Soft corals tend to be less aggressive than stony corals, and many can touch each other
without problems.
watch and regular pruning of things that
grow too close to each other. Now there
are only a few things in the tank that can
really do any damage to another coral,
and these are simply placed in areas
where they can’t bother anything else.
Likewise, softies are overall less
susceptible to diseases, parasites, etc.
Sure, there’s the zoa pox that kills
zoanthids, some bad nudibranchs that
may dine on them, Xenia may crash,
etc.—but the big picture is that these
sorts of things have been far less common
and far easier to take care of than, in
particular, the list of things that can kill
small-polyp stonies. Knowing that I don’t
have to worry about nasty little red bugs
and acro-eating flatworms in this big
tank is nice, as these have given many
hobbyists a number of troubles.
I’m quite pleased with this big change,
and you should think about the possibility
of setting up a softy-only tank, too. Lots
of good stuff is readily available, I’m
spending less money on electricity, bulbs,
and additives, and I’m also spending more
time looking at, instead of working on,
my tank. You can’t beat that! D
46
www.tfhmagazine.com
October 2010
