How is coral made?

[mfrisby2]

This is a question that my Ecology teacher has asked me and it raised some interest. Corals are an endangered species and that is common knowledge. So it is impossible to gather them from the ocean floor, legally. So my question is this, how is it that people go about making or gathering corals such as Polyps, soft corals, hard corals, and sea fans. Any feed back that you guy's could give me about the process of making corals and distributing it, and what make's it legal to sell to the public, that would be great. Thanks for the help,

Mike

 

[Amphiprion]

There are many coral species, not all of which are endangered. They are typically only banned or protected in certain locales, such as the Caribbean. I still don't understand your question about "making corals," though, since they technically "make" themselves. They are living things, so you may want to elaborate on your question.

 

[mfrisby2]

That is what sparked the conversation between my teacher and I. So what you are saying is that all species of coral that are used in tanks around the world are not endangered. Since Corals are in fact alive, "making" was a bad way to put it. But since if it's an endangered species the coral cannot be moved from were it stands. How do they go about reproducing the coral, or do we the public just not have the privalage of owning that type of coral.

 

[Amphiprion]

Like I said, only in certain areas. Many of the corals readily available today are captive grown, i.e. grown in the aquarium. Also, not all corals are endangered. Many of them are plentiful in their natural habitat, thus, collection practices there cause little damage. Corals that are endangered do not get disseminated at all and are illegal to sell or possess. But like I said earlier, there are many species that are not endangered or protected.

 

[goda]

corals grow fast so in many areas they harvest some then come back a few months later and harvest again

ask your teacher how fast corals grow then laugh when htey say less then an inch a year

reefs ( the actual base that corals attach to ) grow slow since they are growth of old corals/ worms/ coriline algae

but corals grow pretty fast xenia a soft coral can take over a tank in under a year hard coral like acro's can grow like i think i heard up to a few inches amonth . its amazing the myths that are out there about reefs and corals many started by conservationist and then spread by teachers who dont do there own research.

as for endangered coral the only way you can get it is from another hobbiest or from people who place rock on the ocean floor and then come back for it after a few years ( see tampa bay saltwater)

 

[goda]

check out liveaquaria.com they have a coral farm and have pics some where on there site under ' aqua culture' catagory i think

 

[NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT]

one word for coral distribution is "agraculture."
corals grow very fast in a tank with high lighting, high calcium ect.
look at how many corals are being sold on this forum alone, after they reach a certain growth people are fraggin them and giving or selling them to other reefers.

 

[goda]

mfris do you hvae a salt tank? intrested in starting one ( let see if we can suck another person into the hobby!)

 

[ManEatingGuppy]

i think what hes asking is how do people collect corals that we have in our aquariums today. some collecters just brake off a peice of coral and take it home and grow it. some people just take a whole colony and sell it. corals dont die after u brake a peice off, they will just reproduce and use up calcium and other supliments to make the white shells. after growing for a few years they will brake off more peices of the coral and let those grow until they are big enough then they sell them. bassically their just like plants, take the seeds and grow them, after they reproduce more seeds, u grow them again. bassically u can start a whole coral reef with a few peices of coral or a whole garden with just a couple seeds. im not an expert on corals but it just some basics on them.

coral frag means a small peice of coral or a seed of a flower/plant.

 

[goda]

altho each piece is geneticaly the SAME
( there for one disiese could wipe out every piece. )

 

[padros4]

ManEatingGuppy explained it quite well...going back to the original question: you can't just "make" a coral out of nothing. People that have them either got them as a frag from someone else, who may have gotten them from a local fish store, who got them from an ocean or frags from the corals they already had in the store. Ultimately any coral any of us posseses originally came from a "parent coral" in an ocean somewhere. Even if there are people out there that gentically "make" coral, which I don't even know if people actually do this, they have to have something to start w/ which would have had to come from another coral.
Sounds kind of confusing...but it was a great question.

 

[padros4]

whoops...I meant genetically...I spelled it wrong

 

[goda]

geneticaly making a coral is what id call breeding ;p ( aka messy fish tank)

 

[padros4]

And for the record...although all corals may not be classified as "endangered" even taking a small piece of "non-endangered" coral from the ocean can have a really detrimental effect on a coral reef. That's why aquaculture and fragging is a beautiful thing! That way there can be minimum damage done to natural reefs in the ocean if we continue to aquaculture corals and sell them that way.

Sorry...I just work at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, so I feel really strongly about coral reefs being in grave danger because of us humans. They're the most diverse places on the planet and I think that without them a lot of us would miss out on learning about such a cool ecosystem through scuba diving and snorkeling.

 

[goda]

i think boats and divers hurt the reefs more then collecting ( collecting meaning allow for grow back. not 'clear cutting' or what ever oyud call taking all the coral )

 

[mfrisby2]

This is the first tank that I have ever managed on my own and It's going to be a saltwater. Luckily though my neighbor is an pretty involved with saltwater tanks, so I'm not completely out in the woods by myself with this. It's just nice to know a few things of my own. Thanks for the information.