New to propagation

Step Johns · 11/01/2009, 02:01 PM

Alright so i am 17 years old and absolutely love reefing. So for a while now i have been thinking about starting a small coral propagation business and im just not sure of where to start... I have all the equipment and multiple tanks i just dont know what corals are best to start with and where to get starter mother colonies? I live in southern california and i now there are a lot of wholesalers up in L.A. but i dont have a wholesale liscense so i can go get starter colonies from them.... Or would it be better to just start with frags and grow them out?

So basically i am just looking for guidance from more experienced people out there. If anyone has suggestions on which corals would be best to propagate please let me know. Also any other information on this topic would be greatly apprieciated...

Thank you,
Stephen

CLINTOS · 11/01/2009, 02:31 PM

which coral's do you have now?

how long have you had your system's for?

Step Johns · 11/01/2009, 02:37 PM

right now i just have a few zoanthid frags.... been up and running for a little more than 6 months... My zoanthids are growing really well so im not sure of what other corals to add that are popular but arent a fad

DThompson · 11/01/2009, 03:36 PM

Step,

Start with things you like and enjoy. I would highly recommend you stay away from the wholesalers until you are well established and know what you are doing. Unless you visit the wholesalers in person you will not be able to see the corals until they arrive at your place. Not saying you will always be disappointed, but when you are first starting there is a huge advantage in seeing what you are buying.

If you really don't know what to start out with, do some leathers, Kenya, Zoa's, and mushrooms. Can't go wrong there.

Good luck.
Dan

CLINTOS · 11/01/2009, 04:05 PM

What I like to do is travel and collect with a little online buying imo Kenya's and leather's are great and will give you a little revenue to upgrade equipment and other coral's

but if I were to start again I would of went straight to collecting high end zoo's/ric's

If you go the high end way make sure you study pests/irritants/disease along with the cures and go slow when stocking I'm sure you will run into a few bump's along the way it's better to buy small frags of highend imo and grow them out less risk

Step Johns · 11/01/2009, 05:06 PM

So i think i may do a little of both, as in get some leathers and some kenya trees but also get high end stuff. As it is right now i have purple deaths but im not sure if that is considered high end? I am thinking about getting some african blue hornets but i have heard a lot of people say that they are super hard to keep. Also i want to try and get some rare mushrooms but im not sure of where to look to get them? If you could point me in the direction of some places it would make my day. And thank you all for responding

Step Johns · 11/01/2009, 05:10 PM

Also i was wondering if it would be worth it to try SPS? Or is it more cost effective when you are starting out to stay away from the sticks?

Step Johns · 11/01/2009, 07:07 PM

Alright so i have two ricordias that i plan on fragging soon... hopefully they all make it

CLINTOS · 11/01/2009, 07:47 PM

Good luck I think the safest way is with a razor blade slicing good in the middle then wait a few days and redo if it hasn't split

DThompson · 11/01/2009, 10:06 PM

Step,

Ricordea are pretty darn hardy. You should be fine.

Marchingbandjs · 11/02/2009, 05:21 PM

google coralmorphologic

they got some nice start up stuff... mid price ranged corals, that will sell

Step Johns · 11/02/2009, 08:09 PM

Alright so i picked up a beautiful Yellow Fiji Leather today. It is about 4+ inchs and looks great. Going to be picking up a Tyree Long Polyped Toadstool soon also. So hopefully those two and my rics will be a good start. Thanks everyone for your input. Chalices and acans seem to be the most popular items in my area at the moment so i might get into those some day.

Step Johns · 11/02/2009, 08:20 PM

Has anyone ever used the suspension growing technique for sps? If so what was your results? Will this work with any type of branching sps? Also about how far down should they be hanging? A lot of flow or indirect flow? Thanks guys this just sounds like something interesting that i want to try out. Oh and i will also take pics of me fragging my rics. How long should i wait til i frag my yellow leather? How big should it be?

