Money Issues

[gdwb10101]

I would just like to say that im 17, just yesterday got out of school and was looking at the LFS for possibly a new coral. When i saw a nice frag of mushroom coral, i tookout my wallet to see if i could get it. When i opened the sleeve, i pulled out a whopping $32. Looks like i might be getting a summer job!

If you've read one of my other posts, i just got a nano cube tank for my dad that has been running for several months. It has some corals that i really like. I understand that one can cut off a piece of coral and put it into another tank and it will grow. How is this done? This could save me a bunch of money and i might not have to get a summer job!

[leveldrummer]

yes you can split corals, its called fragging, but it really depends on the type of coral your want to split, how you frag it is different depending on what kind it is. so.... what do you want to chop? we will tell you how.

[TheOldSalt]

It's very important that you do it right, too, so don't go chopping up your corals all willy-nilly or you'll likely kill them.

[gdwb10101]

cool, can you split all corals or just certain types? I would like to frag every coral lol. most likely some mushrooms, polyps, hammerhead, plate, everything. I don't know how to frag every coral so tell me if its impossible or maybe provide a good website which teaches

[leveldrummer]

everything you mentioned can be fragged, im not sure about the plate though, but im sure somehow you can, the hammer coral depends on what kind you have, does the base branch?? mushrooms, i believe you cut a small peice off and attach it too a rock with some fishing string for a while untill it attaches itself, polyps you can put a piece of rock next to, and wait untill the spread onto it, or if the colony is large enough, you can try to scrape them off live rock, or take some snips and break off a piece of the rock with polyps on it, and im not sure about the plates, this is just how people have told me, so im not sure if its all the best way, i would wait for other replies.

[gdwb10101]

Along with the tank came 2 sponges. They are very pretty and i would like to keep them. But during the transport, one came undone. Do they have to be attached to rock to survive and if so how is this done? Also, is it good to have sponges or are they bad?

[leveldrummer]

most sponges are good, but the reason they come undone, is they cant hit air, so moving them is usually tough, its ok though, if anything is left, it will usually come back. or just grow back naturally, sponges are in most reef tanks.

[gdwb10101]

Well i transfered the big sponge to my main tank. I put it down low so that it won't hit the air. I think its doing alright. Does it need anything special? like supplements or airflow?

[leveldrummer]

no it doesnt need anything, how did you transfer it? just picking them up out of the tank could kill them, but its not a big deal, they usually grow under rocks out of the light, they will do just fine without you even noticing them, what color are they?

[gdwb10101]

Well the only way i could transfer them from one of my tanks to my display tank was to take them out of water. Only for a few seconds so i dont think it was too bad. I have three, the best one is red with about 4 branches. I have a blue, which is very small, but its there. And lastly a yellowish one, not very pretty. At first, i didn't like sponges, but then i realized they were pretty inexpensive. In addition, I put them in the back of the tank. Since i dont have a very tall rock formation, the sponges give my tank heighth and a bright color against my blue background. I would recommend sponges for this purpose at least.

[leveldrummer]

what kinda sponges are you talking about, the ones i have are flat and grow on the bottom of my rock.

[gdwb10101]

well i have several of those, but i also have these tall ones. Not exactly sure on the name. They came with the tank. Very pretty. They grow vertically and branch out

[leveldrummer]

hmmm, now i think your talking about some kinda gorgonian, or some other kinda coral, look around on liveaquaria.com and see if you can match it with something, some stuff like that needs to be fed.

[gdwb10101]

k thx. The guy i got from said sponge. He was a veteran, but maybe i heard him wrong. Ill look into it

[leveldrummer]

a veteran? he was in vietnam? lol just kiddin, even the most educated can make mistakes when it comes to corals, hell i dont even know what im talking about half the time, thats why im asking what kinda sponge, the only ones i know of are on the bottoms of rocks. could be many others.

[gdwb10101]

I think your right, but not 100% sure either. I'll do some more research

[TheOldSalt]

Sounds like sponges to me. They come in a dizzying array of styles & colors. Some even move. They're mostly pretty hard to keep, but some are very easy. If they get air in them, they're pretty much toast. The same goes for urchins, by the way.

[leveldrummer]

good call salt, glad you said something, i was kicking around the idea of urchins, probably wont though. i got other stuff to occupy me.

[gdwb10101]

Do urchins do anything special or purely aesthetic

[leveldrummer]

there are some that are said to aid the spread of coraline algae, thats what i was looking into, but my algae is comming along just fine.