New to Saltwater - How do you get coral frags?

[zmazza]

I've heard it time and time again, but am becoming for interested now that I am messing around with saltwater. I just recently started my first saltwater tank in my 29 gallon, and for the moment, it's only a FOWLR.

The more I stay on this forum, the more interested I become in keeping corals. Their beauty just amazes me. What all does it take to successfully keep corals? Is it difficult? Does it become a full time job? Does the transition from FOWLR to Reef cost an arm and a leg? I hear about frag and swap meets all the time. Nothing would be cooler than trading corals.

Back to the main question though...

- What exactly is coral fragging?
- How do you frag a coral?
- If you cut the coral, doesn't it die?
- How do you know where to cut?
- What do you do with the cuttings?
- Where do you get your corals to start with?
- How quickly do corals grow?
- How do you buy corals from the pet store? Do they frag the corals and give you a piece?


Thanks for entertaining my newb questions.

Look forward to hearing some replies!

Thanks.

 

[Gundo5000]

Check out the coral propagation forum.

There is an abundance of information about fragging corals.

 

[xdusty6920]

those are some good questions but way to broad to answer specifically. coral propagation forum would be a good place for you to visit. in general a frag is a piece of a coral that is cut away from the larger coral (mother). if done correctly it will turn itself into another coral of that same piece. each coral is fragged differently. some you can simply snap a piece of or make a quick cut with a razor, where others require alot of skill and experience to pull off.
also some corals can have noticable growth weekly were others can go a year + without noticing much grown. every coral is differnt and only reading and researching will give you the answers to all those questions. its just too broad to answer all at once.

 

[zmazza]

Hmm that is a good answer though, xdusty6920. I figured my questions we're a TAD bit too broad, lol. I hear about frag meets and things like that, but wasn't sure exactly what a 'frag' was.

 

[Chad Vossen]

What exactly is coral fragging? ~ removing small peices of coral to propogate. usualy comes from a mother colony.
- How do you frag a coral? ~ depends on what it is, some you just cut witha knife, others you need a chisle.
- If you cut the coral, doesn't it die? some will if you injure the polyp or the mouth, others will usualy have minor problems but heals nice.
- How do you know where to cut? varies between corals.
- What do you do with the cuttings? stick them elsewere in your tank till they heal.
- Where do you get your corals to start with? pet sore, or internet. if your lucky, get some from a local tank.
- How quickly do corals grow? depends, stony corals are generaly slow and some leathers are slow, but some corals are fast growers.
- How do you buy corals from the pet store? Do they frag the corals and give you a piece? they buy these peices from wholesalers or frag them themselves. then sell the whole thing. the bigger the colony the more money they can get usualy. so they arent interested in chopping their livestock.

glad i was able to try and help. if anyone has anything to add or change please reply.

 

[zmazza]

Great answers. Thanks a bunch for clearing all that up, armagedon48. I think when I get my upgraded lighting I'm going to buy a coral and let it grow.

How difficult are say... zoo's to take care of? I love the way they look.

 

[IslandCrow]

If you have FOWLR tank going right now, the upgrade shouldn't be too expensive. New lighting would probably be the biggest expense, and depending on what you have now, you may not even have to do that. I'd get a general idea of what types of corals you'd like to keep and then get some advice from this site on lighting suggestions (you'll get a thousand and 50% of them will be different, so be prepared). I don't have zoos, but there supposed to be pretty easy to keep and don't need very bright light. In general, soft corals tend to need the least amount of light, LPS or large polyp stoney corals usually need a little more light and more stable water parameters, and SPS or small polyped stoney corals usually need the most light and pristine water conditions. There are many exceptions to those "rules", though.
Now that you know what frags are, you can probably forget about how it's done for a little while. Many fish stores that sell corals will also sell frags which tend to be cheaper. It's kind of a good deal for both of you. They frag one of their bigger corals into smaller pieces and make more money overall, while you spend significantly less money and eventually the frag will grow into a nice big coral given the proper care and time. The other way to get frags is from other people in the hobby. There may be clubs in your area where other reefers will swap frags (I've yet to find one around where I live, but I haven't tried my hand at fragging quite yet). Lastly, I don't really think most corals are any harder to take care of than fish. . .easier in many cases. Most of the time, you don't actually have to feed them (though it helps in many cases), so they'll do just fine on cruise control for some time. The main thing that makes corals a little tougher is that they're pickier about water quality than most fish, so you need to make sure your bio-filtration is sufficient and you're good about doing water changes as necessary.

Good luck. Once you start collecting corals, I bet you'll be hooked. It's kind of like crack, but more expensive. I just spent $40 on an open brain coral this past weekend. I just couldn't resist.

 

[zmazza]

Sounds awesome. I'm REALLY interested in keeping corals, especially since I went to a local saltwater only store and saw all of their corals. It was like a paradise. Awesome stuff. I especially like the trading frags part. I love trading anyway, so trading coral for different types of coral sounds fun and interesting. My wife is about to buy me a dual satelite power compact 130 watt light. I think that will be enough for most corals. Especially the first ones you we're talking about. It's even got a lunar light, so thats a plus.

 

[IslandCrow]

Yeah, I bet that will be good for any soft corals you want, and probably most of the LPS corals. Perhaps more, but what corals need what lighting is an area where I still have a good deal to learn. Just make sure you do a little research into any coral you're thinking about buying. I'd say the big things to think about are its lighting requirements, whether or not it needs to be fed, compatability with other corals (does it release toxins or have stinging tentacles), what type of water flow it likes and just how difficult it is to keep in general. Your LFS staff may be a good information source, but there's also a very good chance they'll just be looking to sell you the most expensive coral they can convince you to buy.