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Shown here a vendor sells aquacultured corals. Coral propagation and farming is so successful that some stores are now helping to establish coral propagation facilities in several South Pacific island countries.

This issue of Reef Ramblings will touch on the several mini subjects. Thanks to some suggestions from our readers I’m going to introduce several facets of coral propagation. Hopefully from here the discussions will begin and we can all learn and share together.

What is Coral Propagation

Coral propagation is simply the act of growing coral.

How Do We Grow Coral

I can think of three main methods for growing coral. 1) Putting coral in a healthy environment and letting the coral grow (yep that easy). 2) Spawning corals, or collecting coral spawn, and rearing the planula. 3) Fragmenting corals into smaller pieces and then growing out those pieces. Now let’s look at those three items.

Growing Coral

This is one area where we succeed. The past decade has produced huge developments in this area. We now have the clean water (filtration developments) and energy requirements (better foods and lighting systems) to grow coral. In fact there are hundreds of tanks now fully loaded and over-grown with corals that started as frags. What is more amazing is the international effort to produce aquacultured corals.

This 750 gallon aquarium is filled with huge corals. Nearly every coral in this tank was grown from small frags, and the rock is even eco-friendly terrestrial rock converted into live rock.

Coral Spawn

This is one area where we are not successful. I’ve been a part of several discussions regarding the importance (or lack there of) for spawning corals in captivity. There is a growing opinion that aquarists need to strive for captive spawning. Some popular researchers are of the opinion that the hobby, and even natural reefs, is dependent upon the future development of captive spawning. They may be right…. but I disagree. With millions of corals spawning, and quite predictably, I believe that natural settings provide more coral spawn than we could ever use. Why work to do something when Mother Nature is already doing it for us? Regardless of where the spawn comes from the idea of raising coral from larvae is indeed interesting. Recent works (my favorites being Lee Goldman and Jake Adams) have shown the ability to raise corals from those teeny tiny larvas.

Color Sells. Simple as that. This is true with fish, and it is true with coral. Some stores specialize in unique colors or rare coral species.

Fragging Corals

Where to begin? The basic premise here is simply general knowledge in today’s hobby. You take a coral, break off a branch, fix that branch to the substrate and that branch grows into a new colony. Much like using stems from a tree to produce a new tree. This is such a big topic I’m going to spend the rest of the article talking about it. I’ll add that coral fragging has not become a part of the hobby… it has become the hobby.

Fragging Corals the Actual Process

The actual process for fragging corals depends on what coral you are fragging. For most branching stony corals, simply breaking off a branch and gluing that branch to a rock is all it takes. For some encrusting mat corals, such as green star polyps, you can cut them off of a rock with a razorblade, and then glue that tissue to a new rock. Some corals are very difficult to remove from a rock, and therefore the rock is cut up or broken up into pieces and those pieces are then glued onto other rocks.

Shown here several tables holding coral frags pre-bagged and ready for purchase. This is a great fund raiser for some local aquarium clubs.

Fragging for Money

I haven’t decided if this is a good thing, or a bad thing. First, let’s cover the good. Coral Fragging can be used a huge source of income for local aquarium clubs. This is a great way to keep these clubs active, and therefore keep the hobby alive. The bad part is that it places a value on an animal’s life. This animal is rare, and therefore worth more than this animal. Sometimes I think of the whole craze for rare zoanthids or acans to be like saying we should just euthanize all golden retrievers because lets face it they are just brown dogs. Why would anyone want a boring golden retriever when you can buy a Dalmatian which has spots, or a collie which has long fluffy fur? Treating one as more desirable just seems wrong to me.

For many years pet stores sold corals. But only recently have some of them moved into the area of selling coral frags. This is a quickly growing shift in the industry.

Fragging To Spread Corals

This is a great idea. You buy a coral; you frag it into five corals. You give four pieces away to your friends. This increases the chances that at least one person will keep the coral alive and grow it out. If you ever need to get another frag you know where to go. It also allows one coral to supply the demand of five people. If those people are willing to wait and let it grow, they can reduce the number of corals purchased (and therefore collected). Trading a frag here and there for another type of coral is a great way to stock a tank without purchasing many corals to begin with. This has certainly taken hold in the hobby during the past 5 years.

Coral expert, and aquarium club guru, Shane Heil is shown here fragging corals for a local event.

Chop Shop Fragging

This is the idea that someone takes wild collected colonies, frags them up, and then sells the frags. This is often seen as dishonest and negative because these frags may be sold as aquacultured, when in fact just a week ago they were in the ocean. While the dishonesty may remain, there are some benefits as well. Chop Shop corals due provide the benefits listed above as spreading out coral and using one colony to supply the demand of multiple hobbyists.

Coral fragging may be easy, but having the right tools makes a difference. Many experts have a coral fragging tool kit on hand at all times.

Fragging and Diseases

The last couple years has provided great discovery in terms of coral diseases and pests. Hobbyists now go through great lengths to prevent any unwanted pests from finding their way into the aquarium. We now have all sorts of coral quarantine methods, and treatments for such pests. This whole idea has me wondering… what if these pests have been in the hobby all along? Maybe the dreaded “red bugs” have been in the hobby for 20 years and that is why we couldn’t keep corals in the past. Are pests really more common today, or are we just better at recognizing them? Probably both. But one thing is for sure, the days of carefree frag trading are limited.

This coral is “terminally ill” if you want to put it that way. Without some sort of intervention it will almost certainly die. This is a perfect specimen for fragging, in hopes of saving some of the remaining healthy areas.

This coral clearly shows signs of being eaten by a pest. You can see tracks where the tissue has been removed.

Summary

Coral propagation is a huge topic. It includes many facets to the umbrella term. Each of these sub-topics impacts the hobby, and advanced hobbyists need to be aware of these items impact their own personal reef keeping endeavors. I look forward to seeing what developments and discussions come from here. Just imagine what we’ll be talking about 5 years from now.

Author Information

Adam Blundell M.S. is a hobbyist, lecturer, author, teacher, and research biologist. Adam works for the University of Utah’s School of Medicine in Pathology and in Marine Biology. He currently helps run the Wasatch Marine Aquarium Society, of which he is a former president. Adam is also the director of the Aquatic & Terrestrial Research Team, a group which bridges the gap between hobbyists and scientists. Adam can be reached by his author forum.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 8:38 am and is filed under Coral Fragging, Coral Propagation, Reef Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.