Trim SPS or let them grow into one another?

[ReefingHavoc]

As the title says, I have a Tyree Rainbow Stylophora and what I believe to be a Blue Tort Acropora. They're starting to grow into one another and was curious if I should frag the Acro to keep it away from the Stylo or let nature take its course. Thoughts? Experience?

 

[Stormtrooper]

I have found that by letting the different varieties "grow" in to each other that they
actually fuse together at some point and continue to grow without killing each other.

It certainly looks more natural in my opinion and lets the corals develop their natural shape.

Dave.

 

[organism]

It looks cool with similar species, but Acro vs Stylophora is not going to go well imo since they'll be stinging each other like crazy.

 

[A1t2o]

You could test it out with a frag of each to see if they will play nice or if they will kill each other. It would be a lot less risky than trying it with the colonies. In the mean time, I would frag the colonies and sell the frags until the test frags grow enough to tell.

 

[power boat jim]

The stylo will win the fight keep it away from the tort.

 

[Wazzel]

If they play well with each other I let them be, if not I trim. When making frags to sell I try to take them from potential conflict zones. It keeps my colonies looking better than if I just trimmed from what I could easily reach.

 

[iClown2]

I would trim. Sometimes the favorite gets out grown.

 

[MrCaveman]

Id frag it and place it somewhere else in the tank with different lighting access. Its cool to see if some corals will change or develop a different color hue. Plus having a few colonies of a same species looks more natural too as long as you still have space for a second colony and space for more frag species if you still want to further grow your collection.