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How To Cut Your Coral

April 26, 2009

Coral PropagationIt’s enough to make an aquarist shudder, a beautiful reef with corals that are healthy and expanded, fancy cutting one? Er, not really, no.

The fact is that corals that are healthy are going to grow. Growth is of course absolutely normal and occurs with whatever the type of coral, soft or hard, and whatever species it is.

A captive coral reef that is successful will need attention in time, in addition to the usual but very important routine maintenance. Growth of corals can change seawater flow, reducing it for some corals which is not good. Corals that are becoming large can also overshadow others, which mean the corals in shadow are going to suffer because the zooxanthellae object to the lack of light. Corals can also expand to the point where they touch and in some cases this is when a territorial war begins.

The aquarist can deal with all of this without spoiling the appearance of the reef. The corals that are now becoming too large can be cut. The hobby term for cutting corals is ‘fragging’.

If it is only one coral or just a few that are causing problems, cutting can be done and the cuttings, or ‘frags’, can be grown on in the display aquarium. Or the aquarist could use a small shallow additional aquarium to grow on more numerous frags.

The frags when available and known to be healthy could be used as exchanges with other aquarists, or taken to the LFS for a credit or merchandise.

Frags are generally more tolerant of aquarium conditions than their wild reef counterparts, and this is a definite plus for the marine aquarist.

Propagating corals is not difficult and the procedures are straightforward. Corals are tolerant of the procedure and seldom suffer any negative side effects. Propagation is also becoming more important as time passes and the wild reefs slip into more serious trouble.

The link is a website that is very well respected. On arrival, a list will be seen on the left hand side. There are two headings to click on relevant to propagation, the first near the top of the list called ‘The Frugal Reefer’ and the second further down called ‘Propagation’. There are sub-headings to choose from.

The website is very interesting overall so it is worthwhile having a general look arounds well.

http://www.garf.org/index.shtml

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Coral Propagation And Fish Breeding

March 7, 2009

The home aquarist is often faced with a coral that is increasing in size and threatening to overshadow corals lower down the reef. To ensure the lower corals remain healthy they need light and it is usually not practical to move the overgrown specimen. It is easier to cut it, or in other words ‘frag’ it. Whether the aquarist occasionally ‘frags’ one coral, or has a dedicated ‘fragging’ tank, it all assists the wild reefs.

Most of the fish in our aquariums are from the wild reefs though there are an increasing number that are being bred. Home aquarists are having more and more success in the breeding venture and those who are dipping their toe in so to speak are trying with the ‘easier’ clownfish.

Many of the wild reefs are in trouble and under pressure. I have always regarded the marine hobby as a huge resource and ‘back-up’ for the wild reefs, though of course the hobby cannot hope to have anywhere near the life diversity of the reefs. Hobbyists though care for their livestock and it usually follows that they are concerned about the wild as well. It then follows that we all should do what we can to assist the wild reefs.

One of the major and understandable fears that aquarists have is ‘How do I do it? ‘Fragging’ a lovely and healthy coral could be nerve racking though corals are not harmed if it is done properly. Then there is the pride of having produced a new coral to hand to an aquarist friend of take to the LFS (local fish shop).

Both ‘fragged’ corals and bred fish seem to be generally tougher in the aquarium than their wild counterparts and this appears reasonable - they’ve never known the sea, their only home has been an aquarium.

If the aquarist wishes to try breeding fish again the procedures need to be known. A successful breeding with a tank full of new fish generates immense pride. These too can be taken to the LFS or some passed to aquarist friends.

The following link gives a list of ‘how to do it’ procedures. There’s information on ‘fragging’ different corals and breeding different fish. In addition there’s information about low impact marine aquariums.

On arrival at the website click on ‘Articles’ at the top of the page.

http://www.reefsuk.org/forum/index.php

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Do Aquaculture Tanks Have To Be Anything Special

February 24, 2009

Personally I think that there is a belief that aquaculture aquariums need to be some type of specialist aquarium which is designed purely for aquaculture.

