That seems to be the conundrum. Looks like if I use a lxd fan bridge, I cannot disable the dhcp. Not finding how to create one in MAAS. I suppose I could look into OVN and getting things set, but that seems a bit more complicated than I am ready for.
At least I know I can have separate vm hosts in MAAS and it works. Clustering them was just a rabbit hole I wanted to explore a little. C’est la vie.