Pimpin' Ain't Easy

I agree that feeding increases growth. I feed heavily and often and have had great sucess is grow-out.
I still have to disagree that single polyp frags act differently then multi-polup frags. I just dont get it. i have not seen any difference in growth or feeding in any of the frags that I have ever gotten based on the number of polyps. I have traded single polyp frags with Pufferpunk a few times and I dont think that they felt shy of in danger. I observed them feed the same as if they had little brother and sisters around them. i have only traded a few times for single polyps and really have never bought a single polyp but I check often especially lately since I have been dosing vitamin C and growth seems to be based on feeding, flow, and light, not population. maybe its just me and my setup.
I dont mean to dispute what you guys are saying, I am going on what I am seeing in my years of reefkeeping, trading, and my own setups. I have had great sucess with softies (not so much with sps) and I tend to stick with what I know works. I just really have not seen any difference in growth or spread based on population.
 
so are you saying that you have success w/ single polyps? i think we agree if that is the case. as far as increased growth rate that is just what i have observed w/ some varieties.
 
To comment on the growth thing again. If I have a single or few polyp frag I find that they tend to grow 1-2 heads every week to 2 weeks. Usually the first head takes the longest (this is with any frag). After the first I usually see a second fairly quickly (this is with any frag). The difference I see is when there is an 8 head frag after the first 1-2 polyp growth, I see a 3-4 polyp spurt. With a single head I usually only see a 1-2 polyp growth until it hits 8-10 polyps. Right now I have a single polyp frag that survived my test (I was going to glue 5 single polyps to a branch rock but 4 blew off :lol: ). It is at 3 heads now (2 head "spurt"). The mother colony has too many small heads to actually know how many have grown (it is also not mounted well which i believe stunts growth... the mat is loose). If we step away to some other zoas that grew from 2 heads that are now at over 20 heads. Last week I noticed that they had 8 new heads in their spurt. Another colony of palys went from 25 to over 50 in about a month.

From this I can see where one would say that growth is the same for a single polyp or multiple. 1-2 heads grow 1-2 heads vs 20 heads growing 8. So the single polyp doubles its total while the 2o heads dont quite get 50% growth. But I believe that the period between 1 polyp and 10 polyps is the time that growth is stunted. If you start with a 10 polyp frag (which if fragged off a colony producing 10+ polyps at a time is not really that big) you skip the little growths other than the first set (which I contribute to healing and acclimation to a new tank... this could actually be 2 sets of stunted growth... one for the cut and one for the move).

I am hoping this makes sense to everyone... It was making sense in my head but don't know if it came out clearly. To paraphrase, I would say the ratio of reproduction is probably better for a single polyp but a large colony could produce a single frag in a growth spurt and avoid all of those small growths.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11753693#post11753693 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jessp
so are you saying that you have success w/ single polyps? i think we agree if that is the case. as far as increased growth rate that is just what i have observed w/ some varieties.
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Yes, I am not sure how else I can say it. I have had sucess with single polyps.

kawicvic, I wish I was able to use a formula like yours but these spurts of heads you are speaking of do not seem to follow the same kind of pattern in my tanks as you describe. I have had some corals grow and spread fast and others not so fast. There doesnt seem to be a pattern like you state.
 
yeah back to the topic, selling/buying by the polyp is crazy. Here in Miami/South FL. (weather is nice) there are way to many good LFS to pay those prices.
 
Speaking of fragging single polyps... I just built a frag rack so that instead of constantly bothering my mother colony of PDs, I wanted to start a new colony on a plug in the rack. I also had some requests for single polyps of this paly, so I started setting up some plugs with single polyps on them. Many have blown away already! :( I've lost close to 4 heads now I think. Am I using too much glue? What's the best way to glue a single polyp?
 
