My first frags - now what?

Lylelovett

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Hi all,

So I have 4 frags, now what do I do with them? :)

They are still new to my tank, only a couple of weeks old, so I realize the first thing I do is wait... but what is the path to the endgame of permanently placing them?

I have a Zoa, Duncan coral, Candy cane coral, and a mushroom... a few general questions:

1. What am I looking for as far as growth and health?
2. How long should I expect to wait until I see them grow?
3. When is it time for me to permanently place them?
4. How do I know if they are doing well with their currently placement?

I'm also cool with links to guides that probably already answer these questions. :)

Thanks all!
 

James M

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You should be looking for good polyp extension and the overall health of the coral is good
 

Geebs19

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Agreed with James, look for good color, extension. Growth will be different with each but in time you will start to see growth if they are happy and your parameters are stable. I started feeding reef roids and my softies have exploded.
 

ryeguyy84

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Duncan coral (at least for me) are great indicators of tank water quality. When I need a water change they generally close up to let me know.
 

Ron Reefman

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Hi all,

So I have 4 frags, now what do I do with them? :)

They are still new to my tank, only a couple of weeks old, so I realize the first thing I do is wait... but what is the path to the endgame of permanently placing them?

I have a Zoa, Duncan coral, Candy cane coral, and a mushroom... a few general questions:

1. What am I looking for as far as growth and health?
2. How long should I expect to wait until I see them grow?
3. When is it time for me to permanently place them?
4. How do I know if they are doing well with their currently placement?

I'm also cool with links to guides that probably already answer these questions. :)

Thanks all!

No need to wait now that you have them. You can place them in the places you want them right away. BTW, I drilled holes in my live rock so frag plugs can just slip into place. Many corals like your zoas and mushrooms will cover the plug as they grow. The other two can still stay on a frag plug or be removed and placed directly in the rocks.

How soon until you see growth? That depends a lot on your tank and your care and feeding (both light and food). New reefers tend to think coral growth takes forever, old time reefers think some corals grow overnight! Also, bigger frags and small colonies will grow faster than a tiny frag... well, not exactly faster, but more. Example: An sps coral that is small, has a small circumference and that is the part that grows. The bigger the circumference, the more the coral grows. So it isn't faster growth, it's just more growth. The same idea applies to zoas. A 1 polyp frag may start a new polyp every 2 months (just an example/guess). So 1 becomes 2 and hopefully 2 becomes 4 and 4 becomes 8 and so on and so on.

As far as health goes, it's hard to see and harder to explain. If colors fade, or the polyps don't come out, or the duncan or candy cane heads get small, you've got issues. If you don't see any changes, but you start to see some signs of growth like new zoa polyps, a new tiny mushroom or the start of a new head on the duncan or candy cane, you doing OK.

Good luck and keep asking questions!
 
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