colt

[mmortus]

what are some ways to prop a colt coral, I have not had any luck

[ThingsReef]

I've posted this several times. After the first I got smart and saved it so I could cut and paste.

lts 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!

[ThingsReef]

Have you done it and how did it turn out?

[Marc03]

here is a way to do it...

Put a tooth pick all the way through the base of the colt, then lay the toothpick on the rock and rubberband each side of the tooth pick so that the colt sits upright. After about 2 weeks, the colt will attach to the rock, and you can take the rubberbands off, and pull out the toothpick.

[CaptainCoral]

after all else failed I placed mine inside a flat shell. I placed the shell in my refugium where the water movement is slower and far less animals to knock it around. It kinda rotated in there for a week and a half and one day was attached. The poor thing was a mess when I did this too because all the other invasive methods stressed it pretty good.

[arkman]

If the colt frag is a "y" you could try this...

cut a small ring of tubing that is just a little taller than the trunk of the colt. cut a small notch in the ring. Rubberband the ring to a small rock/coral/hell/whatever so the rubberband bisects the ring. slip the colt in the middle ith one branch to each side. Wait a week and cut the rubberband - slide the ring over the top. Done.

[Ken2001]

I've tried most of the methods listed.

Rubberbanding, like you would a xenia, is the worst, since the rubber band, if tight, cuts right through the colt, and if loose, the colt slides out.

With toothpics, they usually end up pulling out as the buoyancy of the colt causes them to pull against the toothpics.

Piling rocks around the colt rarely works for me, since they always end up sliding out somehow.

Now, I've just given up and I through them in a low flow frag tank with a lot of rocks they can attach to. Eventually, in a few weeks, they manage to attach to something.

Ken

[arkman]

the idea with the rubberband and the "ring" is that you just create a sort of loose trap - the rubberband never actually touches the coral, just sits in the "y". it can slide around a bit, but will not slide out --- but you do need a "y" frag...

[CaptainCoral]

this works very simply for me...

I place the powerhead in my refugium so that the current flows in a circle (like a toilet) I then place a flat shell in the center of the fuge. A cutting is placed inside the shell. My colt is ready for a couple two or three frags and my digi camera is coming home this week I'll post a pic or two of the frags in a week or two.

This is basicly like a mini rubble bin like like what you've done ken. (and in Anthony Calfo's book of Coral Propagation) I just shrunk the bin size down to one shell.

[Palmetto]

There are certain strains of Colt (Klyxum) that are darn near impossible to get to attach. Methods that work like a dream on other treelike corals just do not work some of them.

I have had them bouncing aimlessly around in gravel for months, and most still did not attach. I have rubberbanded, zip-tied, glued, sewn, and everything else.

I eventually gave up on the monster. The method that did work the best was literally sewing them onto a rock with needle and thread. I still only got about one in 10 or 20 to attach.

[CaptainCoral]

I'll count myself lucky that mine (huge polyps) attatches. The one I have the most trouble with is a spaghetti sinularia. I havn't got one to attach yet.

[Martyn]

The colt I have that I never intended to have Grows like crazy as one coral it has a 5ft spread and i am having trouble getting rid of it to people even by giving it away but I am not going to through it away.

Best methods of dividing it I have found is just suround it with small bits of rock rubble branches that rest on the bits of rock attach within a week or 2 and the branches can be removed with rock attached and as it grows by spreading onto the rubble around it is easy to divide up with bits of rock attached to the bottom of the branches.
Hope fully I will get rid of it fully by taking branches to my LFSs as its a pain as it takes up a lot of space in one of my tanks that could be used for my SPS Frags

Regards
Martyn

[mmortus]

I guess I'm going to have to try Martyn method, I just tryed the bridal veil method, the colt was held down for four weeks and still didn't attach!