My tubs are really taking off, I want to frag but ....

Fliger · #1 12/08/2005, 12:50 AM

I just dunno. Here are two shots, and now they are growing faster than ever. I wanna frag them but I also don't want to stunt their growth. I see blues all the time and you can't appreciate Tubs until you see them in person. I see they're $100 for seven polyps on a vendor website - that's crazy! (but worth it if it grows out!) My colony is now probably close to 150.

The first shows the true color, the second shows the growth but the color is way off. It is now doubled past that pic but I don't have a recent photo. It might also be growing faster now that it's attached to the base rock and it's more flat.

MarvinsReef · #2 12/08/2005, 03:05 AM

I would just grab small rocks and place them around the colony and let them jump over the new rock for frags.... hope that make sense....

Marvin

CoralNutz · #3 12/08/2005, 08:27 AM

I can't understand why people would pay $100 for seven polyps of tubs blues. That's pretty silly IMO

IMO, if your intention is to frag them off for trading or whatever I would frag some off and get them growing on a different medium then live rock. I like to grow the zoas I plan to make frags of on acrylic, tile, and thin discs made out of plumbers putty. This will make it very easy down the road to frag off just a few polyps. IME, I get more polyps per month, when you make small 1-3 polyp frags and let them grow out. I see most people tend to grow out there colony and then when they want to frag it, then just frag off how many polyps they want to sell, wich isn't as speedy IME.

BTW, great pics and good luck with the fragging adventure.

Pleco420 · #4 12/08/2005, 07:28 PM

Here's my tubs!!! Noticed a growth spike as well, I feel I have triple the polyps as to when I got them a couple months back....

koletangz · #5 12/08/2005, 08:07 PM

Those are perhaps the nicest zoos I have seen. Nice pictures, both of you. Wish I had some. Do you mind me asking what kind of lights both of you have?

JnS · #6 12/09/2005, 04:17 AM

very nice

Pleco420 · #7 12/09/2005, 08:58 PM

Thanks buddies....

Mine were taken under 96W X2 PC w/Actinic 50/50

gflat65 · #8 12/10/2005, 08:48 AM

I think there is anecdotal evidence (in my tanks anyway) that splitting off a baby can increase growth (escape size). When I have fragged slower growers like my RPE's, the mother colony didn't put any polyps on over six months, but the single polyps I pulled off added a few polyps per frag over roughly the same time period.

CoralNutz · #9 12/10/2005, 01:00 PM

I don't think that's just anecdotal in your tank. It's been documented by lots of people that single baby polyps will produce polyps more rapidly when they are single then the colony, on a polyp per polyp basis.

Example. If you slice of a single polyp (I recomment full sized polyps) and glue it onto a piece of rubble or a frag plug. It's not uncommon for that one polyp so be surrounded by three more polyps within a month.

So for the 100 polyp colony to keep up with that growth rate of the single poylp frag, it would need to sprout 300 new polyps within a month, which isn't going to happen.

Anthony Calfo talks about this in his coral propagation book, but was mainly talking about LPS (blaso's) and how that if you take a single blasto polyp and frag it, it will grow new polyps quickly on all sides as a recovery method. But he noticed that the colonies tended to just sprout babies on the predomonent side of the colony and not all the way around.

On October 15th (or close anyway) I sliced off two polyps of these sweet reds. One Dec. 3rd I took the second pic.

So in 1.5 months the two polyps turned into 7. So if a colony of 100 were to keep this pace you if would have grown from 100 to 350 polyps, wouldn't that be something....

JnS · #10 12/10/2005, 05:16 PM

nice coralnutz

MarvinsReef · #11 12/10/2005, 09:47 PM

thanks for the info..

gflat65 · #12 12/10/2005, 11:48 PM

There you go. Frag. Frag away

.

amheck · #13 12/11/2005, 10:34 AM

Which sites normally get/sell the Tub Blues? I haven't been able to find them.

CoralNutz · #14 12/13/2005, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by amheck
Which sites normally get/sell the Tub Blues? I haven't been able to find them.

I see them on atlantis from time to time and lots of people around here have them that could probably sell you some. Your going to pay out the wazoo, last time I seen them on atlantis they wanted $20/polyp wich is simply crazy for what they are. Nice zoas, but not worth $20/polyp, well not to this guy anyway.

amheck · #15 12/13/2005, 04:15 PM

I just missed this auction by $10.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Super-BLUE-...QQcmdZViewItem

Obviously, these aren't the Tub's Blue's, but are very close to the "true blue's" that I've been looking for.

JnS · #16 12/13/2005, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by amheck
I just missed this auction by $10.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Super-BLUE-...QQcmdZViewItem

Obviously, these aren't the Tub's Blue's, but are very close to the "true blue's" that I've been looking for.

looks like the rock is even blue

amheck · #17 12/13/2005, 05:52 PM

Yes, it's come to my attention that it was probably a good thing I missed winning that auction.

Fliger · #18 12/13/2005, 06:15 PM

I am not a coral snob and I hate to say it, but there are few zoas that match the Tubs. They are bigger and grow tighter. I have yet to see any blues grow quite like these. The color can shift from a deep purple to a dark blue to sometimes a soft but awesome blue depending on the abuse ;-) you give them. But I see "blues" come in all the time and they're nowhere near as cool as these.

Not to say they're the best zoas either! I have some "denim" blues with green skirts and even some blues with red skirts - but the blue in the Tubs is easily the coolest ones I've every seen. And I have a orange with bright yellow center that kicks the Tubs to the curb.

I think $100 for 7 is ridiculous, however - if they do make it and grow into a nice colony you'll be happy down the road. But it is supply n demand and these will always be in demand since folks love blue!

schristi69 · #19 12/14/2005, 05:14 PM

Plumbers putty??? What do you do, make disks and let it dry out? How big and thick? Sure would be nice if someone put together a How To on fragging with pics and make it a sticky.

CoralNutz · #20 12/14/2005, 06:23 PM

Yes, you make wafers like the size of a poker chip out of the putty. Then when you want to frag some polyps off. You just cut right down through the mat between the polyps and can cut through the putty like butter.

I have found that the zoas seem to spread faster when the mat is actually in contact with aragonite, so I like to wait till the disc just begins to harden. Then spread some sand over it. Roll over it with something. and then it will stick. Then you can still have the quicker zoa growth and you can still cut them off without damaging polyps.

Trying to shave them off rocks, or break/cut the rock where you need it to can be a little unreliable. With this method you have more control over where the cuts go and don't do much damage to the zoas so they don't even really need to recover at all.

HTH

schristi69 · #21 12/15/2005, 12:08 AM

And it is reef safe after it hardens?

CoralNutz · #22 12/15/2005, 08:05 AM

Yeah, it's the same stuff that people use for aquascaping. It's reef save before it's hardened. Just going to make your skimmer go nuts if you use to much.

You can buy the stuff from any aquatics supplier, but it will cost a lot. I use Harves Plumbers Epoxy from HD. It's back by the PVC and is in a plastic tube with blue label.

66deuce · #23 12/17/2005, 10:10 AM

I have some zoos growing in a plastic Dixie cup. LOL!