I don’t why I believe this and perhaps I am wrong but when I talk to people they believe that aquaculture is a scientific subject and therefore requires scientific equipment. I suppose that in a way they are correct as this entire hobby is scientific in a way - afterall we are interested in water chemistry etc.

So does aquaculture require specialist equipment.

Not at all. All you need is a container to place the corals etc, filtration, the relevant equipment etc. An aquaculture container can be a small cut down version of a display aquarium. There are many people who are performing aquaculture in food quality containers.

If you wanted to aquaculture corals for example and wanted a dedicated environment for it all you would need is a container, the shallower the better which can hold salt water, lighting, a protein skimmer, water movement devices, heaters and some type of filtration - the best probably being a deep sand bed. A rack could be created out of plexiglass, egg-crate or something similar and you are done.

It does not look fancy and in truth it isn’t but we should not be that interested in what it looks like - we are trying to successfully aquaculture corals.

Of course there is science involved as mentioned above as the water quality will need to be maintained at optimum parameters, the lighting needs to be the correct kelvin etc but this science is what makes part of this hobby fun.

Perhaps it is the name which makes people believe that they will need to spend a lot of money on specialist equipment - aquaculture - I suppose it does sound scientfic but the truth is that you can do it in any old container as long as it is food grade.

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Coral Propagation - An Interesting Aspect Of The Hobby

February 6, 2009

I have been keeping marine aquariums now for many, many years and whilst I gain a lot of satisfaction from all areas of the hobby I think that one area where I gain the most satisfaction from is coral propagation.

When I first started propagating corals I did so mainly on soft corals as I was very nervous about doing so and I had read that soft corals were easier to propagate. Taking a scalpel to a living creature is not something you just jump into really!

The coral I started with was a toaadstool leather coral and the reason I propagated it was that the coral had simply become too large. As said I was very nervous but after doing a lot of research I did the deed and propagated my first ever coral. The coral was quickly yet cleanly cut and the cuttings carefully attached to waiting pieces of rock. I can remember being surprised at how quickly the cuttings attached and more surprised at how quickly the mother coral healed itself.

Propagating this coral gave me confidence and over time I moved on to various other corals - I stayed with soft corals for a while eventually moving on to hard corals. For some reason I was even more nervous about propagating these and to this day I still am not sure why - after all they are all alive.

Over the years I have propagated many corals. I have had the pleasure of supplying these corals to other aquarists, local fish shops as well as a local sea life center. It gives me great pleasure that other people have corals in their aquarium or are looking at corals in an aquarium which were propagated by me. I have been to the sea life center a few times and have watched the propagated corals I provided them with slowly grow over time and to see people looking at them, children asking questions gives me great pleasure as I stand silently nearby.

So what is it about coral propagation that fascinates me and why do I do it?

As said when I first started doing it I did so to make space in the aquarium. The corals were growing too large and similar to garden plants needed thinning out. As time went by I became fascinated by the different techniques you can use when propagating and the way in which the propagated corals attach, grow and colour up. Another fascinating thing for me as already said was watching the parent colony slowly recover and start to grow.

Even to this day I get butterflies when preparing to make the cut however I have not lost a single cutting which is something I am very proud of. Basically what I do is select the coral I am going to be cutting and then select a suitable part of the coral to cut. Once this decision has been made like a surgeon I prepare my tools and place some aquarium water in a separate bowl. At this point I always like to double check everything and then I make the cut. Once the cut is made I then remove it and place it into the prepared bowl. If possible I will remove the entire coral and perform the cut in the bowl but this is not always possible. The reason I place the coral into a separate container is that the corals produce a lost of mucus which I do not really want in the display aquarium. At this point I then attach the coral to rock, disc etc and discard the water.

