Hello Everyone! I'd like to thank you all for coming to my first talk on #reefs, and I hope you can enjoy and learn from what I have to say. Before I start I'd like to thank Paul Auger (aka dflad) and the #reefs ops for inviting me to speak tonight.

Tonight, we will be discussing briefly the importance of coral propagation and, the dedicated coral growout system I have recently setup, propagation systems for the average reefer, and fragging/mounting techniques. Throughout the talk, I will paste in links for pictures that you may view during the pauses. Now, onward and upward with the talk...

Some History and The Importance of Propagation

Since I began in the aquarium hobby, I have always enjoyed having my animals reproduce. From the first time I successfully reared angelfish, I have enjoyed even more being able to share the fruits of my success with fellow hobbyists by trading or selling to the LFS for resale. After entering the reef scene almost two years ago, and reading of coral propagation in The Reef Aquarium Vol. I & II by Delbeek and Sprung, I have sought to successfully rear corals just as I had done with freshwater fish. A lofty desire for a beginning reefer to be sure...

The destruction of wild reefs by the tourism industry, pollution, and overfishing has made conservation of these ecosystems an ever growing concern of the US government. Poor practices of the aquarium industry has caught the attention of the US government and its Coral Reef Task Force, as well it should.

Responsibility for the animals that we keep should become the norm and not the exception for the industry. On that note, I applaud the effort of the farming operations in the Solomon Islands and captive propagation by various organizations and companies,as well as the few LFSs out there setting the precedent that a LFS will be judged by in the future. Our goal should be to help the wild reefs in their recovery by fragging and sharing with fellow hobbyists the corals we already have.

Since learning more about the state of wild reefs (whose outlook is not the best of news) and hearing fellow hobbyists call for intensive propagation of already captive stock, I have gotten much more serious about my efforts.

My Coral Propagation Tank

This past summer ('99), while working part time for Aquariums For You, I acquired a 116 gallon glass "proptank". The tank measures 72" x 31" x 12" (L x W x H).

Lighting consists of three 6' VHO bulbs, 2 URI 50/50's and 1 URI super actinic run by an Ice-Cap 660 lamp driver. I personally prefer MH lighting but I got a good deal on what I have and the shallow depth of the tank negates the inefficiency of VHO.

Filtration consists of about 70 pounds of live rock. Skimming is taken care of by an ETS RD40 (Original Reefdevil) powered by a Sen 900 submersible pump. Overflow is the *loudest* standpipe in the world ;)

The circulation in the proptank is provided by a Sen 700 (this pump really rips) submersible pump from a 30 gallon glass sump. Water is returned though two 3/4" returns, one of which currently has Loc-Line for directional control. Additional pumps are a 1046 Eheim and a Maxi-jet 750.

I intend this tank to mostly be for propagation of soft corals. Some SPS may be attempted depending on how the levels of Ca and alkalinity hold up over time (I prop SPS in my main tank).

I currently have only one fish inhabitant. A Yellow Tang ( Zebrasoma flavescens ) for filamentous algae control. I may add a foxface for control of Valonia sp. that came with the rock rubble I have confiscated from various other tanks.

Pics-

Monitpora digitata : A "weed" SPS that will be subject to frequent fragging sessions to yield fodder for the Prop Tank. :)

Sinularia sp. : A very cool leather that not many people (that I know of) have.

Xenia elongata , while my punk yellow tang looks on. Also, some leather corals and button polyps.

Briareum cf. stechi : Really bright green star polyps. :) Not many like this around here.

Xenia elongata : The "Antichrist of Corals" as named by Phishmon, extremely tough and fast growing.

