Smallest Frag

[CLW8]

What is the smallest piece of SPS have you frag or tried to save and succeed in doing so?

 

[BigJim]

I have had many 1/4 inch frags survive just fine. I think the key is getting an established and aquacultured frag. A 1/4 inch frag from a wild or maricultured acro is more of an issue. I am not saying that should be the standard practice in any way.

I have also had 1/4 encrusted acro from a colony I lost come back and become a colony. It's one of the coolest things in reefkeeping to me, when something I thought was dead comes back and thrives.

 

[Greybeard]

I've had accidental fragging events... busted off a quarter inch or so of a coral tip, picked it up, and tossed it into a rock somewhere, and had it grow into a colony.

But.

I dislike the trend towards small frags, and refuse to purchase them. If I'm buying zoas, I want 10-20 polyps. If I'm purchasing SPS, I want an encrusted plug, and several inches of healthy coral.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

I’ve had several sps that I grew from 1 polyp. I once tried to grow a frag of WD from 1/2 a polyp, but it didn’t survive.

 

[Zeal]

Have a birdnest that a piece the size of a grain of rice I chipped off. I threw it in a nice shallow hole near the top hopping it grows

 

[gonzo620]

I fraged a 1/8” German purple polyp acro just to see if would grow. It did. Basically a single polyp and fully encrusted the plug. Was moving the frags around and it was killed by a mushroom that I put too close.

 

[CLW8]

Thanks for the input . I got some freebies SPS from a friend and they started bleaching and only a small tip 1/2 inch in size looked healthy and thriving all the other parts were starting to grow algae and i have done a H2O2 to clean it but it grew back. I fraged it last night trying to it from the algae.

 

[HiddenReefer]

I just fragged a 0.1 inch piece of acro and it's growing

 

[jda]

I have had really small accidental 1/8 to 1/4 inch frags survive in the same tank. ...not sure if they would if I shipped or transported them.

1" or larger is always best, IMO... they will usually encrust in a week and start to grow new branches right after that. It can be a few years before a 1/4 inch frag is where the 1" frag started out.

 

[aabjones888]

I have broke tiny nubs off before trying to save a piece with success. I’ve also lost some too. For me it seems like it’s a roll of the dice

 

[sromero287]

Branching Setosa, when moving my tank a year ago by mistake the movers trashed a live rock with my branching setosa colony trapped in a crevice, but in the plastic bucket it was moved the rock I found a tiny piece (2mm max I swear) so small that when i used the glue trying to secure the little one was fully covered in glue, honestly was convinced it was impossible to save such microscopic piece so never pay attention to it. Around two months turned dark brown, magically one day the bright pink came back with like 2-3 polyps fully extended, right now its 6” long and 4” wide with like 6-7 branches and already trimmed a week ago 6 frags of 2” each at $20 each. So my little giant fighter already paid for almost two buckets of salt, love my branching Setosa.

 

[danreefman]

I have all kinds of little goodies, that broke off for whatever reason, rolling in my sand. They grow like crazy rolling down at the bottom in the sand.

Would have to say, if your looking to purchase some very beautiful 1/8-1/4" frags? Give cornbred a ring. He's very good at making them look larger than life in his pics.

 

[Leishman]

I grew this from a grain of rice size frag. The guy I got it from fragged it for a friend and didn't want to cut a second frag. My chip was blown of by the shock wave of cutting my friend's frag. 50% of my frag was also covered in super glue after mounting.

 

[bubbaque]

I had this tiny piece of confetti break off and start to encrust. I shipped it to someone and it survived.

 

[x2uranium]

i have a smaller than that piece of rainbow envy I broke off the tip literally like 2 polyps maybe 8 weeks ago. It now has about 10 polyps on the other hand some other corals I accidentally broke off and tried to just glue on to plugs and some die with in hours if they are too tiny.

 

[bubbaque]

i have a smaller than that piece of rainbow envy I broke off the tip literally like 2 polyps maybe 8 weeks ago. It now has about 10 polyps on the other hand some other corals I accidentally broke off and tried to just glue on to plugs and some die with in hours if they are too tiny.

That's funny you mentioned your rainbow envy tip broke. I bought a frag of the rainbow envy and got it a couple days ago but the tip was broke off in the bag. I glued the tip down to try and save it. I will see if it lives.

 

[OriginalUserName]

I've had a couple tiny accidental frags do well (better than my regular frags sometime :/ ) If it has more than a few polyps I don't see why it wouldn't have a good chance.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Ignore the music, but watch his technique. Really amazing.


Dennis

 

[Rakie]

That's funny you mentioned your rainbow envy tip broke. I bought a frag of the rainbow envy and got it a couple days ago but the tip was broke off in the bag. I glued the tip down to try and save it. I will see if it lives.

If it survives I'll take it :]

 

[x2uranium]

Bubba looks like mine but mine is even smaller. And yours has more color lol.