Aggressive Corals

[Lockes]

I love corals such as hammers, elegance,tube,plate,torch,bubble, flowr pot corals etc. but I know that the LPS corals are highly aggressive.

I have been told not to put them into my tank as they will be too aggressive. I now have 2 55g tanks and a new 140g tank so if I want them is it possible or not?

Must I just allow a lot of space between them or what?

 

[Ken-21]

Yes you can put them in. Just leave about a four inc buffer zone from other corals because the send out stingers to kill other corals.

 

[Ken-21]

"INCH" Man it stinks when you type too fast and then post before you proof read it..........LOL

 

[Lockes]

I thought these corals could send out really long sweeper tentacles?

 

[Sk8r]

Sweepers don't travel 'upwind.' Mind your current and that helps. Pillars like upright slabs of rock break up the flow or serve as barriers: up is also a space. I have acropora and bubble coral within inches of each other, but they're vertical inches. In this picture you'll see a clam, a plate (left) and a bubble (center) within three inches of two tiny acroporas and a montipora, and not far from another montipora and an acropora.

Put the specimen in and watch after the lights go out to determine how far it wants to reach. Bubbles are 'reachy'. Galaxia is probably the most extreme, with a foot-long sweeper in some cases.

I also had to make some adjustment when I added a sea swirl, but the corals are happier in the chaotic current and less prone to reach out. All they do is extend into the current in hopes of food. Probably also they're getting less chemical 'message' from the neighbors.

Put leathers nearest the outflow, if you have any. I prefer the stonies' aggressiveness, since at least you can see it, and their chemicals are largely confined to their tentacles. Frogspawn and hammer and plate are probably the least 'reachy.'

 

[Kaiser Tang]

I've got a 92 gal. corner (it's a deep tank but not long). I have two huge torch and a very large hammer. They're in there own little LPS corner. I'm able to keep them clear of my other softies, leathers, and clams. No problems. They are down low and other things are above on "shelfs".

 

[moonpod]

the one to really watch for is galaxea. That one can have stupendously long sweepers.

 

[Kaiser Tang]

I did have a galaxea and did get rid of it for that reason.

 

[rich415]

you can also keep all euphilia species (torch, Frogspawn and hammer) together. They don't effect eachother. I have a whole corner of my tank dedicated to them.

Also note that some of these corals grow fairly fast. So what might be 4 inches in the beginning might be zero in 6-8 months. My Torch went from 1 head to 4 in about 9 months. My frogspawn went from 4 to 14 heads in 1 1/2 years.

 

[Lockes]

ok gr8 cos I love the look of LPS corals

 

[akrimmel]

just beaware of the sweepers, can be really aggressive?

 

[Sk8r]

Here's a typical bubble sweeper. The flow around my corals is chaotic because I have installed a Sea Swirl. This means the sweepers toss and don't travel sideways into the neighbor's yard.

The frogspawn and hammer can stretch, but nothing like the bubble. The candy cane, on the other hand, has very short stubby ones like an anemone. Its heads unfold into little anemones, so to speak.

I think what spooks people out about the sweepers is that they appear primarily at night, when corals feed and spawn. I enjoy checking mine out with a flashlight. The corals don't really mind, if you don't keep the light on a particular spot too long.

 

[akrimmel]

use what you think is a safe parameter and you should be good?