How do you plan your reef so corals can grow together without eventually killing each other?
Im trying to plan out my first reef in a way where I can actually let the corals grow out instead of constantly having to frag or move things around because they start fighting.
I really like the look of little mixed coral communities growing together on the same rock, so Im wondering how people plan this from the beginning.
For example, are there certain corals that you guys will intentionally put on the same rock and eventually let grow into and touch each other without issues? (besides zoa with zoa, hammer with hammer, etc).
I know the obvious ones like hammers, frogspawn, Goniopora, cloves, GSP, etc. would get their own little islands. Im more curious about the ones that are considered more peaceful.
For example, can Micromussa / Acans and Blastomussa eventually grow into and touch each other? What about Duncan and trumpet / candy cane? Or in the end does the living tissue always just grow directly into each other, and one may eventually damage the other and then overtake them (even "peaceful" corals).
Can different softies like mushrooms, Rhodactis, toadstools, etc. eventually touch without one killing the other, and touch these LPS?
My full wishlist right now is:
Hammers
Frogspawn
Candy cane
Alveopora
Scoly
Favites
Mushrooms
Brain coral
Plate coral
Blue long polyp toadstool
Clove polyps
Pink Kenya tree
Duncan
Rhodactis
Purple GSP
Pink Corky Sea Finger
Blue Sinularia
Lobed Leather
Trachy
Acan Lord
Goniopora
bubble tip nem
Im wondering how you guys would divide these up between community rocks/arches and individual islands on a shallow lagoon tank like an IM 25 lagoon or a uns 75S or uns 60cs. Ive read that many reefers have ran into problems where corals eventually touch each other and kill and overtake the other over years.