Cash for frags

[Jason boles]

So I am planning out my dream tank. I currently live in an apartment and have a 15 gallon all in one with about 10 gallons of water in it.

I do like my little tank, but can’t wait to have a house. I have my eyes set on waterbox peninsula 7226.

I would like to pack it with show stopping corals. I was thinking of making a few extra bucks fragging my corals over time and selling them here or there. Possibly even taking them to the many local fish stores around.

This leads to my question.

How do you frag from a display tank??

I get how you can cut something like Acropora, but you can’t get to an encrusting monti, or how about expensive shrooms, or zoos that you want to frag .

I’m assuming I will have large rock structures and will not want to take them out and cut them up.

So would I need a frag tank to start my colonies there and frag from frag pieces to then put permanent pieces in my display??

Would love to hear from those who actually do this.

Thanks!

 

[James M]

For encrusting corals it’s best to place a frag plug and let it grow over it . For others you just cut it and glue to a frag plug

 

[DanConnor]

Well, since you will have a house, you can have the sump in the basement or a separate room. Just plumb in a frag tank to the system.

Grow your nice frags out first in the frag tank. When they get big, plant a piece in your display, and sell the rest.

 

[High ICP]

Counting chickens I would say

One thing about being a buyer of corals, that a seller should be aware of. Any Joe Blow can frag off some branches and try and sell them, what is growing on the coral and frag plug concerns me more. You may have the most beautiful Screaming Radioactive Monster Named coral. But I don’t know if your coral has the HERPES.

And it probably does, I will assume it does until I know your quarantine, isolation, and vector control regimen.

You have a 15 gallon now. Dreaming of growing out $1500 frags in your 200 gallon showstopper dream tank...

Well, you know. We have all been there haven’t we.

 

[sawdonkey]

I’ve sold tons of corals over the years and don’t have a frag tank. I mostly grow SPS. I just trim my colonies if I don’t like the shape they’re growing in or cut a piece if someone wants it. I do not cut small colonies or frag my frags to create booger frags. My number one goal is to have a beautiful display tank and selling frags is just a side benefit. Before my house fire when I basically had to restart my tank, I probably sold $500-$800 worth of frags monthly and that was just locally, no shipping. My colonies were very large, so taking three frags a month from each wasn’t even noticeable.

I hate the look of frag racks in a display tank, so in use the first part of my sump to hold frags. I just put a cheap, but effective light over it.

I would not go into this thinking you’re going to make money or even recoup your costs. There is so much that can go wrong and wipe you out in one day. Believe me, I got wiped out once from aefw and once from a house fire. Luckily, before the house fire, I had a 3-4 years of success.

 

[Jason boles]

I’m not by any means thinking I will recoup my investment. Reef keeping is a hobby, not a business for me.

I was just trying to think of all the long term stuff out and wondering if I would want to keep a frag tank, or attempt to grow out a few of the more expensive corals.

I guess I can always cross that bridge!

My curiosity stands though. I have seen several people here and there who have sold / traded lots of frags, and was wondering how you drag something.

So far it appears you have to keep it on a plug and remove it.

 

[sawdonkey]

My curiosity stands though. I have seen several people here and there who have sold / traded lots of frags, and was wondering how you drag something.

So far it appears you have to keep it on a plug and remove it.

Well, for SPS, I just snip frags with bone cutters. That’s all. I usually then glue the frag to a plug because I don’t want it rolling around and getting lost. I don’t “keep” anything on plugs for very long. I don’t cut my colonies until I need to for shaping purposes or if someone wants something. Then, I try to sell them ASAP so they aren’t sitting around. Now and then I’ll have one sit around for many months that will turn into a mini colony on the plug.

I usually sell frags in packs because I don’t want to deal with the hassle of meeting up with someone for one $30 frag. As a matter of fact, I have four frags ready to go right now, but I won’t sell them until i have three or four more ready. I usually try to sell 6, 8, or 10 frags at once for anywhere from $100 to $400. I typically sell frags for around 2/3 and sometimes half of what I paid for them. I give away the cheap stuff.

 

[BadPanda]

I use these after frags are light acclimated. They stick out like sore thumb when you intially place it, but algae or coraline will eventually blend it in. I like the little dimples it has to give my SPS a place to encrust over. What I really like about them is that you can still remove it after the coral has encrusted on it. It gives you an extra two to three month leway incase you don't like the original placement. It has a smooth bottom for either glue or epoxy to grab a hold of. Only been using but I really like it. As far as fragging to sell, I pick up corals I like and not frag later on and sell it. I would love to see them grow and only frag as a needed basis. Some grow them out like weeds and some need months to see any significant growth. My only high dollar coral in my tank right now is my Dragon soul torch. Coral growth will vary depending on the tank. I had to pick one up now before they start becoming mortgage payments. I due hope they come back down, but that's like asking gas prices to come down. From the way you wrote it down, I think you're looking more of a grow out tank rather than and actual tank. If I had room I would set up a grow out tank only as contingency plan in case something happens to the display.

 

[BadPanda]

Here's the plug I was talking about. You can see how much they stick out when initialy introduced.

 

[Jon Fishman]

You don't frag from big corals..... you frag from frags..... you over-pay for something super rare because people tell you it is super rare and expensive, you put it in a frag tank, you notice one day that it grew a half inch, so you hack off a pea-sized chunk, glue it to a frag plug, and rush out to the forums to post it up as Toxic-Maui-Wowie for $500, include the "Mother Colony" picture in your sales-pitch, which happens to barely cover the frag-plug, and wait for the next starry eyed dreamer to come along and snatch it up so you can buy something new and fun for your main display..... although you're main display is actually drained because it was "all work" and no money, so you just focus on the frag-life now.....

 

[BadPanda]

You don't frag from big corals..... you frag from frags..... you over-pay for something super rare because people tell you it is super rare and expensive, you put it in a frag tank, you notice one day that it grew a half inch, so you hack off a pea-sized chunk, glue it to a frag plug, and rush out to the forums to post it up as Toxic-Maui-Wowie for $500, include the "Mother Colony" picture in your sales-pitch, which happens to barely cover the frag-plug, and wait for the next starry eyed dreamer to come along and snatch it up so you can buy something new and fun for your main display..... although you're main display is actually drained because it was "all work" and no money, so you just focus on the frag-life now.....

That's interesting. Can you elaborate why you would frag from a frag instead of the mother? The only thing I can think of is mother colony looking like its had one too many haircuts.

 

[scriptmonkey]

You don't frag from big corals..... you frag from frags..... you over-pay for something super rare because people tell you it is super rare and expensive, you put it in a frag tank, you notice one day that it grew a half inch, so you hack off a pea-sized chunk, glue it to a frag plug, and rush out to the forums to post it up as Toxic-Maui-Wowie for $500, include the "Mother Colony" picture in your sales-pitch, which happens to barely cover the frag-plug, and wait for the next starry eyed dreamer to come along and snatch it up so you can buy something new and fun for your main display..... although you're main display is actually drained because it was "all work" and no money, so you just focus on the frag-life now.....

Wow, this sounds like one of those shows my wife watches on Lifetime..... all you need is a prince to buy it and it lives happily ever after.

 

[sawdonkey]

That's interesting. Can you elaborate why you would frag from a frag instead of the mother? The only thing I can think of is mother colony looking like its had one too many haircuts.

Because sarcasm.