Propagation Systems For The Average Reefer

Given the possibilities of future bans on wild coral collection, it is important that each individual hobbyist make the effort to frag and trade what corals they currently have. Having a growout system for propagated corals is a wonderful thing to consider for any reefer who does propagation, even if small scale. I don't know many folks who have room in their display tanks to house a half dozen extra corals- I know I don't. ;)

Since most hobbyists may not be able to afford a completely separate system, an easy way to get more space for propagation is to add a smaller separate tank to the existing system. This makes life very easy. All you need is a tank, stand, lighting, pump and some plumbing supplies. All that need be done is to plumb the new tank onto your main system. Plumbing a separate tank onto your system eliminates many expenses, namely additional live rock, protein skimming, and maintenance of Ca/Alk levels. The tank can also become a refugium providing a nice habitat for various 'pods' and such and be additional water volume for your system (especially for people like me who have small display tanks).

Tank selection is very important. A tall, thin tank with very little area on the bottom won't do much good. Instead, a tank that is wide and shallow would be a much better choice in terms of lighting and coral holding capacity. Tanks like the 40 gallon breeder (36" x 18" x 16") and the 20 gallon long (30" x 12" x 12") are ideal tanks for the cost conscious reefer. They can be easy drilled and easily lighted with a single halide providing more than sufficient coverage.

Once you have you prop tank, you will want to fill it with coral. How do you frag the corals? Here are a couple quick tips for propagation I have learned and practice currently.

*FRAGGING AND MOUNTING*

Letting Xenia grow onto the glass makes propping it too easy.

• Swipe it off with a razor blade....
• dab dry the base of the xenia with a paper towel....
• repeat for the place on the rock you will be attaching the xenia to...
• then place a dab of superglue gel on the rock, press the base of the xenia into the superglue,....
• hold for 3-5 seconds...
• then place the newly propped coral into the tank in an area of light but steady flow.
• The xenia will attach with a week or less- Easy as pie! :-)

Green Star Polyp - same thing. :c)

Button polyps tend not to be as cooperative as Xenia sp. and GSP. Passive propagation (allowing the coral to grow to the new rock) is much easier here. But for those who would rather be active: Button polyps can be carefully plucked from their rock with a razor blade and follow the super glue procedure above and you can get the buttons started on their new colony.

Most all leathers and colt corals are easily propped by a pair of sharp scissors. They should then be stuck into small holes in rubble sized pieces of rock, then held lightly in place with a rubber band.

Do *not* wrap rubber bands tightly around soft corals, else they will be severed by the pressure. Be sure that the rubber band only touches the coral lightly enough to keep it from floating away.

TRA Vol II describes a way to use tooth pick to hold leather corals to their new rock using a tooth pick. This is accomplished by gently pushing the tooth pick into the cutting and then rubberbanding the tooth pick to the rock. In my experience, this will work for some corals, and not for others. Some leathers take to this very well. Others rot away from the tooth pick. So far I have only attempted this with wood toothpicks, and this may very well be the cause. However, I find it much easier to super glue the coral into a rock cranny.

Use superglue *gel* to glue SPS frags and cuttings to small rocks and epoxy the rock into place. In my opinion, this lessens the opportunity for an opportunistic infection when epoxy alone is used (because tissue touched by epoxy putty dies). Superglue gel is only temporary. Do not expect something that does not rapidly encrust to stay where you put it. For species that encrust or attach slower, it will be best if they are kept in a lower flow area to reduce the stress on the super glue bond.

Shrooms are so regenrative, you can pretty much just shred them up and you have plenty. But this makes them a bit hard to control as you might imagine. ;c) There a a variety of methods that one may use to attach shrooms. I prefer to let them do it themselves, rather than try to handle the slimey little pieces.

Soon I will be trying a new method- Using a wide diameter PVC ring (big enough to hold the new mushroom rock), place the rock, and shroom cuttings into the ring and rubberband a piece of wedding veil or stocking over the top. This will allow the pieces to attach themselves, which will take no more than a week or two, and they can growout to a decent size for trade or sale. This may be a little harder than it sounds, but time will tell. :)

WRAP-UP

Reef aquaria are wonderful tools for learning about and enjoying the myriad of life found on the coral reefs of the world. However, the hobby *does* make an impact on these most delicate of ecosystems. We have the responsibility of lessening this impact so that our grandchildren and and great grandchildren may one day be able see a reef and its many life forms, not just read about it in a book. Please give back to the hobby, it will be our salvation if you do.

