Fragging experiment

I was reading the Sep/Oct Coral magazine and found an article about size of frags very interesting and important for all of us who are frequently cutting sps corals and purchasing these little guys. The experiment was to find two things. (1) Survival rate of coral fragments relative to fragment size(glued in vs out of water). (2)Length increase and normalized growth rate.

Here is the summary of the article.

As far as the reef-aquarium hobby is concerned, the results of Lurman et al signify mainly that:
1) 1.75 inch (4.5 cm) is a good size for a stony coral fragment. This will result in adequate growth rate and very low mortality rate compared to smaller cuttings.
2) Fragments with a length of 1.75 inches or more can be glued in place out of water with only a minimum risk of loss. If you want to avoid this risk, then it is advisable to perform the procedure underwater.
3) In the case of small donor corals and very slow growing species, it may be necessary to take smaller cuttings, and these should always be glued in place underwater.
4)There is no likelihood of losing the donor coral.


Based on what I read, corals that are 1.75 inches will not only survive better but will also grow faster.

Glued in water?

Trevor40 wrote: To read the article you can get the Coral magazine app on your smartphone and read it for free.

Wait seriously? That's awesome! Is it on android as well as iPhone?

Search for Coral and you should see the magazine app pop up. I have it on my iPhone so I'm not sure about Android. It's sweet and they update it every time a new magazine comes out.

http://www.coralmagazineus.com/category_s/34.htm

Not a free app but you can get a digital subscription.

That's some great info Trevor - Thanks!