Microfragmentation Technique

[Tennsquire]

I ran across this video today, which details breaking fragments apart into very small pieces (as small as a single polyp) to stimulate rapid growth. https://mote.org/research/program/coral-reef-restoration

They're using this in the Florida Keys to repopulate the reefs. I frag corals and sell them locally, but am wondering if anyone has tried this technique at home (and am tempted to experiment with it myself with some of my hardier acroporas).

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I read over this and it is interesting. Also, this link goes through the full study and peer review. https://peerj.com/articles/1313/
In reading the article I posted the link to, it seems that they had the best growth on some corals with the frags being in the 3cm range (a few lines up from where I snipped the highlighted text below). This would equate to a 1" frag, which, by today's standards, is a normal frag of most SPS.

So maybe, looking deeper into this, our frags are what they would consider "Microfragmentation", at least with most SPS corals we see. Now in the aspect of the brains, boulders and stars in the article @Tennsquire linked, those corals polyps are usually 1 cm at a minimum and about 3cm at max. So comparing this to acros for example, taking an acro to a single polyp is going to be a daunting task, to say the least. Not saying it cannot be done or it would not be something to try, but man that is a tiny frag lol.

Again, I am looking at this from the aspect of what was mentioned about trying it on hardier acros. I have fragged numerous ones of mine by accident and ended up with some tiny break offs (usually the very tip 3-4 polyps) and they grew no faster or encrusted any faster in the same frag tank then a 1" or 2" piece. But I have had some leftover encrusting on my rack that went nuts after the main frag was removed and grew like a weed until it got filled in. From there it got about a 1/2" nub sticking up and then fell back into line with the rest of the frags in the tank, growth wise.

In any case, it is pretty cool to see this being done, and if you want to try it I will help ya out, as I am always game for something new lol.

 

[Tennyson]

I think microfragmentation refers to frags that are smaller than the typical 1" frag, on the scale of millimeters long and yes even smaller than an actual polyp. It seems counterintuitive, but I think we are still learning what coral are capable of.

I've had success with propagating sun coral via microfragmentation, by letting them encrust onto rock and breaking away. The small bits of encrusted flesh are enough to spawn new polyps, and they start out the size of a newborn coral (or propagule for sun coral).

Qualitatively, the growth is better and more condensed than what I get from cutting apart a parent colony. By letting the coral naturally encrust, I'm propagating on the corals time and not my own, and recovery time is very quick (~1-2 weeks).

I've had limited success with actually cutting microfrags (1-2mm). Typically survival rates have been 50/50. The benefits however are that you can take 10s or 100s of more microfrags than you can with typical frags. There is also probably better ways of cutting microfrags that I have yet to try.

 

[Tennsquire]

Great stuff!!! I plan to try this with some corals that I have an abundance of. Not sure how I'm going to get the small cuts as I typically use bone cutters or a dremal. I might need something more precise....

 

[Pntbll687]

So when we see half polyp of zoa's for $399 and 1/4" acros for 200 we know where to look for this trend starting

 

[cmcoker]

So when we see half polyp of zoa's for $399 and 1/4" acros for 200 we know where to look for this trend starting

Theres already a thread of some cornbread auction that was a single corallite and went for $520.

This thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/520-for-a-single-polyp.611782

 

[Rakie]

Theres already a thread of some cornbread auction that was a single corallite and went for $520.

If you're unfamiliar with ebay practices... There's a LOT of shill bidding (done by the owners other accounts) to keep things from selling too cheap. Odds are high he bid it up himself.

 

[cmcoker]

If you're unfamiliar with ebay practices... There's a LOT of shill bidding (done by the owners other accounts) to keep things from selling too cheap. Odds are high he bid it up himself.

That's fine, it was still a single polyp and that was more my point...

 

[Rakie]

That's fine, it was still a single polyp and that was more my point...

2-3 polyp frags of Jawdropper go for well over $500 all day long though. That's what the high end game is like. Frankly... That wasn't too much above average really.

 

[KrisReef]

The fastest growth is at the tips of corals. Dividing the coral may stimulate growth, but if you lose 50% of your frags you are likely going the wrong direction if you want to get to a colony.

 

[Hermie]

a snapshot from the video:

 

[Hermie]

good video on the process from the OP's link:

These are definitely smaller than what are normally sold. They are like dime size or smaller

 

[Hermie]

I wonder if this would be a good idea to frag my frags lol!
I am seriously considering it now. I saw a guy on here (R2R) that takes Cyphastrea, micro frags it and then grafts it onto objects. He has had great success. 1 polyp can do it according to the video. Think how many frags you can make if you do that with a frag you buy. You can buy a frag with 10 polyps, cut it into 3 pieces or even 10, and then grow those polyps out. It's supposed to grow fast as heck. Think about it. ...

Surface area... a single polyp has more "area" to grow than a large colony, unless it starts branching upwards. Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

 

[Hermie]

9 months of growth, from those 4 pieces you see on the bottom of the frame, they fuse together:

 

[Hermie]

 

[Hermie]

another still:

 

[Hermie]

I think the key is to prevent algae from growing on the mount's surface so the coral can grow and encrust without competition.

 

[Tennyson]

Great stuff!!! I plan to try this with some corals that I have an abundance of. Not sure how I'm going to get the small cuts as I typically use bone cutters or a dremal. I might need something more precise....

I think a tool that can cut out a small piece of flesh *with some skeleton* will do the trick. My attempts at active microfragging were very crude (hulk smash), hence the low success rate. I'm much more a fan of passive microfragging ie. letting the coral encrust onto a frag plug and breaking it off. Passive fragging takes longer but IME they almost always survive.