Dependant upon the species of coral I sometimes dip it and then it is placed into grow out where basically the coral is left alone to grow. The majority of corals grow down and attach prior to growing upwards (or outwards in some occasions). Corals are simply left alone at this point until they have grown enough to be able to be moved to someone elses aquarium.

At the moment I use the display aquarium to grow out corals as I do not propagate as many corals as I used to. A short while ago I had a dedicated propagation aquarium which was always full of corals and had shelves in it. Newly cut corals were placed on the bottom area and slowly moved up the shelves. When corals from the top shelves went to new homes corals from lower shelves were moved up. One thing I always do is wear gloves when propagating and I try to leave the corals alone as much as possible. I also ensure that every single parameter in the aquarium is correct prior to making a single cut. When cut the mother coral will concentrate on healing itself and the cut coral concentrates on attaching itself and then growing. If parameters are incorrect then infection could quite easily occur which is something I do not want to happen.

Another thing I do not do is propagate purely for the sake of propagating. There have been times when a fellow aquarist has been around at my house and has asked for a cutting of a coral and I have taken one, grown it out and given it to them but I only propagate when the corals get too large.

One thing I have not done is to try and make money from coral propagation. I am sure that a lot of people do make money from doing so however for I wanted to make space in the aquarium whilst at the same time benefit others by providing them with free corals.

Coral propagation really is an interesting part of the hobby and I sincerely encourage anyone interested to research it and give it a go. Over the coming months I am going to be writing some articles in relation to propagation and how to perform it on various different types of corals, what to look for etc.

Until then I recommend that you take a visit to http://www.garf.org as this is a great resource for anyone interested in learning more about coral propagation.

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Aquaculture Farms Do Not Need To Be Large

October 8, 2008

When an aquarist or anyone for that matter start to think about an aquaculture farm they will probably think of huge establishments with exceptionally large volumes of water. From this ‘farm’ hundreds of corals and fish are grown and eventually sold.

I think that this perception is due to the word farm. When you think of a farm you think of acres upon acres of land upon which various animals are kept or various crops are grown.

But as said this is a perception.

In truth an aquaculture farm can be any size whatsoever. As mentioned the word farm is confusing however when growing corals, breeding fish etc you are effectively farming.

There are various huge aquaculture farms all over the world some of which are exceptionally huge and I commend the people who operate these farms as effectively they are providing the aquarium trade with corals which are not taken from the wild. These such farms come in all shapes and sizes. The majority are in-doors and are lit by artificial lighting however in the areas of the wild where the climate is warmer the corals receive natural lighting and the water has to be cooled rather than heated quite often by piping the water underground! There are also others where the corals are underwater in the wild.

For these people and for those that can afford then this is a great idea then is ok however for the majority of aquarists, including me then this is something that is only a dream.

For the home aquarists then there are various options available and they certainly do not have to be to the same scale as briefly described above. In this article I hope to cover a few of the options available to the home aquarist.

Option 1

This option is where the aquacultured corals are placed in a separate aquarium to the display aquarium but it is connected via an overflow, pump etc. As the water quality in the display aquarium ’should’ be at an optimum level then the water in the ‘fragging’ aquarium will be at the same level. A good thing about this option is that the corals ‘fragged’ from the corals in the display aquarium will be grown out in exactly the same water. This option is very easy to accomplish as long as you have the space to locate another aquarium. This aquarium does not need to be large and only requires lighting to be added as well as water movement. You do need to watch out for a few things with this option though. You need to ensure that the protein skimmer in use has enough power to be able to skim the new, larger volume of water - the same goes for the heaters. Another thing to consider is that the fragged corals are going to attach and grow. This will present an extra pull on the relevant parameters in the water so these will need to be monitored carefully and the relevant actions taken. A good example of this is calcium

