Deciding to frag rarities/LEs

[Chelsey]

What criteria do you use to decide when to frag your rare/LE stuff?

On a relatively regular basis I notice small frags of high dollar stuff for sale here, and then when people post pics of the mother "colony" it is what I would consider a frag.

I have a decent amount of rare coral of all types, and I personally will not frag any of it until I am satisfied with its health and size (they will have to be a very large frag or a colony).

I am not at all trying to flame or criticize anyone that frags frags, but I am wondering what causes you to decide to frag your coral.

 

[revhtree]

Good thread!

I would love to grow out my rarities more and even decide to but then something comes along to buy and causes me to frag the higher end stuff to raise some quick cash. This goes for trading as well.

 

[chadfarmer]

depends on what coral it is ands how much real estate it takes up

also what is the definition of a colony


i have what i would say is 3 colonys of pink jade (tryed to break off a branch last year and broke the whole colony) (also the same with ora tort )

 

[coral88]

How about some pics of those large rare colonies.
Then you’ll see one more reason people frag. People begging them for a frags.

 

[chadfarmer]

How about some pics of those large rare colonies.
Then you’ll see one more reason people frag. People begging them for a frags.

if you are talking to me after the tank switch everything is still coloring back up


that does make me thank of chelsey asking people for corals after seing a pic of some corals

 

[Russellaqua]

I think just about everyone can give you a different answer to this question. For me as an aquaculturist I try and balance having a large colony that can produce many frags quickly with the amount of time it takes to grow the mother colony. For me it's not economical to frag small colonies because it takes them so long to grow enough to produce another frag, whereas a large colony puts on the amount of material in a frag more quickly.

 

[coral88]

if you are talking to me after the tank switch everything is still coloring back up


that does make me thank of chelsey asking people for corals after seing a pic of some corals

I was responding to Chelsey. “What criteria do you use to decide when to frag your rare/LE stuff?â€

 

[Azurel]

I usually do it when it double or triples in size, like zoas or palys if I start out with 10 and it gets to 20 I frag five and let them settle and grow a bit then sell or trade. If it's rics and I have one polyp I wait till I have multiple polyps like my true pink Ricordea floridas. I had one mother polyp and now I have 3, I won't trade or sell one of them till I have 5+ this way I always have back-ups that I can count on. I also use gravity propagation to strech the mother out so eventually I will have another polyp with out really effecting the size of the mother....

 

[coralfarm123]

Good question that should stir a lot of debate. I responded to this on RC too.

First, why is it so hard for people to let their frags grow out? Don't people want a nice lush looking tank instead of a tank with microscopic frags. As for trade requests when a picture is posted, it is as simple as saying no if you aren't ready to frag. Its no wonder why I see all these posts where people lose their colonies after fragging when they were microscopic to begin with. I think its great that people trade and sell aquacultured corals, and I could care less what people are selling them for, but people fragging already tiny frags is getting out of hand. Is it extreme greed? Impatience? What? It is even worse to see that the wholesalers are starting to sell tiny 1/4 inch frags and things by the polyp, but I think it is easy to see why. If everyone just gave their frags a little more time to grow, the amount of frags they could produce grows almost exponetially since a larger colony adds much more mass than a tiny frag in the same period of time. I say fight the temptation.

 

[Leishman]

I let my initial frag double in size and frag it. One frag is my "never to be fraged" frag, the other is "my grow it, frag it" frag.

Here you see my "GIFI" purple monster

And here is the "NTBFF"

and

Both were the same size, one left to grow, and one fraged as needed.

 

[Russellaqua]

Good question that should stir a lot of debate. I responded to this on RC too.

First, why is it so hard for people to let their frags grow out? Don't people want a nice lush looking tank instead of a tank with microscopic frags. As for trade requests when a picture is posted, it is as simple as saying no if you aren't ready to frag. Its no wonder why I see all these posts where people lose their colonies after fragging when they were microscopic to begin with. I think its great that people trade and sell aquacultured corals, and I could care less what people are selling them for, but people fragging already tiny frags is getting out of hand. Is it extreme greed? Impatience? What? It is even worse to see that the wholesalers are starting to sell tiny 1/4 inch frags and things by the polyp, but I think it is easy to see why. If everyone just gave their frags a little more time to grow, the amount of frags they could produce grows almost exponetially since a larger colony adds much more mass than a tiny frag in the same period of time. I say fight the temptation.

Thank you! Worst yet is many of the high value corals are fast growers, like the sunset Monti, but people often don't let them reach colony size. It truly doesn't take that long.

 

[coralfarm123]

Leishman,

That is a good strategy. You get the best of both worlds that way.

 

[Chelsey]

I like Leishman's idea too, but I don't have a frag tank and I think that if both frags stayed in my display they'd both turn into the never going to be fragged frags