Coral Farming

[atmmachine816]

So I've decided to take a shot at coral farming, idea taken from Ski's post from his conference visit and a little help from him. I was thinking of doing zoo's as I like them, or is there a better coral that I should do? If I do go with zoo's is it really going to matter which type I get or is it ok to get the type I like best or would sell the best? If anybody know's any good sites and could recommend them to me about soft corals that would be nice too, I put in a request for the book Coral's care and husbandry is what I think it's called but I don'thave it yet. They will be going in my 5.5 gallon tank, stats:
lighting: coralife twin tube 36w fixture 50/50 cp bulbs
filtration: 9lbs LR plus aquaclear 20 with LR rubble and phosphate remover
powerheads: 1 maxi-jet 400 + 1 mini rio 150 total approx. 150gph
substrate: thin layer of aragonite
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
pH 8.2
nitrate: 0

tank is cycled and has been running for slightly over a month now. I have a refractometer also to monitor the salt levels accurately. I will be getting 2 cerith, 2 astrea snails tomorrow along with a peppermint shrimp. Later I might get one molly or one clown goby or neither and not get fish, it depends. so my questions really are:

Are zoo's ok to start out with?
If so, can I pick what type I want?
My cuc will be fine with them right?
When should I get the zoo's, tank has been cycled for two weeks now almost, is it ok to pick some up tomorrow or should I wait more?

Thanks

Austin

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Are zoo's ok to start out with? Yes

If so, can I pick what type I want? yes

My cuc will be fine with them right? yes

When should I get the zoo's, tank has been cycled for two weeks now almost, is it ok to pick some up tomorrow or should I wait more?
It should be fine as long as it is cycled .

 

[atmmachine816]

Thanks Redstratplayer, I've read the story on zoo's and will wear gloves just to let everybody know.

One thing, bristleworms won't hurt zoo's right?

 

[atmmachine816]

I've been reading some more about zoo's and I've read that you need to either place a rock for them to grow on or break off part of the rock on them to frag them. I know stealhealr has zoo's because he wrote a pin on them or at least used to have some. Is this how you frag them? Trying to know all about them so I will be able to sell them well, thanks.

BTW can I get a pound or two of LR rubble that is dried out and put it next to a mother colony of zoo's to let the zoo's grow onto so I can frag them? This should be ok since the LR which isn't really alive anymore won't mess with the cycle since it's dried right?

 

[Mr Miagi]

Using any form of rock, whether live, base, rubble, or dead rock is fine, as long as you know its reef safe! Zoas are a great starter coral. Many often overlook simple corals in propagation. You could also use Mushrooms. The more colourful the better. That way you stand more of a chance of someone trading you something decent in return.

As you mentioned, you can cut them of a rock, a few polyps at a time, or allow them to "crawl" across rocks and allow them to grow on their own if you have a good growth rate. Ive made a sticky on fragging mushrooms if you need it, it should be under my "topics" if you have a search.

 

[SkiFletch]

Good luck with farming zoos. Some tanks grow them out like crazy, others (like mine) struggle to provide optimal water conditions to grow them.

 

[ikon]

for best beginner results, id go for pulsating xenia or mushrooms. i started off with a 2" 2 stalk frag of xenia and now have a mother colony (about 8" by 8") with 20+ stalks covering a large piece of rock, as well as xenia growing in three other places in the tank where i have moved small frags of it, all of this in under 3 months! here are some pics..

end of february...you can see the small colony on the rock to the right of the lion fish, just above the powder brown tang..

now today...

a relocated fragged section...

 

[atmmachine816]

Using any form of rock, whether live, base, rubble, or dead rock is fine, as long as you know its reef safe! Zoas are a great starter coral. Many often overlook simple corals in propagation. You could also use Mushrooms. The more colourful the better. That way you stand more of a chance of someone trading you something decent in return.

As you mentioned, you can cut them of a rock, a few polyps at a time, or allow them to "crawl" across rocks and allow them to grow on their own if you have a good growth rate. Ive made a sticky on fragging mushrooms if you need it, it should be under my "topics" if you have a search.

Thanks, when the time comes I think I might buy LR rubble by the pound for propagation. I've seen mushrooms though a lot have been red or the one's I like are on way to big pieces of rock and cost 80+$, though the guy who owns the store might just sell one not sure. I've read your sticky, very good.

Good luck with farming zoos. Some tanks grow them out like crazy, others (like mine) struggle to provide optimal water conditions to grow them.

I may not do zoo's after all, I have to talk to the guy who owns the store I buy my SW stuff from and see if he can sell me just a small bunch of green zoo's since i don't like the reddish color one's.

for best beginner results, id go for pulsating xenia or mushrooms. i started off with a 2" 2 stalk frag of xenia and now have a mother colony (about 8" by 8") with 20+ stalks covering a large piece of rock, as well as xenia growing in three other places in the tank where i have moved small frags of it, all of this in under 3 months! here are some pics..

end of february...you can see the small colony on the rock to the right of the lion fish, just above the powder brown tang..

Hmm. maybe if I can find some, though I'm sure I can, will look into it thank you, though I think I saw one of those when I was out today. Only problem is that I need to either buy a small coral or talk to the owner of the store and see if he will break some off since I don't feel like spending 70-110$ on a coral that's already going to fill half my tank, I don't need that much LOL.



So on to today. I went to a lfs that my friend looks at and saw some nice blue mushrooms that I will definately consider along with something else I will have to ask him about but I need to wait until he works since nobody else has a clue to what their doing Then I went over to aquatic technology, maybe some of you in the US have heard about the place, I've seen it advertised in SW magazines. Anyways it has a lot of fish and corals, not horrible prices I don't think, good quality, and good prices on hardware. I took a long look at all their corals and found some that caught my eye and a lot that didn't, and a lot that were too large and expensive. They also have some clams, very pretty but I think there out of my league since their under MH lights. Anyways here's the coral that I've found very attractive Green star polyp Not the best picture but that's the exact type. It's in a frag tank and cost 20$, good price? Other one that caught my attention were green zooanthid and blue mushrooms. There are a few other but I need to get their names and do some research to see if they meet my requirments. While I was there I talked to a guy who built his own 125gallon reef tank into his wall about corals for awhile. He pointed me out to a good book that I think I will buy along with various corals, but the one I really liked is 10$ per head part so in total a tiny frag would cost 50-70$ too much for my first coral I think. Later when I was talking to a worker while he got me my cuc he told me about the green star polyp in the frag tank and I'm hooked on it. He told me that I need to feed it a certain frozen food every other day or so, can't remember the name but they have it there. You guys think this green star polyp is ok?

Thanks for all your help and time