Kenya Tree Propagation

[collitchboy]

I tried searching for this but couldn't find anything. I needed to find out if cutting a peice of Kenya Tree and super gluing it to a rock would be ok. However, I have already progressed that far.

There was a peice of tree that dropped off the mother colony (along with about three others) that has grown to about 2". Has anyone ever taken a cutting and super glued it? I have since moved it to another tank, which was my original plan.

I had WANTED to chip off the small peice of rock that was underneath it but it just didn't work out that way :rolleyes:

Can anyone offer their thoughts on its survival chances? Thanks.

[gflat65]

Survival chances are pretty high. I don;t know that super glue gel will work for a Kenya tree, but it is worth a shot. A loosely applied rubberband around a small rock and the coral might allow it to attach. They usually attach over a few days. Fishing line sewn through it will also work, if the glue gel doesn't. HTH

[collitchboy]

It helps, it is very encouraging too ;)

If it comes out of the gel then I will probably try a rubberband. The stalk is semi-deep in the gel though.

Thanks.

[Pickupman66]

FWIW I used SG gel so attach a mumps to a mount with out any trouble

[TitansFan]

for future www.garf.org under propagation has some good fragging techniques

[DMBillies]

If it isn't in a real high-flow area, the gel will probably work. Just be careful that it doesn't detach and blow behind any rocks. I'm no expert, but for the few softies that I have had to attach, I had much better luck stealing a sewing needle from my girlfriend and using fishing line or thread to poke through it and around a rock. After a day or two, it should attach and you can take the string off. If the frag is small enough, it is probably easiest just to drop it on a pile of rubble in a low flow area of a qt tank. Most softies attach themselves surprisingly fast.

[collitchboy]

Will the coral eventually attach TO or THROUGH the gel? Or should I remove it and try to let it attach normally to rubble?

[DMBillies]

In my experience, because softies have a tendency to slime a lot, as long as you can get the coral to initially stick to the glue it should continue to attach to and grow on to the glue. The issue is not really that the coral won't attach to it once the glue is cured, it's that the slime from the coral usually prevents you from getting it to stick good enough until it can attach naturally.

[Kalied20]

I moved a small Kenya Tree in my Nano. I tried to superglue, but no luck. I then placed the frag where I wanted it and put a small rock on it to hold it down. It attached in about 3 days and then proceeded to move about an inch up to the top of the main rock it was on. Good Luck

[collitchboy]

As some thought, the super glue gel did not hold. I have "threaded it" and will see if it has attached by Sunday. Thanks for all the info.

[SRT80]

I had success the way Kalied20 did with a Spaghetti leather coral.

Steve