Option 2

This option is my preferred option however it is probably not an option which other than the dedicated ‘fraggers’ will decide to continue with. This option is where a dedicated setup is implemented and used for the sole purpose of aquaculture. This option can be as large or as small as required and could even be a small aquarium with a heater, powerhead and internal filter installed as well as lighting. This is exactly what John did when he had a lot of corals which were getting to large. He created a temporary small aquarium with an internal/powerhead in one, a small heater and some lighting. Once the corals grew out he gave them to other aquarists as well as our local retailer. Once the corals were all gone he simply shut the small aquarium down. On the other end of the scale is the larger aquarium or even aquariums. In this type of setup more filtration will be required as will lighting, heating etc. A lot of people decide to use shallower aquariums as this allows for the maximum amount of light into the aquarium and due to the shallow depth of the aquarium these aquariums can effectively be stacked on top of each other and connected together using pipework and pumps.

I have seen one of these in action and in this setup the very bottom aquarium was used as effectively the filtration area where a deep sand bed was installed as well as live rock. In this area the heaters were also installed and also a couple of pumps which fed the aquariums above with water which were returned down to the bottom aquarium via overflows. Various animals in this instance called this area home. The aquariums which were above this all held racks where corals could be placed and moved up throughout the growout process. To me this was a very good setup and allowed for a maximum amount of corals in what was quite a small amount of space.

There is one item in this option which does need to be decided upon and that decision does depend upon what is being kept in the system. The protein skimmer. It is of my opinion that if fish are being kept, bred etc then a protein skimmer should definately be utilised. The reason for this is that fish require to be fed and when things are fed food is missed and food is processed. All of this needs to be removed and a protein skimmer is the best device to perform this. If only corals are being grown then these have very little biological load and I don’t believe that a protein skimmer needs to be used. The water parameters can be maintained by water changes. If no protein skimmer is used then water parameters will need to be carefully monitored, additives applied in response to water tests and a protein skimmer installed if the need arises.

There is a downside to this option though. This is that the system will require it’s own individual care and maintenance. The water will required changing, parameters will require checking etc. If you only have the one system and it is the aquaculture farm then this will be ok however if you have both an aquaculture farm and a display aquarium then this could, over time, become a bit of a chore and when things become a chore things start to get missed.

Option 3

This option is where the display aquarium is used to house the corals. In this option a special device can be made out of acrylic, egg-crate or similar and attached to the side of the aquarium quite near to the surface. In/on this device the corals are placed and left to grow out. When grown out they are made available for other aquarists.

These device are very simple to create, the tricky part is attaching it to the side of the aquarium.

Option 4

It does need to be noted that if fish are being bred then these should not really be done in the display aquarium. In this instance options 1 or 2 should be followed where an environment is created where the parent fish feel comfortable enough to breed. Once the fish hatch there will be limited or no predation and more fish should survive.

The final option is the easiest to create and basically the home display aquarium is used with no modifications whatsoever. In this instance once the corals are cut and attached they are either grown out directly in/on the substrate or placed on the rocks in the aquarium but not attached. Growing out on the substrate does depend upon the type of light used in the aquarium therefore if the aquarium is quite deep or lighting which is not strong enough for the type of corals being grown out then the secondary type should be used where corals are placed on the rockwork after they are attached to the coral plug.

This article does not cover how to frag corals as there are various methods and techniques which can be employed as well as various care tips to be followed once the corals are in growout. I will cover fragging corals in more detail at another time but I just want to point out at this point that corals when cut need to be attached to something for them to grow onto. If you are keeping the coral(s) for yourself then they can be attached directly to your rockwork, however if you want to grow them out and make them available for other then you need to attach them to something. These are normally called frag plugs and various methods can be employed. If you do decide to perform a spot of aquaculture then take these plugs into consideration as both the new owner of the coral will want to attach the coral into their aquarium using the plug and you will want something to stand them on whilst they grow out. As said though I will cover this in more detail in another article.

Aquaculture is important for numerous reasons of which finances, nature, enjoyment, interest are just a few of them. From the outset you do not need to plan any type of aquaculture system as the various options above can be added to numerous types of systems.

