Cutting wild colonies for survival.

[bct15]

I have seen several people say that frags of wild colonies have a better survival rate than the colonies themselves. I also see a lot of people who get large wild sps colonies, cut two or three backup frags. Then the colony dies but frags thrive, survive, and eventually grow into first gen captive colonies. I have an awesome large wild colony coming in today and would like some insight on this as I have always tried to leave the colonies alone as much as possible to avoid stressing them but have lost a few doing this but want to everything in my power to not lose this colony because it was nio cheap and I would be upset if I caused something this nice to disappear from the hobby, so input is greatly appreciated.


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[mcarroll]

I can't tell you what to do with that colony, but I can tell you that fragging is a very common part of their natural reproductive cycle and engages a sort of "emergency survival mode" which seems to make the coral more adaptable to new environmental conditions.

Given their nature and 400 million years of evolution, corals are generally really good at being fragged.

-Matt

P.S. Some are definitely less frag-prone than others (think branchy vs boulder shapes) and could be less good at it.

 

[Mrfresh]

I'm kinda going threw something like that. I bought a super nice chalice that I spent a lot on and I was super scared of it dying so I dropped my water to natural sea water parameters. So Allks now at 8dkh and cals at 450. The coral seems to be happy and even some of my sps even look happier...

Just a ought good luck and post some pics when it comes in