How to Frag Corals: A Simple Guide to Coral Propagation and Coral Fragging for the Marine Reef Aquarium

By Albert B Ulrich III

What does your ideal coral aquarium look like? Do you want a mixed coral reef tank, buzzing with color and energy as fish and invertebrates fill every level with the colors and textures of a coral reef?
It is a devastating feeling to buy a new coral and watch it shrivel away and die in your tank. Wild-collected corals travel long distances in some challenging living conditions before they make it to your home aquarium, and many of those specimens are damaged and dying before you get them home.
In this book, I will show you how some successful reef aquarium hobbyists are able to fill their tanks with corals that are already proven to grow well in their tanks. These aquarists are also able to trade with other hobbyists to acquire some of the corals that are grow best for them, and many are even able to use these secrets to make a little money on the side.
Ok, they aren’t really secrets, but what I am talking about is fragging corals.
Hi, I’m Albert Ulrich, the author of The New Saltwater Aquarium Guide. I have been published in Aquarium Fish International and Aquariums USA magazines and I have been blogging online about the hobby here since 2009.
I’m passionate about all things fishy, but my favorite part of the hobby is helping people learn from the mistakes I have made. One of my biggest regrets in this hobby is that I waited too long to try fragging corals. I was scared I would kill the corals I was trying to frag. I was afraid of the expense. I was even hesitant to want to take any of the corals out of the water and expose them to the air, let alone slice them up. While buying some of the best gear is a big part of the hobby for many of us, I was so certain my foray into coral fragging was going to end in disaster that I resisted the urge to get any equipment, because I didn’t want to see it sitting around, unused, with the other abandoned hobbies I’ve taken up over the years.
If you have coral in your aquarium, but have not fragging yet, you may be blown away, once you start.
Fragging is actually genetically cloning, which isn’t exactly the same thing as ‘breeding’ corals, but it is close, and it is about a zillion times easier than breeding corals. Corals are genetically programmed to reproduce clones of themselves from just about any surviving piece of itself. Take a second to appreciate how wickedly cool and amazing that is. Could you imagine growing a duplicate version of yourself from a locket of hair or a discarded fingernail? That’s the kind of stuff comic book heroes do, and corals do that every day without a Hollywood budget.
This book will show you how to frag corals for your marine aquarium with step-by-step instructions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert B Ulrich III
• Release date: Jan 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310804595

Albert B Ulrich III

My name is Albert B. Ulrich. My friends call me Al or Big Al. I have been an aquarium hobbyist for almost 30 years and my articles have been published in the hobby magazines Aquarium Fish International and Aquariums USA . I was on the board of directors of a local aquarium club, and I read and write about the hobby as much as I can. I have successfully bred the banggai cardinalfish, common clownfish and the neon goby.I am a jokester at heart and I don’t like to take myself too seriously. I hope a little bit of that personality shows in my writing. I’m not really sure if it translates well to the written word–but I’m generally trying to joke around and have a good time. This hobby shouldn’t be a mystery–and newcomers to the hobby shouldn’t be surprised by preventable, predictable problems. My goal is to help others avoid making the same mistakes I made. If you like my books you should come check out my blog at:http://saltwateraquariumblog.com

Book preview

How to Frag Corals

A simple guide to coral propagation and coral fragging for the marine reef aquarium hobbyist

By Albert B. Ulrich III

Copyright© 2015 by Albert B. Ulrich III

Get more information about the Aquarium Hobby at

http://www.SaltwaterAquariumBlog.com

Copyright © 2015 by Albert B. Ulrich III

Smashwords Edition

This book was published with intent to provide accurate information. While every precaution has been taken in preparation of this book, the author assumes no responsibility for error or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of this information herein.

All rights reserved.

