How many of you stock your SPS tanks with small frags only? Seems the best way to go!

[2wheelsonly]

The longer I get into this hobby the more I realize that my success rate with smaller SPS frags (1-2inches) is much higher than buying colonies. My success rate with large colonies is around maybe 65-70% whereas my smaller frags out of 34 or so I have lost one.

Is it best practice to just stomach the small frags and be patient for 3 years while they grow?

 

[fcmatt]

My only guess with larger colonies is that when you place them in the tank they are used to being raised outdoors in the blazing sun. When placed in a tank some part of them suffers due to lack of light. That area declines and spreads to other areas leading to a total loss if left alone to handle it?

Just a thought.

Frags on the other hand get enough light to grow and adapt. Often tank raised and a proven winner.

 

[snorvich]

Frags are easier because you are matching (as much as possible) the environment from which they came. It is difficult, at best, to match the environment that a coral colony comes from.

 

[tc2007]

I was watching a video from Tidal Gardens on Youtube where Than mentions that colonies when moved will not get the same flow and lighting and will be hurt because the digitata have been conforming to a particular flow and the new flow is now not "compatible" with the structure. Something along those lines.

 

[Bent]

This might explain why the best corals I have are either aquacultured or grown from single heads.

 

[Kevin Guthrie]

I second @tc2007 from personal experience. Corals definitely grow to catch current and light and optimize their shape accordingly. If you change everything up the shape is at best not optimal and at worst results in parts of the colony dying back.

Example in my tank was a heliopora that grew across the current in the tank, probably maximizing it's exposure to the current. It basically formed a wall across the tank and up to the surface.

Second example was a monti in the part of the tank with no current grew into huge cup shapes instead of encrusting. I have another monti that was fragile branches in no current and solid encrusting in high current.

So basically a small frag gets the opportunity to grow into the best shape for the condition and a large colony cannot.

 

[Moort82]

It does depend where the frags come from. If it was a genuine frag, ie grown in aquarium conditions, then you should have luck but if it's just someone who hacked it off a wild mother colonies and glued it before sale then your taking a risk.

 

[billdogg]

I prefer frags because they are then able to grow in to your tank, rather than being placed there. It allows for a much more natural look as the various colonies grow and often, grow together.

 

[d2mini]

Is it best practice to just stomach the small frags and be patient for 3 years while they grow?

Patience for what?
What if large colonies were cheap and guaranteed to do well. Is that what you'd want in your tank?
Not me. My favorite size is a 1" to 2" branching frag.
I can place it anywhere and I get to watch it grow. And it will grow according to the light and flow and placement in my tank.
That's the fun of the hobby!

When i've done a tank move, moving large colonies into a new tank was a PITA. Trying to find new spots on the rock, getting them secured, and they just didn't look right. I ended up busting most of them up, down to mini colonies, and selling the majority of them.
Then I got to watch them grow again.

 

[JohnnyRedd]

While not as scientific as some answers I buy small anything and watch it grow. It's kind of like my cars. Anyone can BUY a car or a large colony but it takes a little more work and ultimately pride in growing (or restoring it) into something.