one in the new reef - is there a big no no? Reason I shouldn't????

[Mrs Smith]

Perhaps their collection has improved, but as recently as a couple of years ago, they were on the very-hard-to-keep list. They didn't used to be (and were once considered an easy coral), but as their popularity increased, the collectors went to deeper and deeper waters to get them. Long story short, these deeper water specimens didn't do nearly as well as in the past, and last I heard, the situation hadn't changed much. This is partly due to collection, and partly due how they are stored on the boats before the collectors get them back to their holding tanks.

Anyway, they aren't seen all that much for sale anymore, and they often don't live very long. There might have been some changes, but do some internet research before you go get one.

Perhaps someone else can be a little more enlightening and knows more details than I do. That's just what we discovered after purchasing ours. (Which lived about a year and withered away slowly.)

Danielle