Where do you draw the line between a frag and colony?

[JSully_94]

Hi everyone,

I have what I believe to be an interesting question. Where do you all draw the line between a coral frag and a colony? Say you wanted to post a picture of a coral, how would I know whether to call it a frag or a colony?
I get that a frag is typically small and usually cut from the mother colony or what have you, but at what size does a frag become a colony?

 

[terraincognita]

Hi everyone,

I have what I believe to be an interesting question. Where do you all draw the line between a coral frag and a colony? Say you wanted to post a picture of a coral, how would I know whether to call it a frag or a colony?
I get that a frag is typically small and usually cut from the mother colony or what have you, but at what size does a frag become a colony?

Not until the British own it

* all the foreign countries or areas formerly under British political control.

 

[Potatohead]

A frag is a frag, like anything under 3" and a couple branches

A colony though is at least the size of a baseball IMO. If you want to call something in between a mini-colony, sure, but some "colonies" people claim are a bit ridiculous.

 

[SMSREEF]

A frag is a frag, like anything under 3" and a couple branches

A colony though is at least the size of a baseball IMO. If you want to call something in between a mini-colony, sure, but some "colonies" people claim are a bit ridiculous.

This is a good answer.
I like the baseball size=colony definition.

 

[nereefpat]

Maybe when the branches have branches?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

A frag is a frag, like anything under 3" and a couple branches

A colony though is at least the size of a baseball IMO. If you want to call something in between a mini-colony, sure, but some "colonies" people claim are a bit ridiculous.

Yep. I concur.

 

[Potatohead]

Maybe when the branches have branches?

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I think people have different interpretations of what each is. IMO, a frag is anything under a couple inches. A colony should be at least baseball size, or even bigger. A mini colony is something in between.

Here’s an example of what I call a frag next to a Mini-Colony. For size reference, the one on the left is on a 3/4” plug while the one on the right is on a 1” plug.

Here’s an example of where a mini-colony is more like an actual colony. The frag on the left is on a 3/4” plug while the “colony” on the right is on a 3” disc.

 

[nereefpat]

I can't tell what Leo is doing to me, but it makes me uncomfortable.

 

[pharazon]

I think people have different interpretations of what each is. IMO, a frag is anything under a couple inches. A colony should be at least baseball size, or even bigger. A mini colony is something in between.

Here’s an example of what I call a frag next to a Mini-Colony. For size reference, the one on the left is on a 3/4” plug while the one on the right is on a 1” plug.

Here’s an example of where a mini-colony is more like an actual colony. The frag on the left is on a 3/4” plug while the “colony” on the right is on a 3” disc.

I agree with everything this person stated.

 

[Potatohead]

I can't tell what Leo is doing to me, but it makes me uncomfortable.

You had to have seen Inception for it to make sense

 

[KrisReef]

Technically, all frags are clones from a colony, and most aquacultured colonies started as cloned frags. Your question on size of a colony might be better answered with a number of polyps since those can often be easily counted.

For online advertisements of acropora coral, I generally look and try to count the visible polyps. If that count is a low number I call it a frag. If it is a really low number I call it a nub, and if its a single digit I call it a polyp. A polyp can be a viable colony, the same as a nub and frag are.

In this arrangement, a plate coral is a single polyp-colony. Two plate corals can be two colonies from the same parent (and they would also be clones), or they can be from different parents and not be clones, but they are each a colony.

A single zoa is a polyp-colony,...

A single colony with a large number of polyps ( too many to count in a few minutes) could be found on a large frag of SPS or on a colony of zoas. From my observations in the reef world a frag or colony is found in the eyes of the beholder, and highly variable.

 

[Homebrewer]

I’d go with more of a literal interpretation vs a size interpretation. A “colony” I would say is a coral that has colonized it’s surrounding area after being moved. A frag would be a “fragment” of that colony.

This definition may be easier to apply to softies and encrusters and more difficult for branching corals. I also acknowledge that it may be too narrow of a definition given the incredible amount of variety in nature (and in the hobby). Furthermore, if something has started to “colonize” is it really a colony? Tough to say, but for me, simply being a large frag does not, in many cases, make it a “colony.”

 

[terraincognita]

I’d go with more of a literal interpretation vs a size interpretation. A “colony” I would say is a coral that has colonized it’s surrounding area after being moved. A frag would be a “fragment” of that colony.

This definition may be easier to apply to softies and encrusters and more difficult for branching corals. I also acknowledge that it may be too narrow of a definition given the incredible amount of variety in nature (and in the hobby). Furthermore, if something has started to “colonize” is it really a colony? Tough to say, but for me, simply being a large frag does not, in many cases, make it a “colony.”

Right, per technical definition I agree with this.

Whether you'd say it's a mini, or baby colony it's still a colony just with a different nomer.

I figure once it's finished encrusting and started branching you could consider it a colony, even if it's not necessarily the size of a baseball yet.

However if it's past the encrusting stage and big enough to take a frag from and grow from, I'd be hard pressed to say you're fragging a frag, at that point.

However if I was buying a "colony" I'd expect something the size of the baseball.

So the nomer of mini, or baby, or budding would be important.

 

[flampton]

Technically, all frags are clones from a colony, and most aquacultured colonies started as cloned frags. Your question on size of a colony might be better answered with a number of polyps since those can often be easily counted.

For online advertisements of acropora coral, I generally look and try to count the visible polyps. If that count is a low number I call it a frag. If it is a really low number I call it a nub, and if its a single digit I call it a polyp. A polyp can be a viable colony, the same as a nub and frag are.

In this arrangement, a plate coral is a single polyp-colony. Two plate corals can be two colonies from the same parent (and they would also be clones), or they can be from different parents and not be clones, but they are each a colony.

A single zoa is a polyp-colony,...

A single colony with a large number of polyps ( too many to count in a few minutes) could be found on a large frag of SPS or on a colony of zoas. From my observations in the reef world a frag or colony is found in the eyes of the beholder, and highly variable.

I disagree.
Scientifically a single zoa would be referred to as a polyp. A few polyps would then make it a colony (definitely not baseball size.) There are not colonies of plates, trachys, acanthophyllia, etc... as these are solitary corals.

Now that's scientific nomenclature, as for sizing up acro's or what have you I'd more or less looking at whether it is large enough to frag without the mother looking like a large frag herself.

 

[vetteguy53081]

when it has multiple branches and starting to consume a little space in tank - colony

 

[Dark_Knightt]

I would say when it grows 2x to 4x the size of the original frag. Frag-> Small Colony -> Colony -> Infestation eventually when it gets too big. XDD Think of xenia and GSP

 

[atomic081]

I think most people are on the right track with baseball size. I think of it more along these lines. A colony can be fragged and your still left with a colony. If you frag a frag, you have multiple frags. So a colony is like 5 frags....sorta.

 

[uhgster1]

Colonies

Frags. Same aquarium, less real estate from growth as the colonies encrust and encroach.

 

[Triple.T]

I've always looked at it like this give or take.

Quarter size - frag

Golf ball - mini colony

Baseball - colony

Basketball - huge colony