Coral is next on my radar, couple questions

I have my tank running pretty well now.. I switched around my fish with the LFS and am quite happy with what I have. I would like to have a yellow tang but I believe my tank is too small.

Back to the topic.. I was told by LFS to rearrange my rock when I add new fish. I have been doing it every water change. I couldnt imagine those of you with large amounts of coral are rearranging your rock often.
Is this necessary? Now that I am looking in to coral, once I have those placed you couldnt really sit that rock any other way.

I already have a few soft corals (leather, xenia, etc).

I am a total newbie.. so here goes my newbie questions. If you buy a frag is it best to adhere it to a rock you already have, sit it in the sand, or something else?

Will the coral spread to the rock it is adhered to?

What is a safe substance to use for glue?

How do you frag it once it grows larger?

 

Ha ha the wonderful world of reefkeeping!!

Lets start with the first question moving the rock.... I believe that the LFS meant to move the rocks WHEN you ADD A NEW FISH, not every water change. I recommend this quite abit as well, territory disruption, it helps new fish settle in without getting beat up by existing tank mates.

So, when you have the coral you do NOT need to rearrange the rocks every water change, unless of course you want to but that would in my eyes hinder coral growth.

As far as buying frags where you put them depends on many factors, where was it when you bought it, what lights was it under, what type of coral is it and so on. Where you initially place it is determined by those factors.

Will the coral adhere to the rock, depends what type of coral it is, if it is GSP or some SPS or a favia, yes it will... If it is a candy cane or frogspawn no it won't.

Glue, some will use a simple Krazy glue while others prefer to buy glue made for aquariums. The gel stuff is easy to work with for the most part. A cynoaccrelate is what you are looking for.
There is a few brands of expoxy that are also available, Two little fishies makes one as well as Marineland and D&D.

As far as fragging, that again is determined by the coral. A sarcophyton is easily cut with a sharp scissors or scaple. A SPS or LPS can be cut with a bone cutter or a dremel.

Good luck and welcome to coral!

 

depends on the species to a great extent
check out the articles section on this site for many articles on coral propogation and fragging

 

The only time I have arranged my rocks is when I have a territorial fish and I am trying to introduce another fish, it throws them out of their element (only for a short while). Rearranging the rocks too much is just going to stir up your tank and possibly squish some inverts.

Some soft coral will spread, my xenias spread to other rocks like crazy.

Cyano glue such as Loc-tite, buy the gel it works best.

Fragging is different for each species, I would recommend choosing the species you wish to frag and research it alone. Eventually you will become familiar with the different methods. With leathers you can just cut off a piece and some others such as bubble coral it becomes quite an extensive process.

 

Yeah LFS said to move the rocks when I add a new fish... I have just bought a lot lately with the new tank lol.. but will leave things as is right now.

Thanks for the tips.. Love this forum... hope to buy a few frags when I get the money!

 

Im not saying I disagree with moving the rocks around, but this could be a bad thing couldnt it? I mean, lots of nasty stuff can get caught under and around the rocks over time, and if you go a while without adding any fish, then suddenly decided to re-arrange, this could be bad, right?

 

I wouldnt move rocks that sit in the sand. But part of the hobby is to find a place to put your new coral. I do move things in order to put something else in. Most people cant plan that far ahead, to know what they will have months down the road. If your buying fish, it is best to plan ahead a little and buy the smallest (least aggressive) guy first. Corals are backwards, so you buy the aggressive ones first and let them stretch and then you know your distance for how far you need to place. Thats how I try to do it.