Step Johns · 11/03/2009, 02:35 PM

Alright so am about to upgrade my 10 gallon system to a 40gallon. Looking at getting a 6 bulb TEK fixture so hopefully that will be good. For the aquascaping i am going to have a three tier system made of eggcrate. So i will see how this works out for me

crsaz · 11/03/2009, 11:54 PM

hi there Im 17 also and I too want to start a small propagation buisiness. the best advice I could think of giving you is try and get a job at an lfs the smaller the better. once your there long enough you will be able to get stuff at like 10%-20% over cost rather than the 300% markup your paying now.(seriously if you wonder what your lfs pays for corals divide their retail price by 3-4) also used equip will get thrown your way every now ant the. so far working at an lfs has worked out well for me. and as for mother colonies it depends of what you into. personaly Im into lps/sps and have gotten a few large colonies from aquatic auctions. and I have almost payed for my upgrade to a 57 gal rimless and 60 gal rimless frag tank solely by selling frags out of my 20 gal.
here are some pics of my "top sellers" its not hard to pay for an upgrade when selling acans for $10-$35/head and everything else for $10-$15/ decent sized frag

some of the first corals in the tank

Step Johns · 11/04/2009, 12:17 PM

Danm i need to get into selling acans. About how long does it take for most of your acans to grow out to a fraggable size?

mkenny1818 · 11/04/2009, 12:30 PM

If you were to rely on growing out each head to sell, then it wouldn't be much of a business. Acans sell for good money, but at the same time you need to have the customers that spend the good money. It comes down to one thing above all else. Money.. Lost of people think aquaculture is a never ending pit of money in which you will never make any.... Wrong. If you do it correctly and spend the money where it is necessary, it's then all up to you and generating customers.. I am 25, graduated with a business degree and now doing "this" as a full time job.. It can be done.

crsaz · 11/04/2009, 06:51 PM

I bought all my acans with over 40 heads on the and the big purple one has almost 100. I try to frag about 5 single heads at a time and wait untill new heads have formed and encrusted over the cut(usually about 3 week to a month) before I frag again. acans are definatly a money maker if you have "customers" to buy them but so far for me the big monti is the bigest money maker $20 for 3/4-1" frag. and the colony has already has about 3/4" of new growth in every direction since I got it. if I were to frag it back to original size I could probably get 12-15 frags out of it and still have the same size colony I started with.

Step Johns · 11/04/2009, 09:39 PM

What kind of monti is that? The ones i want to get are the Jedi Mind Trick and the Red Hott Chili Pepper. They are both beautiful montis and i havent seen more than a couple people in my area with them

crsaz · 11/04/2009, 09:44 PM

its a chilli pepper monti

Step Johns · 11/04/2009, 10:03 PM

oh ok thats sweet man

Step Johns · 11/05/2009, 11:29 PM

Alright so i axed the idea of buying a new 40gallon tank and i think i am just going to set back up my old 60G. And i had a question i want to get a TEK fixture for it but cant decide if i should get the 4, 6, or 8 bulb model. I want to keep sps so i am not sure of which one i will need.

1DeR9_3Hy · 11/06/2009, 11:50 AM

How deep is a 60 gallon? If you keep your sps in the top 12" or so of the tank a 4 bulb would be plenty. Of course 6 and 8 would be better, but energy usage wise...you could get away with a 4 bulb if you keep things shallow.

whatcaneyedo · 11/06/2009, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Step Johns

Has anyone ever used the suspension growing technique for sps? If so what was your results? Will this work with any type of branching sps? Also about how far down should they be hanging? A lot of flow or indirect flow? Thanks guys this just sounds like something interesting that i want to try out. Oh and i will also take pics of me fragging my rics. How long should i wait til i frag my yellow leather? How big should it be?

Acropora, Pocillopora, Seriatopora, Pavona, hydnophora and Montipora. I've been hanging them all for about two years now in my 50gal frag tank. I have some hanging as little as 3" below the surface while others are only about 3" from the bottom. It depends on the lighting above the tank and how much light each frag can handle. I prefer indirect flow of about 30x the tank volume per hour. If I tried to have anymore flow it would blow my frags into each other constantly.

Here is a picture of my 50gal, its lit with a 250W 14K Phoenix and plumbed to my main system. I dont make big bucks off of it but I do earn enough to cover all of the maintenance costs (of my three tanks) which for now is good enough for me.

Step Johns · 11/06/2009, 02:18 PM

I believe that it is 17" deep. I am going to be making a three tier system out of eggcrate and pvc so i can my different frags on the different levels depending on the light requirements. Is this a good idea?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1DeR9_3Hy

How deep is a 60 gallon? If you keep your sps in the top 12" or so of the tank a 4 bulb would be plenty. Of course 6 and 8 would be better, but energy usage wise...you could get away with a 4 bulb if you keep things shallow.