Acknowledgements

As I get older, I’ve noticed that it gets harder and harder to determine exactly where and when I learned something. Knowledge is a tricky thing, that way. As I mention, at length, in the Preface to this book, a key source of knowledge and information for me was Anthony Calfo’s book, Book of Coral Propagation. In addition to that, I also learned a lot by sifting through the tomes of advice on WetWebMedia.com and GARF.org. Please see the references at the end of the book for other great sources of information that either directly or indirectly connected a few neurons in my own head, some of which may have led to something I wrote here.

Preface

I’ve heard (or read, I guess?) that successful authors give the following advice to other authors struggling to identify what to write next:

1) Write what you know.

2) Write the book you want to read.

3) Write the book your readers want to read.

Since I don’t know much, and I don’t know how to read, I left it up to you--the reader--to decide.

How did I know that this is the book you wanted to read? By some cosmic paradox, I know that this is the book you wanted to read, because you’re reading it now. Not only that, but you’re reading the Preface to the book, and only very motivated, very interested, good looking and brilliant people do that. Ok, I’m pandering to you a bit, but seriously, I can’t tell you the last time I read a preface. So by some weird e-book natural selection, we have determined that this is, in fact, a book you wanted to read. So thank you for that. I hope I don’t let you down.

With those inane ramblings out of the way, let me give you the real story behind this book. The first aquarium I ever had was a 10-gallon tank for a turtle. I was very young at that point--probably 5 or 6 years old. Every few weeks, my parents would let me buy the turtle live feeder fish. I remember watching the turtle hunt the fish with my grandmother. It’s funny that after all of these years, that’s probably the most vivid memory I have of her. One time, we ended up buying a dozen guppies. The turtle made short work of 10 of the guppies, but two survived. At some point, they became background and were completely ignored by the turtle. Serendipitously, we ended up with a male and female and, guppies being guppies, they started cranking out baby guppies every month. That blew my little mind. I can remember that so clearly, and it made a strong imprint on my life. In some shape or form, I have been trying to recreate that aquarium full of guppies feeling in interesting and new ways throughout my life.

The feeling is one of creation, the miracle of life, even alchemy, and we are only able to observe it when the conditions are just right—conditions which we painstakingly create and maintain as aquarium hobbyists.

You may be wondering, what does THAT have to do with fragging corals? Ironically, I have no memory of how the guppy saga ended, but I vividly remember the dead turtle and throwing away the aquarium.

A few years later, I started over and bought another aquarium. This time, the aquarium was for fish, not reptiles. That first tank led to another…and then another…and then another. After several years in the freshwater side of the hobby, I switched over to saltwater tanks, which is where I have been ever since—if you exclude the occasional Beta.

My three favorite saltwater aquarium books are: The Complete Illustrated Breeder’s Guide to Marine Aquarium Fish, Clownfishes, and Book of Coral Propagation. Do you see the aquarium full of guppies theme?

Book of Coral Propagation was the book that inspired me the most. I had read the seminal books on reef keeping, but quite honestly, I found the academic tone and classification-oriented texts to be important, but uninspiring. After reading Calfo’s book, I had an action plan and was inspired to do something different. Prior to that, I was going to be just a saltwater fish guy. I had my sights set on breeding Banggai Cardinalfish Neon Gobies and Clownfish (which I was able to do, eventually).

I was inspired and ready for action, after reading that book, but I still found myself struggling with fears. Is coral fragging unnatural? Is it safe? What equipment do I need? Do I need a frag tank? How can I be sure I won’t damage the coral? Will I cause the entire tank to crash? What exactly are the steps I need to take?

I did more research online and offline and learned through trial-and-error. Along the way, I have had my own coral fragging successes and failures. My hope is that this book helps fill in a few of those knowledge gaps for you.

It would be brash to hope that this book will inspire you, but hopefully you will find a nugget or two in this book that helps you explore a side of the hobby you wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

What is it that you’re hoping to get out of this book? Send me a note now and let me know:

[e-mail]

Or wait until you’ve read the book and tell me what (if anything) inspired you--or tell me what I could change to make it more inspiring.

In homage to the book that gave me the inspiration to explore an aspect of the hobby that was beyond my comfort zone, this is my attempt at helping you learn How to Frag Corals.

