Fraggin zoas. Do they grow faster?
 

What say all ye great frag masters out there? Is it better to frag your zoas to promote growth or put them in an area with good flow and medium light?

some like it high some like it low, some like it fast some like it slow, some just wither away no matter where they stay.

I am no zoa expert but generally, bigger corals tends to grow faster because of larger surface area.

are you a poet? lol:biggrin:

If you have a decent sized colony I find you get the best yield if you frag the centre of the colony

IMO the polyp mat spreads only on the edges so if you have a large colony the polyps in the middle can not multiply further as they are already crowded. IME and logic tells me that they will grow faster if fragged. This also gives you a back up in case a colony decides to shrivel up and die for no reason (which does happen). The only down side is they look better as a large colony.

Your absolutely right, its true same goes for other corals, alot of aqua culture facilities won't keep large chalices as you'll get faster growth from smaller pieces that have all edges exposed .

I have also read about fragging the middle of a colony being a good thing. That way you get growth to fill the gap in the middle along with outwards growth from the outskirts. Makes sense I guess

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Couldn't agree with you more.:wink:

Good growth comes with stability, frequent changes will inhibit growth. Once you control water its simply lighting and flow, both are dependant on the coral.

I've found bright bright bright lights and lots of flow get insane growth, every new zoa is a risk on whether or not they adjust, contrary to belief alot of the more sought after zoas we collect are hardier than fresh imports since they've most likely been raised in similiar systems

How do you chose which area to frag from and how large of a frag do you take from a colony?

any area will be fine , the best is to use a brand new razor blade and cut under the mats , and slice between polyps(not the polyps them selves) the live rock is usually pretty soft , if the polyps are spaced apart and not tight ill just use my bone cutters to snip a piece. youll want to **** the zoas off a bit and have them close their polyps.

as for where to cut in a colonie i prefer to cut out the outside edges, if you cut a polyp in half it will grow back.


the size is really dependant on what you want to do , if its a small colonie you may only want to cut a few polyps if its very large you could make several larger frags.


not all zoas will frag well and not all appreciate being out of water , its trail and error here for that one:)

if this goes well for you maybe we will move on to grafting:mrgreen:

recently grafted a sunny d and a tyree spacemonster together and i did a rasta with a purple hornet, will see in time how they graft but so far so good:)

hth

denny