Acro v. Acro

[gnikoli]

I was just curious, but maybe I did something stupid. I placed an A. formosa next to an A. yongei that had been there a while in a way that would make contact inevitable if one of the A.f. tips didn't change course (it started out about an inch away). I wanted to see if the A.f. would grow away from the A.y. or grow right into it; it grew into it.

I didin't think anything of it because I figured this sort of thing must happen all the time in real staghorn forests, but after reading a little more about these interactions, I'm wondering if I should break things up. There are no obvious problems after about 4 months of contact. The A.f. seems to be the aggressor as it is the one overgrowing the A.y. where they meet, but they are both doing well with no obvious signs of stress or disease.

Should I end this experiment and prune them to eliminate this contact?

[ahullsb]

I would. I lost one that way.

[818reefer]

WOW that looks crazy.

[gasman059]

very very nice. Allelopathy eventually will apply and the strongest will survive.

i love the look of corals growing into one another.

[HBtank]

"survive" or "lose" as in the whole colony or just the effected areas?

[Hendersonracing]

WHAT IS THAT YELLOW????a stag?

[Oldude]

I like the way that looks.

[snyder2050]

I think you may just want to keep a close eye on it. Looks like there's a lot of growth were they'll be able to continue to grow and aren't touching. If the aggressor is the slower grower then it should be fine for sometime. It looks really cool and doesn't seem like there's too much adverse effect.