Fraging gves a jump start....

[LuckySingh]

i did another experiment on one of my colony of monster mash chalice that i had it for about 2 years with only two eyes....i made a tinny cut with my my saw through it about a month ago and totally forgot about it....this morning when i was feeding my tank i noticed not only it has three clear eyes now but another 3 or 4 more eyes r popping out..this happen in a month........seems like i might hve gave him STEROIDS.....

[350gt]

dont tell me this.....LOL

[stoneroller]

Did the eyes show up near the cut area?

[LuckySingh]

Did the eyes show up near the cut area?

cut was very small....i bearly even touched the chalice...now the couple eyes r close to the cut bc my colony is only about 1x1"... rest r spread all over the chalice....just by a quick look i can see atleast 4 new eyes coming out besides the 1 new and other two.....
dude the monster mash is know to be slowest growth chalice of all time.....even slower than my flame thrower

[Troy Valentine]

I've experienced this with a Mili colony I've had for almost 10 years. I am starting to believe that some SPS colonies will only grow to a cetain size if left unfragged. My colony hasn't grown much at all for the past 2 years. It seemed to grow to a certain length/height and then just thicken up over time. It hasn't been fragged for over 3 years. However
this past May I needed to frag a piece off that wasn't getting enough light. When I fragged it I was amazed at the new growth I had, and at the speed it was growing. While the rest of the colony stayed the same size. Even on the piece I fragged the tips that were uncut didn't grow, however the one tip that was, was showing signs of new growth.
P1010073.jpg
New growth on frag
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New growth closeup on mother colony
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Whole colony

[LuckySingh]

That is an awesome growth Troy


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[CoryDude]

Hey Troy, were'nt we just talking about this the other night?

I remember reading in a gardening book that slicing the ends and buds off of plants helps them achieve better growth and health because there are proteins locked up in the leaves and flowers. When these different sources of energy are released back into the vascular system of the plant, it helps fuel new growth.

Excluding the risk of infection from the fresh cuts, I think something similar happens to corals when we frag them. But, I still don't agree with over fragging small corals. I think frags should come from mature colonies.