There are some people who decide to try and make abit of money out of doing this - and why not. The money they earn can be used to pay for the lighting, the maintenance, mother colonies etc. I am sure that you have probably seen websites on the internet where home grown corals are for sale. The people who operate these website are effectively running a business out of this side of the hobby, how much money they make I don’t know but even if they are making some money then in my opinion so what - good on them. They are selling corals, fish etc cheaper than larger sized corals, protecting the reefs perhaps even distributing these corals via their local dealer.

It also needs to be noted that aquaculture is not something that the beginner is recommended to consider until more knowledge is gleaned as well as more time and experience being gained. Whilst Aquarists Online is aimed towards beginners to the marine aquarium hobby I believe that it is also important to consider aquaculture for the future.

On another note if you are ever interested or have the opportunity to be able to purchase aquacultured corals then I highly recommend that you at least consider it. The reason for this is that a huge amount of different corals can be introduced to the aquarium for effectively the same price as a large mother colony. I can remember in one of my previous aquariums I decided to populate it from nearly all aquacultures corals. I did purchase a couple of larger corals just to have some corals in there with immediate impact however over the time I slowly added aquacultured corals and as these grew the amount of different corals in the aquarium was simply amazing. Even to this day I still regret closing this aquarium down to open a larger one as it really was a great aquarium.

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Propagation In The Aquarium

September 11, 2008

Reef aquariums are common in the hobby nowadays. With the increased knowledge of their environmental needs and the ability, with the assistance of technology, to maintain the reefs for long periods, the days of struggling with maintenance should be gone.

Some problems have arisen with the ability to maintain such excellent aquarium conditions and the import of coral rocks and specific live rock. One that springs to mind is aiptasia anemones, the weeds of the aquarium. In addition, with long term success coral growth could cause difficulties.

As corals grow they could possibly cause shadows over other occupants of the reef that also need light, or interfere with each other with ensuing damage. Though many aquarists dislike doing it, corals can quite easily be cut to form new ones, in much the same way that a gardener splits plants to obtain more. This is easier than many realize, though it is understandable that aquarists are nervous when they view the beautiful coral(s) in question. Cutting the corals is generally termed ‘fragging.’

For most aquarists there isn’t a need to have an additional aquarium specifically for growing on cut corals. Some keen aquarists have fairly large shallow aquariums set up complete with lighting etc for just this. The rest of us are able to do it in the display aquarium. The benefit of this is that the corals will continue to exist in the same seawater and under the same lighting, and there aren’t any additional costs involved.

All that is required for soft corals is a pair of sharp scissors and a spare removable rock - a rock that has plenty of holes and crevices that the cutting can be fastened to.

There is a lot of information about ‘fragging’ corals on the internet, so I’ll restrict this to a commonly kept leather coral, the toadstool, properly called Sarcophyton species. They are a good example as the success rates are high - there are plenty of other soft corals that are just as amenable to propagation.

The most straightforward way to double the coral (that is, one becomes two) is to cut the head off. (There are ways of creating multiple corals from one that will not be gone into here.) Sounds drastic! The cutting point should be selected so that at least two thirds of the stalk is left attached to the original point, leaving the rest to attach the remaining stalk with the head. The cut should be completed in one effort (though more shouldn’t destroy the coral) and be clean.

The freed head should be attached to the removable rock by the use of a wooden cocktail stick. This is pushed all the way through the lower stalk, again it sounds a bit drastic. The stick should be pushed home so that it holds tightly in a suitable hole or crevice in the rock. The rock is then carefully placed where it can be temporarily left undisturbed. That’s it! No jiggery-pokery at all.

After two weeks or so, sometimes more quickly, the aquarist will see new polyps starting to form on the stalk from which the head was removed. This will continue until the polyps are as they were when the head was present, and a new head will form over time. It really is Nature’s magic. The coral with the head will, over about the same period of time, put out its polyps once more and attach to the rock. Apart from the shorter stalk, which will grow, there will not be a noticeable difference.

