SPS Frags... how small can I make them?

[FrazierW19]

How small of a frag can I make with reasonable viability?... primarily Acros I'm wanting to frag. I have been making regular cuts for awhile of 1-3 inches, but I have an entire 60 gallon shallow tank plumbed into the system that isn't even being used so I would like to fill it up and let things grow out long term in there.

[ReefingWerewolf]

Ive heard of people growing out sps from a single polyp...

[ivan osornio]

Ive heard of people growing out sps from a single polyp...

I have been growing some corals from a single polyp :)

[Coelli]

I had a scrap from a birdsnest frag with 2 polyps - there's a third growing now. :)

[organism]

The smaller you make them the exponentially slower they're going to grow. The real question is how long do you want to look at a microscopic SPS frag, 3 months of encrusting and starting to grow upwards? imo less than an inch is a waste of frag tank space...

[rgulrich]

If I can post a link to a YouTube video, this might be of interest to you:
Coral Maternity - Making a coral frag from a single polyp
Jorge Machado de Sousa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oioW6lrbzhU
He's pretty experienced at this, as you'll see in the video.

[vair]

What's up with the iodine and RO in the frags holder? Which I asume is a florists flower water tube.

[rgulrich]

I believe he uses that to prevent bacterial infection of the frag at the cut site.

[MondoBongo]

i have a particular stag horn in my tank that i accidentally broke off two 1/4" long pieces on while cleaning the tank.

i figured, what the heck, and glued them to a frag plug.

it's about 6 months later, and they are now almost an inch tall, and have nearly completely encrusted the entire frag plug. quite the remarkable turn around for what was essentially two tiny spurs this past spring.

[Ghxst]

If you have the space go for it, lets see some results!! You can do what Justin Creable does and test compatibility of 2 polyps together and see what happens. Heck you might lose some polyps but you might make the next best sustainable reef trade coral ever! Of course if you do this I would highly recommended reading up on techniques to prevent unnecessary coral massacring.

To the left is a small 4 polyp tip that broke off about a year ago of GARF BOnzi that I just stuck in a hole in the a rock and now its encrusting a large base with lots of single stalks forming.

[Rob N Gab]

ive made frags for my personal growing out just under 1/4" only a few polyps on it. depending on your system and water quility it will work as well as growing fast or not thats what it depends on . ive done it to 5 pieces. the red plannet was the best grower.

[rwb500]

only at very tiny sizes will a small frag grow slower than a larger one. Typically for any stick-shaped SPS, fragging about 20mm and supergluing it to the plug on its side is best. it will encrust the whole plug and then grow up in multiple stalks, in all directions. if you glue it on end it usually just grows up in a single stalk for a while.

[flounderfish]

There was a recent coral magazine article about what size is best to frag, while any size can be done the article states the larger the frag the more likely it is to survive and not die from stress. So you can make them small and cute but in terms of conservation it isnt the best approach so states the article. I have made frags on the tips of acrylic 3/16th rod before. Slow growing so i overstocked so my tank actually looked decent. Now things are growing into each other and i need a bigger tank :)

[mpekoske]

i would stick with 1 inch, many people where im located wont buy anything less then that size due to not wanting to look at a dot on a frag plug for months

[Macscale]

It all depends on the growth your looking for. IMO 1"+ or it's worthless.