Propogating Corals

[Drew]

This is something that really grabbed my attention and was wondering how many of you do it? The only thing I have propogated were some mushrooms...which went surprisingly well. But what I am interested in are things like leathers, and other softies. My LFS has only wild caught corals, and I would love to change that. I just need a little help. First off, when I propogated myshrooms, it was so crude it was scary. I took one mushroom and cut it into a few pieces, then I used a rubber band and attached the cuttings to any pieces of rock or shell I could find. I kind of tossed them back into the tank and wouldn't ya know it they grew. Now I know this was not the right way. I have found several websites on the correct way to propgate. They have all been quite helpful. But, what plugs do you use and where do you get them from? What about the glue? What type of glue is acceptable? And how do you know where to cut? And when to cut? Even if you don't have any propogation experience any insight would be great. Thanks a lot.

Drew

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"Im learnding"
"Thats my sandbox, I can't go in the deep-end"

Drew, you can use live rock rubble, golf ball sized is good, or smaller if you just wanna trade with other reefers. You can also make small discs out of concrete, personally I think little bits of rubble joined together look more interesting than an obviously manufactured cement plug. If you are one of those who has abandoned the crushed coral stuff for a fine grain deepsand bed, this is another way to recycle it.
Keep in mind when making plugs, discs, or rocks that it takes a while for the cement to cure and leach out the excess calcium hydroxide, which, go figure, has a very high pH(around 12)like freshmade Kalkwasser.
As far as glue the basic type used is plain old super glue gel formula. Its all pretty much the same stuff, but its use is somewhat limited when using on soft corals like leather frags, etc as they will often slime and the glue wont hold. Amke depressions in your plugs that you can inert the end of the frag into, it increases the contact area and the chances of atattching. A dap og super glue might help, as will wrapping it with strips of bridal veil. Its all trial and error.
Once you get the hang of it you may want to set up a grow out tank and eventually you will start looking at new corals as potential mother colonies http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/smile.gif HTH

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[Rick O]

Drew,

IMO leathers are the easiest thing to propagate. I cut one of my toadstool leathers using the method shown on the Garf.org site. I followed the instructions there exactly, except I found that the super glue did not hold well after a couple of days. I used bridal veil to hold them to the rocks and they were attached in less than a week. One word of advice though is that they will also attach themselves to the veil. Try to find a hole or indention in the rock and put the cutting in it. Then just use the veil to keep it from floating off. I found that the veil with the larger holes worked best. It doesn't interfere with the polyp extension. If you have an LFS that you do a lot of business with ask if you can just collect the small broken pieces of LR from the bottom of their LR tank. They'll prolly just give it to you or sell it to you real cheap.

HTH, Rick

[Drew]

OK, the only type of glue I can find is called "Amazing Goop: All-Purpose Adhesive & Sealant" Then it says "Contains toluene and petroleum distillate" Is this stuff ok? The coral fell over during the night so I guess plan A didn't work. Its time for the glue.

Drew

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"Im learnding"
"Thats my sandbox, I can't go in the deep-end"

[Drew]

Hello again everyone,

Instead of risking using the glue on the coral, I used a rubber band. And when I picked the coral out of the water, I could see that it could easily be cut into three good-sized pieces. That is exactly what I did. I used a sharp scissors and made two quick cuts and took all three pieces then attached them to different rocks. I put the rubber bands around the base of the corals, and didnt make it to tight. But now, about 3 hours later, all the corals look very limp. Is this normal? Will the recover? THanks again.

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"Im learnding"
"Thats my sandbox, I can't go in the deep-end"

[Shadetree]

Drewman,

The Reef and Marine Annual 2001 has a couple of good articles regarding coral propagation in the home aquarium, definately a good read if not reference mag.

Scott

[bill-e]

Drewman,

Yes, it's normal and DONT USE THAT GLUE.

You can find Gel Super glue just about anywhere from the grocery store, drug store or department store like a Walmart.

Here's an old pic of a green sinularia frag attached by being pierced with a toothpic and then rubber banded to the rock.

http://www.mv.com/users/besposito/pics/greenfinger.jpg


And Here's what happends when the elastic is too tight...the frag is fine but it did get damaged.

http://www.mv.com/users/besposito/pi...ulariafrag.jpg


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Bill Esposito
bespo@cereal.mv.com
JAqua for the AquaController 2
http//cereal.mv.com/jaqua.html
My Reef Page
http//cereal.mv.com/reef
The box said "Use Win 95 or better", I chose better so I run OS/2!

