Stylophora lengthwise

[lavoisier]

I've had good luck when placing a single frag of Stylophora "on its side"--rapid growth of multiple branches. Are there other SPS corals that do well that way?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Most all of them will do fine like that and shoot lots of new branches.

 

[inktomi]

I like to mount all my new frags that way on the plug. They seem to encrust faster and create little colonies quicker.

 

[KrisReef]

When a wild-growing colony loses a branch the decapitated limb gets tossed about on the reef bottom where it will often get buried in the sand where it dies. If it is lucky it will land in a place where it gets wedged among live rock or among tangled branches of growing coral with good light and water movement. From this fallen state, given enough light to grow and a firm place to attach the natural fragment can grow into a spectacular colony.

Then a coral collector comes along and breaks off a few branches for aquaculture and comes under severe communal criticism for destroying the reef.

I think that sideways mountings actually grow faster than the typical upright glued frags do.