substrate attachment preferences for colt?

[sharkdude]

Ok, I feel like a humble newbie!

I have fragged many types of shroom, polyps, and leathers with great success over the past couple of years, but for some reason I have 0% success rate with colts!

I know its supposed to be the easiest but I can't seem to coax them into attaching.

I've tried bridal veil, rubberband, plastic tookpick, gravel bowl methods to no avail. I've used chunks of LR, chunks of tufa, coral rubble, puka shell gravel, etc.

I'm guessing they just don't like the substrate choices I'm providing?

The frags seem to heal just fine, but gradually tear or come loose and then float away to disentigrate in some forgotton corner of my main reef or cutting tank.

There is something basic I'm missing. Please enlighten me you colt fraggin' gurus.

[griss]

Sharkdude,

IMO Colts are one of the most difficult to get to attach. The best I have had success with has been a small piece of Tonga shelf rock with a hole it in. The hole must be slightly smaller than the base of the frag. Basically, I jam the base of the frag into the hole and hope it attaches. I have had about a 75% success rate doing this.

Griss

[sharkdude]

Thanks for the reply Griss.

Brian in his article at AtlantisAquatics makes it look so simple!

I'll try drilling some holes in some smaller pieces of live rock and see if I can hone my technique.

I was also thinking of trying a zip tie superglued to a rock on one end and then gradually cinching this down on an unsevered colt arm over several days. I'm hoping this will gradually sever the frag while also allowing attachment to occur. The rest of the colt would probably flop over, so it needs room to not irritate oter corals (I've found the colt to be quite irritating to many types of other corals).

What do you think?

[cperson]

See my reply to this thread.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=132952

[Flanders]

I'm sorry I didn't see this thread earlier. Anyway, here's my two cents. I love making cuttings of my colt b/c they grow so quickly, and have had some good success.

I've tried the superglue and the toothpick (sigh...). By far the best method I've ever used is taking the thinnest needle you can find and threading it with some light nylon fishing line. Pierce the colt about 1/4 inch up from the cut to make a stitch, then carefully tie it onto a rock - not too tight! It will attach the quickest if the cut base is resting on a depression in the rock but not pressed really hard into it. drilling a depression would work here.

Depending on species, they can attach within a week, or up to three weeks. Try not to touch it before two weeks - it can disturb the attachment it is trying to form to the rock. Then, when you're sure it has a good attachment, cut the fishing line and carefully remove the stitch.

I have a large pink colt that has given me countless cuttings and even second and third generation cuttings w/ this technique. I would say about 1 in 4 frags are blown off and lost. The percentage gets better the thicker the base of the cutting is to avoid tearing.

BTW, this works even better with any type of leather coral because their tissue is so strong the stitch will never rip.

Hope this helps - sorry it's so long.

Also, FWIW Sharkdude, I don't like the idea of clamping an arm of the coral with a zip tie. When I cut an arm off my colt, it barely bleeds and the polyps on the mother don't even close all the way. The cut heals in a day, so why bother clamping it?

[sharkdude]

Thanks for the reply Flanders.
Someone else also suggested the fishing line method.

I plan on trying it soon.

I was thinking of threading fine fishing line through the frag and then tack superglue on either end of the line to a suitable chunk of live rock.

I still have loose unattached colt frags drifting around in my cutting tank. some have attached to very small pieces of sand and others still look very sad.

[sharkdude]

Thanks for the reply Flanders.
Someone else also suggested the fishing line method.

I plan on trying it soon.

I was thinking of threading fine fishing line through the frag and then tack superglue on either end of the line to a suitable chunk of live rock.

I still have loose unattached colt frags drifting around in my cutting tank. some have attached to very small pieces of sand and others still look very sad.

[Flanders]

I guess you could superglue it. It's pretty easy to just tie a knot, though. Sometimes just to make sure the knot holds, I'll smear some underwater epoxy over it.

Let us know how it goes. Good luck.

[ThingsReef]

Just posted this on Eric Borneman's Board, Thought it might be useful. the last one I did is 2 months old now and has been moved around the tank twice and still looks good.


Colts are one of the harder ones to get to attach in my experience. I now use an old piece of dead coral from my fish only days that I used for decoration. I snap a Y shaped piece off and pin the frag under it against the sand. You may want to put a couple pieces of rock around the area to catch it in case it slides out from the coral piece. It usually attaches in a couple weeks. Good luck!

[sharkdude]

Thanks for the reply LesBill1.

That's prety much how I have been doing it so far. If I pin it down with too large a piece of rock chunk, then it rots away at base or gradually works it way free from expanding and contracting.
I have a couple now that have attached , but they did not attach to the rock chunk I placed on them, but rater to gravel rubble and sand around them.

I have a copule larger colts on a larger piece of rock. I have taken a razor and sliced them between arms all the way down to the rock. They have healed pretty quick and I now have a few independent stalks on this one rock. I hope to remove the rock and split it between the individual stalks.

Groton, CT? isn't that where they used to have a Navy Sub base? Do they still build and maintain subs there? I used to pass by there on my way to and from the Long Island Ferry in New London, CT back in 1996 when I lived and worked in Long Island and used to have to periodically return to my main office in MA. I did read that the US just officially signed a setllement agreement with Japan over the whole fiasco in Hawaii where the sub accidently rammed the japanese fishing training vessel.

[ThingsReef]

Yes there is still a Sub Base here (That's where I work) and they are building subs at Electric Boat right up the river.

I use round (about the size of your finger) smooth dead coral and pin it down between the Y shape. Not sure what I'll do when I run out of this type of coral.