Fragging staghorn

[Hijinks_78]

I’ve got a staghorn that is essentially two thick branches, about 8-10 inches long. I’m debating about possibly cutting it into 7-8 pieces and mounting it all on a tile or disk to try to grow out a nicer looking colony, rather than just continue to grow out the individual branches. Is there anything I’m missing that would make this not be a reasonable approach?

 

[C. Eymann]

Instead of fragging, if you are wanting a more "bushy" colony, take bone cutters and make several little "nips" where you want new axial corallites/branches to form, its sort of an acro-bonsai technique that I have had rather good success with, esp with stags. Once the damage heals it generally forms a new branch there.

Id do that before fragging the entire thing.

You could also snip the first inch ir so off each tip and glue the frags towards the base if the main branches, also with this technique, about 50% of the time it will regrow with two axials/branches or one axial corallite and an Incipient axial or two that will eventually form a new branch as well.

Best of luck.

 

[Hijinks_78]

Instead of fragging, if you are wanting a more "bushy" colony, take bone cutters and make several little "nips" where you want new axial corallites/branches to form, its sort of an acro-bonsai technique that I have had rather good success with, esp with stags. Once the damage heals it generally forms a new branch there.

Id do that before fragging the entire thing.

You could also snip the first inch ir so off each tip and glue the frags towards the base if the main branches, also with this technique, about 50% of the time it will regrow with two axials/branches or one axial corallite and an Incipient axial or two that will eventually form a new branch as well.

Best of luck.

Thank you for the advice. These things are like 10 inches long in a 16 inch high tank, so I do t mind losing the height. ive Used a similar technique to what you are describing when a coral was just encrusting but not growing upwards with good results...is there any reason what I’m suggesting will not work well, or is it just going to hurt the growth?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Can we see a pic? How big is the tank and what are you using for flow? Stags growing long branches to me is normally a sign of low flow. Sometimes more light helps new branches start as well but flow is a big factor.

 

[Hijinks_78]

Can we see a pic? How big is the tank and what are you using for flow? Stags growing long branches to me is normally a sign of low flow. Sometimes more light helps new branches start as well but flow is a big factor.

I’ll get some pictures but the majority of the growth was not done in my tank. I got two large cuttings. So the growth pattern did not necessarily come from my tank.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I see, I normally cut the branches in half and mount them next to each other to look like one colony, making sure the bases are close enough for them to grow into each other with staghorns since they do not encrust much, they can use the added stability.