SPS collection business   8/21/06
Dear Bob and crew,
<Alan>
I'm thinking of starting  an exclusive Acropora collecting business to supply to the trade. I only wish to collect Acroporas from the wild by
fragging a few branches from a colony and gluing them unto rocks for sale in order to minimize impact on ecosystem.
<Mmm... can't really be done this way... need to collect colonies, keep them in captive conditions... some time (months) later frag them... Too hard to make the transition otherwise>
I suppose this will generate faster returns rather than having an aquaculture facility which requires more overhead cost and time.
<...>
Do you think this is viable in the long run?
<Nope>
Any words of wisdom? Thanks a lot.
Best regards,
Lee
<Keep studying, dreaming, planning... Bob Fenner>

SPS/Frags/Mother Colonies/Captive Generations…  10/6/05
Greetings Oh Great Fish God's,
<Are you sure? I swear I caught my Sailfin mouthing off the other day…>
Kudos for the exemplary work you guys and gals do on this site to provide
the vast knowledge base that you do and for sharing your experiences with the rest of us wanabe reefers. It truly must be a thankless task.
<It’s not so bad.>
Question: Is a frag a frag and will it always be a frag? <Not if it grows up, but I suppose there is a lot of gray area in there.> I now have 2, 80gal
tanks that are brimming with assorted SPS corals and frags. I had initially
purchased mother colonies and after some time I began to frag them. I am now at the point where I am fragging the frags into frags. <Awesome.>
Although all of the frags and the frags of the frags are doing great but as
they mature and grow they never seem to look like the mother colony in
density, color, or number of appendages/bushiness.  <Well unless they are placed in the exact same conditions (noticed I said conditions not tank) a Frag will never grow up to look exactly like its mother.  There are so many factors playing into this, nutrients, water flow, light, relation to light, temperature of light among many others.>  What constitutes a mother
colony? <In my opinion a colony large enough to be fragged itself.> Size, age, it's density? <Probably all of the above.> Or, must a mother colony come from the wild where it has been naturally reproduced.  <Not in my opinion. I have a large Sinularia that I consider to be a mother colony. It was purchased over 5 years ago as a captive propagated frag and is now a monstrous size. I now make frags from it, so I consider it to be a mother colony. Honestly though this can be relative, I suppose some say a true “mother” colony must come from the wild.> Can a frag or a fragged frag or a frag from a fragged frag ever become a mother colony or is it doomed to a
life of being just a simple frag?  <Jeez say that last sentence 5 times fast. Like I said in my opinion if a frag has multiplied its original size significantly and has thrived for a decent amount of time. If it is now large enough to make frags without significantly reducing the colony, then I consider it to be a mother colony.  Of course I will say that most of these questions seem to be relative or up to opinion.> As mother colonies are fragged, and then
the frags fragged, is there anything lost in the genetics from the mother
colony as to the number of times it is fragged and re-fragged? <For the most part frags are exact duplicates. Remember an Acropora species of different color/shape/density can be the same species. That’s why some of them are so hard to identify.> Or would this
ultimately lead to healthier tank/captive raised specimen?
<Yes consecutive generations of captive propagated corals generally adapt a lot easier to changes and captive life in general in comparison to their wild counterparts. I would much rather purchase a captive propagated coral over a wild specimen any day of the week.>
Tanks in advance,
<No trouble, try not to over think or put labels on your specimens, the fact that they are thriving and producing children should be good enough. Have fun with it. Remember that most of these labels we use including LPS and SPS are not scientific, they are hobby generated.>
Gary
<Adam Jackson.>
The Great White North   
<The Great Southwest?>