11/01/2009, 02:01 PM	#1
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	New to propagation Alright so i am 17 years old and absolutely love reefing. So for a while now i have been thinking about starting a small coral propagation business and im just not sure of where to start... I have all the equipment and multiple tanks i just dont know what corals are best to start with and where to get starter mother colonies? I live in southern california and i now there are a lot of wholesalers up in L.A. but i dont have a wholesale liscense so i can go get starter colonies from them.... Or would it be better to just start with frags and grow them out? So basically i am just looking for guidance from more experienced people out there. If anyone has suggestions on which corals would be best to propagate please let me know. Also any other information on this topic would be greatly apprieciated... Thank you, Stephen

11/01/2009, 02:31 PM	#2
CLINTOS Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: windsor,ontario Canada Posts: 482	which coral's do you have now? how long have you had your system's for? __________________ 90G coral prop,8-t5 h.o,25G sump,20G coral prop,4-t5 h.o,25g coral prop,4-t5 h.o,phosban reactor with no sponges loaded with biomax ceramic cyclinders as pod pile on all tanks, phytoplankton station/dosing on all tanks

11/01/2009, 04:05 PM	#5
CLINTOS Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: windsor,ontario Canada Posts: 482	What I like to do is travel and collect with a little online buying imo Kenya's and leather's are great and will give you a little revenue to upgrade equipment and other coral's but if I were to start again I would of went straight to collecting high end zoo's/ric's If you go the high end way make sure you study pests/irritants/disease along with the cures and go slow when stocking I'm sure you will run into a few bump's along the way it's better to buy small frags of highend imo and grow them out less risk __________________ 90G coral prop,8-t5 h.o,25G sump,20G coral prop,4-t5 h.o,25g coral prop,4-t5 h.o,phosban reactor with no sponges loaded with biomax ceramic cyclinders as pod pile on all tanks, phytoplankton station/dosing on all tanks Last edited by CLINTOS; 11/01/2009 at 04:11 PM.

11/01/2009, 07:47 PM	#9
CLINTOS Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: windsor,ontario Canada Posts: 482	Good luck I think the safest way is with a razor blade slicing good in the middle then wait a few days and redo if it hasn't split __________________ 90G coral prop,8-t5 h.o,25G sump,20G coral prop,4-t5 h.o,25g coral prop,4-t5 h.o,phosban reactor with no sponges loaded with biomax ceramic cyclinders as pod pile on all tanks, phytoplankton station/dosing on all tanks

11/03/2009, 11:54 PM	#15
crsaz Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 473	hi there Im 17 also and I too want to start a small propagation buisiness. the best advice I could think of giving you is try and get a job at an lfs the smaller the better. once your there long enough you will be able to get stuff at like 10%-20% over cost rather than the 300% markup your paying now.(seriously if you wonder what your lfs pays for corals divide their retail price by 3-4) also used equip will get thrown your way every now ant the. so far working at an lfs has worked out well for me. and as for mother colonies it depends of what you into. personaly Im into lps/sps and have gotten a few large colonies from aquatic auctions. and I have almost payed for my upgrade to a 57 gal rimless and 60 gal rimless frag tank solely by selling frags out of my 20 gal. here are some pics of my "top sellers" its not hard to pay for an upgrade when selling acans for $10-$35/head and everything else for $10-$15/ decent sized frag some of the first corals in the tank __________________ "Beware the hobby that eats" "Think for yourself and question authority" "The question that somtimes drives me hazy is am I or the others crazy?"

11/01/2009, 02:37 PM	#3
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	right now i just have a few zoanthid frags.... been up and running for a little more than 6 months... My zoanthids are growing really well so im not sure of what other corals to add that are popular but arent a fad

11/01/2009, 03:36 PM	#4
DThompson Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 60	Step, Start with things you like and enjoy. I would highly recommend you stay away from the wholesalers until you are well established and know what you are doing. Unless you visit the wholesalers in person you will not be able to see the corals until they arrive at your place. Not saying you will always be disappointed, but when you are first starting there is a huge advantage in seeing what you are buying. If you really don't know what to start out with, do some leathers, Kenya, Zoa's, and mushrooms. Can't go wrong there. Good luck. Dan

11/01/2009, 05:06 PM	#6
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	So i think i may do a little of both, as in get some leathers and some kenya trees but also get high end stuff. As it is right now i have purple deaths but im not sure if that is considered high end? I am thinking about getting some african blue hornets but i have heard a lot of people say that they are super hard to keep. Also i want to try and get some rare mushrooms but im not sure of where to look to get them? If you could point me in the direction of some places it would make my day. And thank you all for responding

11/01/2009, 05:10 PM	#7
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	Also i was wondering if it would be worth it to try SPS? Or is it more cost effective when you are starting out to stay away from the sticks?