To Inspiration

Disclaimer about the Risk of Losses

I genuinely struggled with whether or not to post this note in the front of the book here, because I know that risk of loss and fear of not knowing what you’re doing are probably the biggest things that have kept you from fragging your own corals. With the exception of this section, the rest of this book is written to help educate, inform, inspire and give you the confidence to frag your own corals like a pro. But I thought it would be disingenuous of me to write about the techniques and approaches to fragging your corals without providing fair and balanced information about the risks.

Corals can be exceedingly delicate creatures, at times. Seemingly minor changes in the environment can cause major damage to natural reefs. Other times, they seem nearly bullet-proof, or even down-right frustrating. Just try to rid yourself of zoanthids or mushrooms that you have grown tired of and are trying to remove from your tank. Sometimes it just can’t be done.

Suffice it to say, any time you cut into a coral, even if you do everything right, you risk damaging or killing that coral.

This book is intended to help you understand the techniques commonly used to frag corals and help you build confidence to explore this aspect of the hobby. If you are absolutely intolerant of risk, if you cannot stand the thought of ever damaging a living creature, even if by accident, or otherwise cannot afford any losses, you probably should not try fragging corals. There is always risk involved.

The goal is to appropriately lower the risk, when possible, with education, planning and technique. Actively growing corals tend to respond pretty well to fragging. If you start your adventure by learning and practicing with some of the hardier species (note I wrote hardier—meaning less prone to problems, not harder—more prone to problems), you are more likely to find success and you can gradually work your way up to a few of the more complicated species.

You will need patience, practice and high quality aquarium water. Take a deep breath, find that Mushroom or Leather coral that won’t break the bank or otherwise make you curl up into a ball and bawl (if it doesn’t survive), and let’s get started.

Don’t be afraid of fragging actively growing, heathy corals, but have respect for the process and learn how to manage the risks and most of all, have some fun—this is a hobby.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Disclaimer about the Risk of Losses

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Chapter 2: Common Stages for Fragging Most Corals

Chapter 3: Conditioning (This is Not about Hair Product)

Chapter 4: Water Chemistry—the Most Important Water Parameters

Chapter 5: Troublesome water parameters

Chapter 6: Lighting

Chapter 7: Preparation—Getting Equipped for Coral Fragging

Chapter 8: Frag Tanks

Chapter 9: Introduction to the 11 Coral Fragging Techniques

Chapter 10: Overview of the Common Coral Groups and Recommended Fragging Techniques

Chapter 11: Making Your First Coral Frag without Making a Cut

Chapter 12: So…You Are Ready Now…Where Should You Start?

Chapter 13: Step-by-Step Coral Fragging Instructions

Chapter 14: Step-by-Step Attachment Instructions

Chapter 15: Combining the Techniques—a Few Examples

Chapter 16: Now, Some Bad News

Chapter 17: What to Do with All of These Frags

Chapter 18: Thoughts on Turning Coral Fragging Into a Business

References

Where to Get More Information

About the Author

Other Books by the Author

Chapter 1: Getting Started

When I ask friends to describe their ideal coral aquarium for me, many people describe a mixed reef tank, buzzing with color and energy as fish and invertebrates fill every level with the colors and textures of a coral reef.

The challenge is that it takes a lot of money to fill a large tank with corals purchased online or at your local fish store—and every time you make a purchase, you have no idea whether that coral is going to survive in your tank.

It is a devastating feeling to buy a new coral and watch it shrivel away and die in your tank. Wild-collected corals travel long distances in some challenging living conditions before they make it to your home aquarium, and many of those specimens are damaged and dying before you get them home.

In this book, I will show you how some successful reef aquarium hobbyists are able to fill their tanks with corals that are already proven to grow well in their tanks. These aquarists are also able to trade with other hobbyists to acquire some of the corals that are grow best for them, and many are even able to use these secrets to make a little money on the side.

Ok, they aren’t