Fragging: Aesthetics or Cash?

[Aquattro]

I've been meaning to post this for a few weeks and keep forgetting :)

I often see people selling frags with pics of the colonies they're going to cut. When I look at them, they certainly don't "need" fragging, IMO. My opinion is based on the coral gets fragged when it gets too close to something else and something is gonna die scenarios. For me, I prefer not to frag, keeping the natural growth pattern of the colony intact.

So my question - is the aesthetics of your tank more important, or supplementing your costs by cutting frags?

[marie]

I only frag when everything is threatening to climb out of the tank and eat the dogs :lol:

[cuz]

for me its a mix of both, I seem to always have a full frag tank from "accidental" frags.
In an expensive hobby it does help offset costs on the other hand!!

[whatcaneyedo]

Both. Big colonies always need fragging which can yield a steady income but no one wants to pay shipping for just one oversized frag so it makes sense to offer some variety.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/whatcaneyedo/IMG_8468.jpg

[lockrookie]

thus far the only things ive sold are unwanted corals and rbta due to massive spiltting i have min split 4 times in 6 months...crazy

[reefwars]

what i make off frags i could hardly quit my job for and i in turn buy twice as much as i frag both locally and at the lfs , the the jazz of some corals ware off and i swap it out for something else i guess i get bored easily lol i find fragging is a hobby its self and so are growing the new frags, seeing the affects of the fragged colonies is cool too fragging with some corals increase growth, my nuclear palys didnt grow a head in forever untill i started cutting them same with some others. to have a fragtank up and running cost a fair bit and just to stock the tank took some time and alot of money as well . also fragging brings a group of people together ive met alot of people through frags some new some pros ive had people over for hours just to buy one $10 frag so the profit in that cant be very high.

another thing i think is coral pricing is a roller coaster you can buy one thing at a store for X dollars and the store across the street charges twice as much, its nice to see cool colony gotten and passed around.

ive gotten frags off people ive sold frags to a couple years ago cause i lost the colonies thats cool and i bet alot of other have done the same.

im pro fragging for sure:)

[Proteus]

I only sold unwanted to make room for the new upcoming.

But. Now that I have a nano cube. I am taking a bonsai approach to it which means fragging even though it may not be warranted

[reefwars]

I only sold unwanted to make room for the new upcoming.

But. Now that I have a nano cube. I am taking a bonsai approach to it which means fragging even though it may not be warranted

haha your doing a bonsai tree too?? thats what im doing with mine lol hummm im sensing nano contest:P

[Borderjumper]

I like to garden, but living in an apartment I can't... So I garden in my tank. I too sell or give away things I get bored with. I hord the things I like, but once or twice a year when I need a new skimmer, tank, or light I will do a massive sell off, and then start the whole process over. Right now I have a rack of tiny acan frags that I figure will be my Christmas money.

[paddyob]

You forgot both.

I prune to prevent or stop battles. The cash from frags goes back into the tank.

[windcoast reefs]

For me i like to work in my tank all the time. To me if I'm not doing stuff in my tank all the time then there is really no point. So fragging just comes as a good way to keep busy. I'm not in the hobby to impress other people, I'm in it to have fun. So I frag.

I also do it to keep the corals away from each other, to me it's just a coral, it will grow back eventually, so there is really no harm done. It also doesn't help that I'm a collector, I keep all My little broken chunks and accidental frags and eventually it gets to be to much! They are certainly not the prettiest frags, but someone might want them ;)

For me a third option is needed! fragging for no real reason!

[reefwars]

It also doesn't help that I'm a collector, I keep all My little broken chunks and accidental frags and eventually it gets to be to much! !



haha funny you said that thats exactly what i was just thinking lol

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

In the past, I did a lot of fragging. I saved all my frag/fish money for my Felicia's university fund. Buy a tank, coral or fish, out of my pocket. Sell something fish related, into Felicia's university fund. Even when I sold my 210g setup last year, all that $$ went into Felicia's fund.

Lately, not fragging so much. Do some trading though.

[MKLKT]

I prefer to trade frags if I can, I'd rather have a variety of cool stuff, and it tends to be a lot easier on the wallet!

[christyf5]

I frag when we have swaps but I don't really have much of a buyer base in Nanaimo so I don't frag unless corals are growing into each other and sometimes I just like to watch what happens :razz:

For smaller colonies that don't take up much space its all about aesthetics for me though, unless I can get big bucks for the frags :wink:

[Aquattro]

My solution ultimately (once I get the frag tank working properly) is to take strategic frags from colonies and grow them out for fragging. This will have minimal impact on the display, and the only fragging will be when colonies hit each other. I took frags from one colony in May and it will be a few more months for it to grow back to looking like it didn't get chopped.

[Dez]

I only fragged when stuff was going to grow into each other. However I kind of got sick of it and just sold off large colonies to make room. Now I mostly just let nature take it's course and let stuff grow into each other and whichever coral is stronger, wins. I just actually gave away all the crags in my frag tank so thy I could hit off the power heads and lights to save energy.

[ScubaSteve]

Aesthetics. Either I break it or get tired of it, but never for money. I think I've only ever sold 3 frags in my life, everything else I give away free to friend (insurance policies :razz:) or free to newbies.

[Bblinks]

I frag only if I have to. My corals are growing pretty quick hence the frag tank. I also have the same problem with the RBT splitting once every month or so. I have met countless good people on the forum and some time I just give it away for free or sell it for a good price. I do trade some stuff in for other corals just so I can have a variety.

[Myka]

I frag because I like to share. My frags are traded mostly. I have a few colonies that have only been fragged for one or two people though. Those are my favourite colonies and those frags are "insurance". Most people know if I'm cutting a frag for them it will be off the bottom or back of the colony where it isn't noticeable and thus the frag will likely not be very colorful.

I also frag for aestethics, like recently a big branch was growing in a direction that caused it to brown out because it didn't get enough light. Sometimes I will offer those types of frags for sale, but generally I just chuck them in the trash.

[DAVE]

I prefer to trade frags if I can, I'd rather have a variety of cool stuff, and it tends to be a lot easier on the wallet!

+1, I would rather trade.

[Aquattro]

It's not so much about trading vs selling, more about chopping up a perfectly good colony that doesn't need fragging. Do you cut pieces anyway, to trade/sell/give to your mom, or do you let things grow so that they look untouched?

[FragIt Dan]

I frag:
-for the money (or trade), although it all goes straight into the tanks, I don't frag much on my DT anymore now that I have my frag tanks. I like to leave it untouched, but wouldn't worry if somebody wanted a frag, I would be happy to cut a chunk off.
But also
-to promote FOWLR hobbyists to adventure into the sps/lps realm ($5/freebie starter frags)
-to reduce the harvesting of wild stock
-to fill the 3 tanks in my basement that I convinced my wife I needed :)
-because with multiple frags of a colony I can keep my favorites in a couple of tanks in case of a crash
-but mostly, because it is cool to see them grow and plate out on the frag plugs! I think of it as SimCity, but for Reefies, and instead of looking at the computer screen, you get to reach into it
Dan