Once the cut stalk is attached to the rock, the rock and coral can be bagged up and given away to an aquarist friend, or taken to the local dealer and exchanged for a credit note or some merchandise. Local dealers are usually willing to do this as it means trade and they are obtaining a saleable coral.

As said, it is not just Sarcophyton sp corals that can be propagated; there are many soft corals that will co-operate.

Hard corals (SPS) can be ‘fragged’ in a similar way. This time however, they are not cut but a branch is snapped off. The mother coral that is to be used must be healthy and vigorous; it is likely it will be as that’s why the aquarist wishes to reduce its size. Though the coral will need to be handled, handling should be as gentle as possible and minimized.

Instead of a pair of scissors the aquarist could use pliers to assist in breaking the branch off, though often the fingers are just as good. Select a good branch and snap it off near the base. Once snapped off, it could be placed in a hole or crevice in a removable rock as was the soft coral. There is a better way though which will allow the rock to be used over and over again. This is to use a short plastic tube cut from a longer length (reef safe plastic). The tube can be purchased with a useful diameter so that the cut coral sits in loosely but is held upright. Put the short length of plastic in a suitable hole or crevice in the rock, and place the coral in the tube. That’s it, job done.

After two weeks plus the coral should adhere by growth to the tube and growth should be evident at the tip. At a time suitable to the aquarist the tube with coral can be removed from the rock. It can then, as before, go to another aquarist or to a local dealer.

So with soft or hard corals, very little effort, plus zero additional expenditure, the aquarist can control any overgrowth of corals and at the same time increase the stock within the hobby. It doesn’t matter that it is only by one or two, the fact is it matters - and it’s easy.

Should there be a desire to read more here’s a link:

http://www.fragoutpost.com/frag-propagation

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Coral Transplant

May 1, 2008

I love to just sit and look at my reef when I have the time. Its so peaceful and relaxing. I note the fish doing their thing, the corals swaying in the currents. My eyes automatically pick up any points of special note - it isn’t that I’m robotic its just that I know the aquarium intimately.

One of the things I note every time is the corals growth. They never stop. I’ve taken quite a few cuttings (‘frags’ if you like) when the corals have become oversize or have overshadowed something else. Some of these cuttings have gone to Peter who is growing them on. A few cuttings were quite a size.

One cutting was taken from the left end of the tank, as the coral branch was so large it was travelling along the top of the water and a little distance along the back length. This particular branch will have been around 12″ or so.

Having removed the branch I noticed a space that had previously been hidden. There wasn’t anything of note in it, but something needed putting there as it was fairly obvious, and the loss of the mentioned branch had meant a loss of height appeal.

For quite a while I considered various options, choosing a new coral species then changing my mind. However, my mind was made up for me.

Sitting gazing at the tank recently I noticed that a coral, a Kenyan tree (proper name Capnella sp) was not too far from the water surface and appeared top heavy and in danger of falling over because of it. I wondered if a cutting could be placed in the aforementioned gap, thus solving two problems in one go.

This was considered for a while - I like to be sure the impact on the reef would be aesthetically correct. Shape and colour need consideration. It seemed alright to me.

So out came the sharp scissors and, after the cutting point had been decided, off came a section, a fairly big one. The part that had been removed was pressed into a crevice where it appeared to be secure. The mother coral had of course gone into a serious sulk.

The next morning the cutting had moved probably because of the water currents. So out came a cocktail stick, the cutting was pierced, and the cocktail stick pushed firmly into a tiny hole in the rock. It has remained in place this time.

The mother coral has now ceased its 100% sulk, this has been reduced to 25%. The coral is partially inflated and it looks as though all will be well.

The cutting is in the same situation though of course not yet attached to the rock.

All things being equal the reef will be back to its full splendour in a few weeks.

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