Mounting corals

[JJGeisler]

This is sort of a multi-part question.....
I have several small corals that were purchased as part of a package. When I got them a couple of months ago they were monted on some pretty small pieces of what-ever (a shell, rock chip, etc) Now that they are starting to grow, several are too large for the pieces they are mounted to. I need to either transfere a couple to larger rocks or...? One Sarcophyton (S. elegan) has come loose from the shell it was mounted to and is now attached to nothing.

Question #1: Are there some corals that can not be exposed to air or can they be removed from the tank to work at the counter during the attachment process. My understanding is that Xenias can not be expossed to air, any others?

#2: Moving Xenias. The Xenia that was originaly attached to one small rock has gone nuts and is spreading to several of the larger pieces of live rock. (Small Xenia forest!) I may need to pull a couple of these rock pieces out, how do I remove and re-attach the Xenias?

#3: Attaching the S. elegans. Can it be removed from the tank (exposed to air) and attached to a seperate rock piece using Super Glue Gel and then replaced? Other option was using marine epoxy clay, making a donut shaped base and inserting it into the hole?

#4: Couple of other Sarcophytons are attached to very small rock (keep falling over). Can they be removed from the small rock and remounted to larger rocks? or.. Should I embed the small rock in a blob of marine epoxy? The rock formation is not permanent yet and they will likly still need to be moved so I don't want to bond them to the main formation...

This is a start, any advice is appriciated....
JJ

[ATLANTIS]

JJ,

All of the corals you list can be exposed to air. Many sponges can not be exposed to air.

You can simply super glue the existing rocks to bigger rocks if you like, or you can "frag" the corals to other rocks.

click Here for propagation links

[Alice]

The Xenia Forest...hehehe, sounds familiar. Some people liken Xenia to aiptasia or weeds and they sure can spread like both of those. If Xenia is thriving in your tank and you cut it off of the rock it's attached to and leave any of the base behind, it will grow a new Xenia! Which is pretty cool, unless you're trying to get rid of the Xenia Cut the Xenia at the base and use a kalk paste on the base if you don't want new Xenia "sprouts." Leave the frags in a small container or loose-weave mesh bag or similiar in your tank for a couple of days to let the cuts heal just a bit. Then using a rubberband (not too tight!) or some loose weave mesh or a toothpick (use a rubberband to help hold the toothpick in place) attach the Xenia to it's new base. Attachment times vary but usually a week will see Xenia attached.

For the other corals, just super glue the small base to a larger one, the coral will grow completely over the small base in time.

It's not really good for any coral to be exposed to air but if you have all your supplies organized and at hand before you start their time out of the water will only be a couple of minutes and they should be fine.

HTH,

~Alice

[JJGeisler]

Thanks Alice and great info Brian! So if I cut the Xenia stalks off the large rocks I want to move and leave a piece of the base it will come back as another Xenia stalk? That could work. I can remount the stalks to a frag base, re-do the larger aquascaping and later have more Xenia...? Hummmm Xenia swaping....

The LFS told me to be sure and not let the Xenias contact air. I notice the propogation pages had the propogation done outside the tank. Must work, deffinatly easier than working in the tank!

I have a bunch of crushed coral left over from an earlier marine tank. If I mix the CC with portland cement does that work for making my own frag bases?
JJ