Two plugs before we go to the question and answer part of the talk... If you are actively propagating corals and are looking to sell or trade (and have a website), please join the Propagated Coral Web Ring , and please visit the Coral Frag Trading Post to trade, sell, and buy coral.

With that, I'm ready to field a few questions... :)

Will large scale propagation of LPS corals be possible in the future?

Unfortunately, it may be awhile before it can be done in a large enough scale to offset the numbers of LPS that are exported from countries with coral reefs. The slow(er) growth rates of LPS make them a less financially viable product than softies and SPS.... Growout time for the faster growing LPS like Euphyllia sp. and Turbinaria sp. are still far below that of SPS and softies. Therefore, I believe that propagation of LPS corals will end up falling into the hands of the dedicated reefers out there who will take the time to nurture and raise them.

Dan, your prop tank seems to be tightly packed. More than a normal display tank. Any lessons learned on who is agressive to who?

Actually, it has quite a bit of room in it, more than you might realize... The limiting factor in there is my lighting. But I have certainly seen the effects of aggression. My Xenia elongata makes leathers close up just from light contact and its fast growth rate poses the potential for smothering if not kept under careful watch.

When handling the Xenia sp. do you were gloves to reduce the stress on the buggers?

No, I don't find the use of gloves necessary. After attachment to the new rock, the Xenia sp. is out and pulsing the next day.

You have discussed the benifits of proping a coral, but what are the risks? Is the parent colony at risk from being chopped?

In a healthy well cared for tank, the risks are minimal. I have cut large branches from my Sinularia sp. , and within two weeks, the wound has completly healed, and with in three weeks there are polyps starting to emerge. As long as the tank does not have smothering growth of filamentous algae, and good water quality, I doubt there is much danger to the parent colony. That is always a risk however. A careful evaluation of your system parameters before you begin to frag would be a good precaution.

Dan, do you find that the growth rate of a frag is faster than the growth of the mother colony?

I suppose you are referring to SPS... Usually I see that frags start out with a lot of encrusting growth (much more than the parent colony), then this growth turns to branching. The intitial growth of the new branches seems to come in spurts. That is the only differnce that I have noticed.

What is the fastest SPS to frag?

My Montipora digitata and Acropora millepora have done the best, and are fast growing from frags. Here are two pics of my A. millepora from my website showing the rate of growth. August 98 Early October 98 The encrusting growth is fast and widespread, then multiple branches soon follow.

Is anyone propping "LPS" corals like open brains?

I have not heard of anyone attempting to frag Trachyphyllia sp. It is probably difficult (as with most LPS) due to the shape of the skeleton , and the shape of the polyp itself... Lobophyllia sp. is much easier to do because of its flabello-meandroid growth form. I could prop mine easy enough if it were larger.

What is the best way to prop a mushroom? Same as leathers and colts?

I find it easiest to lop off the head of the mushroom, the base will regrow quickly then take the top of the shroom and either superglue it, stuff it in a hole, or cover it with mesh material.

What impact will the ban on coral importaion have on prices, lfs, and our hobby?

ok...tough one ;) I doubt that the hobby will die outright. I can see the first few years being pretty tough as aquaculture slowly catches up.... During that time, LFS prices are likely to skyrocket on the few items they may be able to get (i.e. farmed frags), assuming they are willing to take financial burden of even carrying coral anymore. If our hobby is to continue, I doubt that the LFS will lead the way. Online aquaculture and private propagation are going to be the sustinance of the hobby. That will the key for our hobby to continue, so start propping your corals!! :)