Fragging Corals for "BOOSTED" Growth: Do you believe in it?

[Troy V]

I did an experiment 11 years ago with a large green milli colony that just stopped growing after it reached a certain size. I never fagged it because I wanted to see how big it could get. Well it topped out at around 20" then instead of growing longer or taller it just grew thicker. But I really wanted to see some new growth. So I decided to cut a large section off the back to trigger new growth.

Parent colony:

Frag:

New growth on colony where fragged:

I've been able to duplicate this with Torts, Hawkins Echinata, Red Dragon, and many others.

 

[Fishyfish22]

With zoas and mushrooms, the more polyps you have the more babies will be encouraged to drop/sprout

With SPS, cutting a coral most often creates a branching point from which more branches will sprout.

With branching LPS (torches, hammers, duncans), they grow in angled branching pattern so the more heads you cut, the more room they'll have to split (so long as you cut below the tissue line)

When it comes to LPS who have whole heads like acans, lobos, or favia, they grow in an outwards circle motion from all directions. So the outermost polyps will have growth, while the center most ones aren't putting out many new heads.

 

[tidefanjam]

Yes, I’ve broken off parts of my monti cap because it was shading other corals, and the places where I broke it honestly grew 3 times as fast as the rest

 

[knightnsd]

I am a strong believer in it especially with LPS but less so with Zoas or SPS that often grow on top of each other. As I try to cut the best colored heads out of my bowers it opens up the best heads to grow out with their crazy colors versus being trapped by other heads around it sometimes that are less interesting. I do have a bit of remorse though as a giant rainbow bower is far more intense than the frags to look at in your tank but seeing the isolated head reproduce down the line makes it so worth it.

 

[Jax15]

According to this video they are boosting coral growth through microfragging.

Neat video, thanks for sharing it.

 

[Pescador]

There is a researcher in Florida who studies and uses microfragmentation as a reef restoration technique. Basically, frags corals as small as possible, puts them near each other, and let's them grow back together again. He found significantly increased growth when doing that, at least on the species he was using - that doesn't mean it applies to all corals, of course.

 

[Pescador]

According to this video they are boosting coral growth through microfragging.

Thanks for posting this video. I totally missed your post before posting about it myself. Have you used the idea in your tank?

 

[ZoWhat]

I found with LPS that if you irritate the mouth by sticking it with a syringe needle, it irritates them into more growth

 

[Gribbliest]

I would say yes, but within reason.

Look at how quickly a newly fragged Acropora will base out for instance... The Mother will typically heal pretty quickly too, and you can often see multiple branches in a short time from one.

Just remember that it can, and will, stress the colony. So I'd personally avoid giving too extreme of a haircut!

If a colony is growing well however, I think it can do the opposite. So, fragging, in my experience can be a great way to trigger growth on a stalled colony. I would consider the fresh growth as a stress response and treat accordingly.

 

[MnFish1]

One interesting point - is that there have been at least a couple articles about fragging and how to mount the frag on the plug. Most people glue the cut surface to the plug. For the most growth - others recommend glueing the old (non-cut) tip to the plug - and letting the cut part grow - which it will do more rapidly.

 

[Rogueaquariums]

I think it helps because it causes the coral to regenerate new tissue which will increase growth.

Agreed