Jeni, I let the polyp heal for a couple days before glueing. It seems to help. BTW, I have 4 polyps of that purple death now.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11753972#post11753972 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pufferpunk
Speaking of fragging single polyps... I just built a frag rack so that instead of constantly bothering my mother colony of PDs, I wanted to start a new colony on a plug in the rack. I also had some requests for single polyps of this paly, so I started setting up some plugs with single polyps on them. Many have blown away already! :( I've lost close to 4 heads now I think. Am I using too much glue? What's the best way to glue a single polyp?
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Are you getting any rock or substrate with the polyp? When ever I frag, weather it be 1 or 5 polyps, I always chip the rock from underneath the paly. This allows the glue to actually set on something. If its just tissue, the polyp almost always detaches and floats away.

I also do what you are doing. Whenever I get a new zoa or paly I let it grow out some then chop the frag it in half. Keep one half for your mother colony and the other for fraggin.

As for 1 polyp trading and selling, as long as you let the polyp heal fully before shipping out it should be fine. I dont like do 1 polyps because even if they live, it can take months before you see any kind of growth.

What I dont get is, I see people sell Pinky nail size frags of LPS and SPS for way more than some are charging per polyp, but yet I dont see people making threads over in those forums whinning and crying that there too expencive. I think a lot of people are just sour that zoas used to be the cheap begginer coral all the LFS would try to push on you, but now you have experienced reefers collecting morphs and paying top dollar for them so the price has risen quite a bit.

If you dont like the prices then trade for your coral. Not everyone in this hobby buys. Ive seen many tanks that look like they could be TOTM and %75 of there coral was traded for. You might have to bite the bullet and spend some money on frags, but after that, let them grow out and then start trading. After all, this hobby isnt cheap.
 
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11754220#post11754220 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pufferpunk
My colony is still growing on a large plug, so there is no rock to chip off.
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Gotta get chunks of the plug underneath the polyp. IME, you have to get something that the polyp is attached to otherwise theyll just float away.
 
I bought a single polyp of wammin watermellon and a single polyp of purple death last year and I have dozens of them now in my tank. I won 2 auctions on Ebay and with shipping I spent $47 on both. It was more then worth it. No way I could have afforded to buy mutiple polyp frags of those. I hate the prices on some things but sometimes the only way to get the rare corals is to do it this way. I still dont think that I got ripped off, I think the seller charged a fair market price considering I am no friend of his.

And to the people that say there is less chance of survival with a single polyp I think you have never tried it because it doesn't matter if there is 1, 5, or 10 polyps, trust me. Ship during warm weather and you will be fine.
 
jabis back at again!

I have been up since 3AM and I am tired. I will get back to this thread tomorrow. Have a great night everyone!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11737408#post11737408 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Engine 7
I doubt that there is any scientific evidence either way. I have had many observations over the years and the only time I see softies grow faster then normal is after cutting some out of the colony I get fast re-growth. It doesnt matter if there is one or 10 they grow just as fast and spread as fast. I did get a lot of new growth in my tank especially on the more rare ones after starting to dose vitamin C.
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There is NO 'scientific evidence' for just about anything in 'reefing'. I suppose some of the lighting measurement stuff gets close, but even most of it falls short. The main reason this is so is because you need a closed environment to get a 'scientific' conclusion.

By this I mean that if I do something to my tank it is meaningless to someone else if the parameters of their tank are different, which of course they are. The vitamin C thread is a classic example of non-scientific results. They are anecdotal results. This does not mean they are useless (far from it), it just means do not always expect the result someone else gets.

Asking for 'scientific results' from home hobbyists is pretty silly. Particularly when most would pour just about anything in their tank with no evidence at all that it is beneficial.



nalbar
 
I walked into my lfs three days ago and saw the most amazing flouresent pink/orange zoos I have EVER seen. He keeps these types of things in his own 'personal' tank and they are usually not for sale. Lucky for me the owner and I get along great and yesterday I rushed over to see him before he left.

The regular worker gave me a price per polyp and I almost died however, after talking to the owner for a while I talked him down to $20 a polyp. I insited on three because of the same reasoning I read on this thread. Some do die off.

These polyps are worth every penny though. They really are beautiful and I have never seen them on any site before.
 
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