[Drew]

Thanks everybody! The frags look better but still not great. The lights are out for the night but hopefully they will gain back a little strength overnight. Now, if I could only keep those hermits from crawling on them we'd be set...

Thanks again,
Drew

P.S. - If anybody has any insight on this topic please post, I'm new to this and open to any and all ideas!
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"Im learnding"
"Thats my sandbox, I can't go in the deep-end"

[This message has been edited by Drewman (edited 12-29-2000).]

[Rick O]

Drew,

Here is a collection of articles that I found useful. http://atlantisaquatic.com/prop.html

Rick

[Drew]

Hi again everyone,
Rick, thanks for that link! I went straight to the colt page, it was a big help. I was thinking about using the toothpick method also, but that site said to use plastic toothpicks. Would wooden toothpicks be alright until I have a chance to pick up some plastic ones? I only ask because all of my frags came off of their bases last night. I think that the rubber bands were to tight and they just cut the corals. SO if anybody can tell me whether its ok or not to use wooden toothpicks that'd be great. And, if you have any info on this topic please post with your two cents http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/smile.gif

Thanks again,
Drew

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"Im learnding"
"Thats my sandbox, I can't go in the deep-end"

[Rick O]

Hi Drew,

I got two colt frags a couple weeks ago and I'm having the same problem you're having. Both of them came off of the rock I had them on using toothpicks. My understanding is that colts are slow to attach anyway and that their tissue is soft and the toothpicks tear out. The method I'm using now seems to be working well so far. I found a rock with a hole/depression in it and stuck the cutting in it. The cutting was branched and I just layed the toothpick between the branches and rubberbanded it in place. There is now very little pressure being put on the colts tissue. The picture shows the smaller of the two cuttings and there is very little top weight with it and this seems to work in it's favor. The other one is about twice as big and kinda lays over from it's own weight. I have also placed both in an area where there is less current so there will be less chance of them pulling against the toothpick. As far as the wood vs. plastic, I think that's a matter of your preference. I've used both and it doesn't seem to matter. The plastic ones are available in longer lengths and I find that to work better at times.

BTW. This pic is from my new Nikon Coolpix 950 which I got for Christmas. I'm still learning to use it but it's much better than the Kodak I was using.

Rick
http://home.mindspring.com/~rogletre...1200colt01.jpg

[Drew]

Rick,
Thats a good idea about just putting the toothpick between branches, it is probably a lot less stress on the coral. But since I have already pierced all of the frags I guess I'm kind of stuck. Hopefully they will attach soon, although I may leave the toothpicks in for a little longer then what is normally done. But then that means more potential problems. Such as, can the frags grow so much that you cant get the toothpicks out? I don't know if I am worrying to much here or not. I have a feeling that everything will turn out alright in the end.
BTW, you new camera takes great pictures! Wish I had some extra cash so I could pick one up http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/smile.gif

Drew

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"Im learnding"
"Thats my sandbox, I can't go in the deep-end"

[bill-e]

Rick,

That is the best way to get a colt to attach. It will still take almost a month.

I dont bother looking for a rock with a hole or depression in it, I use my Mikita hand drill and a 1/2" bit and I make my own for colts. I do the same for most of the soft frags I make.

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Bill Esposito
bespo@cereal.mv.com
JAqua for the AquaController 2
http//cereal.mv.com/jaqua.html
My Reef Page
http//cereal.mv.com/reef
The box said "Use Win 95 or better", I chose better so I run OS/2!

[BHLOZEK]

Ummmmmm, I have a question of my own about attaching corals, i had one of my freind cut me a small piece of star polyps(about an inch long and half inch wide) and i need to attach it. Right now i just have it sitting ontop of a small rock it doesn't seem that it is going to fall off, but are there any other ways of attaching it.

[bill-e]

BHLOZEK,

There's a couple of ways of attaching them. You can use gel super glue, putting a few dabs on the bottom of the mat (I assume there's a mat) or you can go to walmart's fabric depart and spend 50 cents on a foot of nylon netting (veil)and cut a piece of it and gently wrap the rock with the polyps.

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Bill Esposito
bespo@cereal.mv.com
JAqua for the AquaController 2
http//cereal.mv.com/jaqua.html
My Reef Page
http//cereal.mv.com/reef
The box said "Use Win 95 or better", I chose better so I run OS/2!