11/01/2009, 07:07 PM	#8
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	Alright so i have two ricordias that i plan on fragging soon... hopefully they all make it

11/01/2009, 10:06 PM	#10
DThompson Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 60	Step, Ricordea are pretty darn hardy. You should be fine.

11/02/2009, 05:21 PM	#11
Marchingbandjs Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 133	google coralmorphologic they got some nice start up stuff... mid price ranged corals, that will sell

11/02/2009, 08:09 PM	#12
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	Alright so i picked up a beautiful Yellow Fiji Leather today. It is about 4+ inchs and looks great. Going to be picking up a Tyree Long Polyped Toadstool soon also. So hopefully those two and my rics will be a good start. Thanks everyone for your input. Chalices and acans seem to be the most popular items in my area at the moment so i might get into those some day.

11/02/2009, 08:20 PM	#13
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	Has anyone ever used the suspension growing technique for sps? If so what was your results? Will this work with any type of branching sps? Also about how far down should they be hanging? A lot of flow or indirect flow? Thanks guys this just sounds like something interesting that i want to try out. Oh and i will also take pics of me fragging my rics. How long should i wait til i frag my yellow leather? How big should it be?

11/03/2009, 02:35 PM	#14
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	Alright so am about to upgrade my 10 gallon system to a 40gallon. Looking at getting a 6 bulb TEK fixture so hopefully that will be good. For the aquascaping i am going to have a three tier system made of eggcrate. So i will see how this works out for me

11/04/2009, 12:17 PM	#16
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	Danm i need to get into selling acans. About how long does it take for most of your acans to grow out to a fraggable size?

11/04/2009, 12:30 PM	#17
mkenny1818 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 7	Selling Acans If you were to rely on growing out each head to sell, then it wouldn't be much of a business. Acans sell for good money, but at the same time you need to have the customers that spend the good money. It comes down to one thing above all else. Money.. Lost of people think aquaculture is a never ending pit of money in which you will never make any.... Wrong. If you do it correctly and spend the money where it is necessary, it's then all up to you and generating customers.. I am 25, graduated with a business degree and now doing "this" as a full time job.. It can be done.

11/04/2009, 06:51 PM	#18
crsaz Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 473	I bought all my acans with over 40 heads on the and the big purple one has almost 100. I try to frag about 5 single heads at a time and wait untill new heads have formed and encrusted over the cut(usually about 3 week to a month) before I frag again. acans are definatly a money maker if you have "customers" to buy them but so far for me the big monti is the bigest money maker $20 for 3/4-1" frag. and the colony has already has about 3/4" of new growth in every direction since I got it. if I were to frag it back to original size I could probably get 12-15 frags out of it and still have the same size colony I started with. __________________ "Beware the hobby that eats" "Think for yourself and question authority" "The question that somtimes drives me hazy is am I or the others crazy?"

11/04/2009, 09:39 PM	#19
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	What kind of monti is that? The ones i want to get are the Jedi Mind Trick and the Red Hott Chili Pepper. They are both beautiful montis and i havent seen more than a couple people in my area with them

11/04/2009, 09:44 PM	#20
crsaz Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 473	its a chilli pepper monti __________________ "Beware the hobby that eats" "Think for yourself and question authority" "The question that somtimes drives me hazy is am I or the others crazy?"

11/04/2009, 10:03 PM	#21
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	oh ok thats sweet man

11/05/2009, 11:29 PM	#22
Step Johns Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 84	Alright so i axed the idea of buying a new 40gallon tank and i think i am just going to set back up my old 60G. And i had a question i want to get a TEK fixture for it but cant decide if i should get the 4, 6, or 8 bulb model. I want to keep sps so i am not sure of which one i will need.

11/06/2009, 11:50 AM	#23
1DeR9_3Hy Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 1,711	How deep is a 60 gallon? If you keep your sps in the top 12" or so of the tank a 4 bulb would be plenty. Of course 6 and 8 would be better, but energy usage wise...you could get away with a 4 bulb if you keep things shallow.