You can see how we trimmed the edge of the coral because the cut part is white. The small Sarcophyton in front of Henry was made from a cutting of a gold crown Sarcophyton about three months ago.
When we are making cuttings of this type of Sacophyton from brood stock corals we just cut off the entire head. We were much more careful with this coral because it is the only one of this strain we have. The cuttings from this coral grow very fast. When we first cut the pieces from the cap of the coral we place them in a shallow tanks with gravel of the bottom. This cutting tank is two feet wide and four feet long. The tank is only six inches deep. There are two dividers in the tank making three sections that are two feet wide and sixteen inches long. We light this tank with six - 40 watt bulbs. Each chamber has a small power head and an air tube. We leave the cuttings in this tank for several days. After they have healed we use rubber bands to attach them to reef plugsTM that have a very rough surface. We place the cutting on the reef plugTM so the rubber band can only cut part of the way through it. When this is done properly the damaged piece of coral heals to plug.
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We have been having very good luck propagating this coral by using rubber bands or a thin piece of netting. When you use the netting it is easy to glue one end to the rock and then pull the other end over the cutting. We use a piece of net that is several inches long and one quarter inch wide. After the net is pulled tight over the center of the cutting you can attach the other end to rock with a drop of glue. THESE MIXED XENIA ARE ALL GROWING CLOSE TOGETHER
We have been testing many new types of Xenia to see if they keep their different colors when they are grown on the same rock. So far we have seven distinct colors growing in the 150 gallon reef aquarium in LeRoy's office. This picture shows four of the types that are glued to a piece of AragocreteTM. COLLECTING SOFT CORALS IS EASY BECAUSE THEY CAN BE GROWN TOGETHER
This picture shows several types of soft coral growing together. The center piece of green tree shaped Sinularia was attached with a rubber band. After we removed the rubber band you can see the two separate growing tips that will form new corals.
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FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS WE HAVE WORKED VERY HARD TO PURCHASE, TRADE, AND SAVE AS MANY TYPES OF CORALS AS WE CAN.
We are having a special on all of the coral cuttings. WHEN YOU PURCHASE 5 AT THE REGULAR PRICE OF $100 WE WILL GIVE YOU TWO FREE CORALS!. If you have any questions please use this form to ask them. WE WILL PHONE YOU AND HELP YOU PICK THE BEST CORALS FOR YOUR REEF AQUARIUM. We will continue to provide the most current data on reef farming for both education and profit. |