Anyone Placing Sps Frags Directly Into Other Sps Branches?

[Nemo22]

Remember seeing a guest on Reef Builders (youtube) suggesting he is placing new SPS frags directly into the branches of more mature SPS corals so that the end result is coral growth of different color variety.

Has anyone heard of this or have experience with this?

I would like to try adding something like a Pink Cadillac or Scorpion into my Bonsai.

 

[kapelan]

Different corals will fight and eventually stronger coral will kill a weak one ... with some exceptions.
Exceptions: soft and sps - they are also fighting but no one can win because softy is mowing and poisoning everything that can touch. This way SPS cannot come close to zoa.
It looks actually amassing: bushes of zoa growing on the top of montipora.
Also I've seen from RR Canada pictures where he is doing such experiments with the same type of acropora.
This is a long journey to find compatible corals.

 

[Nemo22]

Ok thanks.

The idea is more focused on the possibility of achieving Acro upon Acro growth, however it sounds like this is a case of trial and error that may result in too much loss.

The guy on the Reef Builders video did state that he needed the plug to be a barrier between the two, at least initially.

 

[Salty Cracker]

in my experience only a very few types of sps will tolerate other sps. Millies are a good place to start, but generally, you will kill the frag or host or both. It is a defense mechanism that guards against colony expansion between neighbouring corals. If a fish or boat anchor breaks off a 'frag', and it washes over to the neighbouring coral, it will be killed so that it doesn't supplant the existing colony. (something globalists don't understand but that's another story). If colonies could mix all the world's coral reefs would be just one colour. The guest on reef builders doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[Nemo22]

Interesting comparison to globalists Salty. Thanks for saving me some money guys, would have been a painful experience.

 

[Nemo22]

If I find that video again I'll post it.

 

[Josh]

its called coral grafting by the way, ive seen it done with encrusting style corals. Not sure how well it would work with sps though.

Heres a nice video on it. Gets pretty scientific near the end.

Bunch of forum posts on reefcentral and such on the subject as well. As stated aboves its an uphill battle if you want to go down this road.

 

[Nemo22]

See at 14:20 where he discusses what I was trying to explain. I think it is a different concept than grafting.

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[kapelan]

what can we see on corners of the tank on the video?
and let's see our tank at home.
Any difference?
That's right; old tank has coraline and algae.
This tank on the video does not have any sign of mature tank, but all corals a pretty big. That's just impossible to grow corals this size without coraline.
Meaning this tank is relatively new and corals are coming from different place.

 

[TORX]

Very interesting part of the video. Once they grow further they will start to kill each other off and will not graff or morph. The only way they will not kill each other is if the bottom sps dies off around the coral plug from lack of light before the top spa encrusted it. Even then they may eventually grow into each other. It is a cool idea and will probably last a long time till that happens. Most morphs of SPS is actually occured during spawning where eggs and sperm of different corals mix

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[Kman]

I have seen plating monti work for a time. But in the end one color tends to overgrow the other. I tested years ago a variety of different corals with an assortment of different ways and long term I had no success. The frag or both died in the end or one grew over the other. Even stuff like zoes overtime you see one sp slowly dwindle to just a few polyps in a sea of the other. One always out competed the other no matter what I did. In the end I stopped as all I was doing was causing coral death and that is an unnecessary waste.

If you think about it corals fuse together all the time. If one branch on the same coral grows into another they tend to fuse together. If the one branch were to overgrow the other you tend not to notice it because it is the same coral. Now if you take different families or even different species they tent to have defense mechanisms of some kind in order to help protect themselves. Each coral has a different way of going about defending themselves. So pitting one against the other tends to have a winner and a looser. In the beginning you might get them to fuse together. But as time passes and more tissue fuses the more defense mechanisms will kick in. That can be anywhere from chemical (toxins), biological (nematocyst in sweeper tentacles or digestive filaments) or even something as simple as accelerated growth speeds. I bet if you were to look at the cell level you would see one coral initiating a immune response to the foreign bodies that get detected.
At one time I even postulated about the possibility of different pathogen and bacteria strains that grow in different sp being the cause of mortality or at least adding to it. As different sp will be immune or susceptible to different ones. So one sp could be fine where the other it is death.

 

[Kman]

Actually thinking about it. I bet if we take what we learned from humans and applied it. If one human needs an organ transplant and you take one from another. The body sees it as a foreign object and starts to reject it. You then need to take anti-rejection medication so the body stops the immune response. So all you need to do is figure out anti-rejection medication for the corals and how to deliver it.

I just solved how to stop rejection. You are welcome. haha

 

[Nemo22]

I found your reply very interesting Kman, thanks for your reply. Makes enough sense to discourage a “Vegas Odds” approach to trialing the theory and most likely experiencing too much loss for my patience and pocket book to accept.

Actually thinking about it. I bet if we take what we learned from humans and applied it. If one human needs an organ transplant and you take one from another. The body sees it as a foreign object and starts to reject it. You then need to take anti-rejection medication so the body stops the immune response. So all you need to do is figure out anti-rejection medication for the corals and how to deliver it.

I just solved how to stop rejection. You are welcome. haha

 

[Kman]

I get wanting to find\create something unique or tweak the hobby to possibly make it better. But in the end we can't or shouldn't loose sight at why we keep corals. Because we want them to flourish and thrive. We shouldn't forget that over something that is aesthetically pleasing over the cost of life. I have lost sight of that before and now I try and remember that. Not to mention the cost to the wallet to be burning through corals.

 

[Nemo22]

Good point Kman, should never lose sight of that fact for sure. The money and patience is more of a running joke here, but the animals always come first.

I get wanting to find\create something unique or tweak the hobby to possibly make it better. But in the end we can't or shouldn't loose sight at why we keep corals. Because we want them to flourish and thrive. We shouldn't forget that over something that is aesthetically pleasing over the cost of life. I have lost sight of that before and now I try and remember that. Not to mention the cost to the wallet to be burning through corals.