I received a call from a hobbyist the other day that hit home.
She was feeling burned because she bought some supposedly “propagated” frags of a “named” coral from someone on an online auction, and they arrived discolored, dying, freshly glued. She was soured to the idea of frags, and said she’d only purchase colonies in the future because of this regrettable incident.
Yikes.
It compelled me to vent. My venting can often prove controversial or even annoying to some people. Some think I’m being preachy or elitist in my rants.
Cool. Whatever. I’m old enough not to be bothered by that. I speak my mind because I believe in what I feel.
Here goes.
Obviously, I own a company that grows corals…A lot of corals. Like, thousands of them. Despite our name, we’re not ahem, “unique” in that aspect of the business. There are a lot of people engaged in the growing of frags for the aquarium trade. They do amazing work. This is a good thing. A very good thing.
Did you ever stop to think about that?
Most of us, when stocking our aquariums, have a budget, or other restrictions, which makes throwing in a large piece of coral not only inappropriate, but downright unattainable. So we buy frags.
Cool.
Frags enable reefers to try a lot of different corals; to sample many different color morphs, varieties, species of corals, each one of which provides us with a new set of enjoyments, challenges, and opportunities to improve our skills.
We love frags.
Frags are economical, because, for the most part, you can purchase frags for a reasonable price. This means that you’ll still have money available for other stuff, like the mortgage, little Jenny’s clarinet lessons, Billy’s braces, or your spouse’s anniversary gift! Frags are an economic necessity for the modern reefer.
Frags are also cool because they are often more forgiving than a whole colony or specimen. If you’ve chosen wisely and obtained your frag from a reliable source, you are purchasing a piece of coral that has a great chance to “sprout” in your reef and grow into a dynamic colony in time. Young frags adapt well to new surroundings- way better than colonies do. Sad but true- if a frag dies, it’s just one of many- hopefully one of many that were made from a mother colony long in captivity and widely dispersed in the hobby…so that it’s not the end of the line for a colony.
Frags mean survival.
Frags teach us stuff. Like patience, for example; the key ingredient to reefing. You need patience far more than you need that new skimmer, light, or pump. No joke.
Frags are opportunity. An opportunity to apply our skills to nurture and grow a small piece into a vibrant colony, which will fill an aquarium, and provide hours of enjoyment for the owner and visitors to the aquarium as well. And maybe, just maybe, the little frag-turned-colony can be fragged up again, to share with others and start their adventures.
Frags are sustainable.
Every frag made is one less colony that needs to be removed from the wild reefs. One less “x” against us by the wannabe pseudo-environmentalist crowd who would see our hobby shot down as if we were trapping Minks for fur or something.
We need to tell the world- end sometimes, each other, that frags are the ultimate hobby expression of sustainability.
When done right.
In the hobby vernacular, a “frag” is generally defined as any piece of coral chopped off a mother colony.
I think we need to go further. I think we need to refine it a bit. A frag, in the reef hobby community, should be a fragment of coral taken from a larger colony, healed up and encrusted, and then distributed, while retaining the mother colony for further fragmentation or growth. And fragging the frags...yup.
When you’re at a friend's house and she snips off a piece of that awesome Acro you’ve been rolling over and gives you one to take home, that’s a “legit” frag, IMHO.
But fresh cuts aren’t for commerce, IMHO.
Oh, sure, that sounds a bit arrogant to some. But we shouldn’t care.
Really.
A frag, in our hobby vernacular, should NOT- in my opinion- be a fragment of coral chopped off a freshly imported wild colony, glued to a plug, and quickly sold at a profit. That’s what we call “chop shop” tactic. It’s decidedly old school, and completely unnecessary.
Sure, it’s attractive on the surface…Many firms in Indo and other places will send just about anyone who can afford it and come up with the paperwork a box of corals, ripe for chopping up, gluing the colorful tips to plug, photographing and “naming” them, and pumping them out on Ebay before they lose color and RTN out, for $10 a frag. Or $200 a frag in some quarters. “Insta Profit!” Sweet.
No. That’s not right.
Don’t think I’m saying it’s not right because I feel that a bunch of people in the trade are “upset” and feel it detracts from their profits (it really doesn't, IMHO)…If you think that, you’re missing the point. It’s not about market share.
It’s about “mind share.”
It’s not right because it encourages irresponsible management of precious resources, distributes weakened fragments of corals into the hands of unsuspecting consumers, and does little to enhance the cause of real sustainability. It misleads consumers, who see a brightly colored wild coral tip on a new frag plug, with nice fresh glue all over, and might be lead to believe that this is what a “propagated” specimen is. Worse yet, it creates a low standard for all in the hobby and industry.
It’s an insult to anyone who is a real reefer. And worse yet, it’s an insult to the natural reefs. It commoditizes and devalues them.
The vendors you see on this forum, at frag swaps, and in club events get this. Most hobbyists get this. They actually grow out a coral. Sure, the act of chopping up a colony is not really rocket science. However, the act of growing a frag- nurturing it…encouraging it to encrust before it is sold- that’s the magic.
It’s not quick. Its not super easy. It requires effort, patience, expense. Risk.
Oh well.
That’s the model for a sustainable future, where the bulk of all coral is propagated domestically, grown to appropriate size and health before distribution, and marketed at realistic prices. Self-policing, and self-regulating.
It’s perfectly attainable in our lifetimes. It’s already started. We know this.
Support fraggers. Real fraggers. Support businesses, hobbyists, clubs, and organizations who get this. People who practice the art and science of coral propagation, for the betterment of the hobby - and the natural environment.
Off the soapbox.
Support your local fragger. Grow a reef…
etc.
And stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
She was feeling burned because she bought some supposedly “propagated” frags of a “named” coral from someone on an online auction, and they arrived discolored, dying, freshly glued. She was soured to the idea of frags, and said she’d only purchase colonies in the future because of this regrettable incident.
Yikes.
It compelled me to vent. My venting can often prove controversial or even annoying to some people. Some think I’m being preachy or elitist in my rants.
Cool. Whatever. I’m old enough not to be bothered by that. I speak my mind because I believe in what I feel.
Here goes.
Obviously, I own a company that grows corals…A lot of corals. Like, thousands of them. Despite our name, we’re not ahem, “unique” in that aspect of the business. There are a lot of people engaged in the growing of frags for the aquarium trade. They do amazing work. This is a good thing. A very good thing.
Did you ever stop to think about that?
Most of us, when stocking our aquariums, have a budget, or other restrictions, which makes throwing in a large piece of coral not only inappropriate, but downright unattainable. So we buy frags.
Cool.
Frags enable reefers to try a lot of different corals; to sample many different color morphs, varieties, species of corals, each one of which provides us with a new set of enjoyments, challenges, and opportunities to improve our skills.
We love frags.
Frags are economical, because, for the most part, you can purchase frags for a reasonable price. This means that you’ll still have money available for other stuff, like the mortgage, little Jenny’s clarinet lessons, Billy’s braces, or your spouse’s anniversary gift! Frags are an economic necessity for the modern reefer.
Frags are also cool because they are often more forgiving than a whole colony or specimen. If you’ve chosen wisely and obtained your frag from a reliable source, you are purchasing a piece of coral that has a great chance to “sprout” in your reef and grow into a dynamic colony in time. Young frags adapt well to new surroundings- way better than colonies do. Sad but true- if a frag dies, it’s just one of many- hopefully one of many that were made from a mother colony long in captivity and widely dispersed in the hobby…so that it’s not the end of the line for a colony.
Frags mean survival.
Frags teach us stuff. Like patience, for example; the key ingredient to reefing. You need patience far more than you need that new skimmer, light, or pump. No joke.
Frags are opportunity. An opportunity to apply our skills to nurture and grow a small piece into a vibrant colony, which will fill an aquarium, and provide hours of enjoyment for the owner and visitors to the aquarium as well. And maybe, just maybe, the little frag-turned-colony can be fragged up again, to share with others and start their adventures.
Frags are sustainable.
Every frag made is one less colony that needs to be removed from the wild reefs. One less “x” against us by the wannabe pseudo-environmentalist crowd who would see our hobby shot down as if we were trapping Minks for fur or something.
We need to tell the world- end sometimes, each other, that frags are the ultimate hobby expression of sustainability.
When done right.
In the hobby vernacular, a “frag” is generally defined as any piece of coral chopped off a mother colony.
I think we need to go further. I think we need to refine it a bit. A frag, in the reef hobby community, should be a fragment of coral taken from a larger colony, healed up and encrusted, and then distributed, while retaining the mother colony for further fragmentation or growth. And fragging the frags...yup.
When you’re at a friend's house and she snips off a piece of that awesome Acro you’ve been rolling over and gives you one to take home, that’s a “legit” frag, IMHO.
But fresh cuts aren’t for commerce, IMHO.
Oh, sure, that sounds a bit arrogant to some. But we shouldn’t care.
Really.
A frag, in our hobby vernacular, should NOT- in my opinion- be a fragment of coral chopped off a freshly imported wild colony, glued to a plug, and quickly sold at a profit. That’s what we call “chop shop” tactic. It’s decidedly old school, and completely unnecessary.
Sure, it’s attractive on the surface…Many firms in Indo and other places will send just about anyone who can afford it and come up with the paperwork a box of corals, ripe for chopping up, gluing the colorful tips to plug, photographing and “naming” them, and pumping them out on Ebay before they lose color and RTN out, for $10 a frag. Or $200 a frag in some quarters. “Insta Profit!” Sweet.
No. That’s not right.
Don’t think I’m saying it’s not right because I feel that a bunch of people in the trade are “upset” and feel it detracts from their profits (it really doesn't, IMHO)…If you think that, you’re missing the point. It’s not about market share.
It’s about “mind share.”
It’s not right because it encourages irresponsible management of precious resources, distributes weakened fragments of corals into the hands of unsuspecting consumers, and does little to enhance the cause of real sustainability. It misleads consumers, who see a brightly colored wild coral tip on a new frag plug, with nice fresh glue all over, and might be lead to believe that this is what a “propagated” specimen is. Worse yet, it creates a low standard for all in the hobby and industry.
It’s an insult to anyone who is a real reefer. And worse yet, it’s an insult to the natural reefs. It commoditizes and devalues them.
The vendors you see on this forum, at frag swaps, and in club events get this. Most hobbyists get this. They actually grow out a coral. Sure, the act of chopping up a colony is not really rocket science. However, the act of growing a frag- nurturing it…encouraging it to encrust before it is sold- that’s the magic.
It’s not quick. Its not super easy. It requires effort, patience, expense. Risk.
Oh well.
That’s the model for a sustainable future, where the bulk of all coral is propagated domestically, grown to appropriate size and health before distribution, and marketed at realistic prices. Self-policing, and self-regulating.
It’s perfectly attainable in our lifetimes. It’s already started. We know this.
Support fraggers. Real fraggers. Support businesses, hobbyists, clubs, and organizations who get this. People who practice the art and science of coral propagation, for the betterment of the hobby - and the natural environment.
Off the soapbox.
Support your local fragger. Grow a reef…
etc.
And stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
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