Is this Kenya self fragging?

[James Hammett]

First is "Self Fragging" the correct terminology? Secondly i am very new to this whole hobby and if you view our build thread you will see this a class tank for a special education biology class. what does this tell us if anything? ( Tank healthy? Coral trying to survive or stressed? Natural growth? ) is there anything We should do? My concern is this piece breaking off at night or over a weekend and getting sucked into power head, should I cut it off there and secure it to a rock?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Looks like a critter was working on it. Shrimp will pick at leather corals and cause these little rings on them, I know the skunk cleaner shrimp I had was bad about eating my green nephthea leather, silly little fella couldn't hide his bright green glowing mouth

If I recall correctly, kenya trees will branch off from the base of the coral, but cuttings will easily grow as soon as they settle on a rock (or even the sand bed).

 

[Caseyoidae]

This is how they reproduce I believe.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Nevermind, after looking into it some more, this is how they reproduce

 

[andrewkw]

Yes it's self fragging. Or propagating. I'm not sure what the scientific term is. It looks like it's about 1-2 days away from falling off. If it gets sucked into a powerhead no big deal. You can try and twist it off. If it doesn't come off easily it's not ready. I have some growing on my powerheads and get about a dozen frags a week from my kenya trees. It's really become a problem for me, I have a frag tank with over 100 in there...

 

[James Hammett]

so how hardy are they I have a second tank that was recently set up, I tested it today and it has ammonia at .4, Nitrite at .5 ph 8.4, hardness at 9, Nitrate was 20... I have this kenya and another that ive had a week or so that has never stood up the guy at petco think is was broken in shipment to them? can i put pieces in the new tank yet?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

so how hardy are they I have a second tank that was recently set up, I tested it today and it has ammonia at .4, Nitrite at .5 ph 8.4, hardness at 9, Nitrate was 20... I have this kenya and another that ive had a week or so that has never stood up the guy at petco think is was broken in shipment to them? can i put pieces in the new tank yet?

They're pretty hard to kill honestly, a lot of folks call them weeds.

But you should probably wait until you have zero ammonia before adding anything to that tank.

 

[Pntbll687]

they are a hardy coral, and will spread quickly if conditions are right.

Kenya trees, along with xenia can spread rapidly and tank over a tank .

 

[James Hammett]

They're pretty hard to kill honestly, a lot of folks call them weeds.

But you should probably wait until you have zero ammonia before adding anything to that tank.

that tank has an emerald crab in it and live rock, one rock has some really old zoas and a few mushroom on it. I wasn't really starting a tank but just storing some live rock in a 10 gallon tank with water from water change. the zoas had never opened and the rock they are on had parasites so I dipped it and put it in there. some of the rock has bubble algae so I threw the crab in (he hasn't touched it) I added some Mangroves to it a few days agao because another teacher ordered them then had no idea what to do so gave them to me.

 

[James Hammett]

This is the little tank

 

[andrewkw]

You could try. The only reason I suggest you don't is you mention this is a a special education biology class and putting corals into a tank with ammonia is bad example for the class. If it was at home I'd say go for it. I'm not sure if they are the hardiest coral but they are certainly up there. I have them growing under my rocks and all over. Typically you will want to glue them to either plugs or rock rubble. Personally I have about 75-90% success rate gluing them but at first you probably will be more like 50/50.

You don't have to glue them but this is the easiest way to control where they go. They certainly are like weeds. Unlike say xenia or green star polyps they drop pieces and it spreads. I've never had a problem containing another coral. They still are nice looking and a good starter coral. They are also an easy way to fill a tank. If I lived anywhere but the middle of no where I'd be trading selling or giving mine away. Maybe when I get up to 1000 pcs I can sell them wholesale for 50 cents a piece

This one stuck to the powerhead while I was away. You can just scrape it off and it will deflate and be fine in a few days. I'm currently out of plugs so I just left it.

I have a rack of about 100 pieces of them in my frag tank which I mainly have because I need to get these out of my display tank. As you can see most are attached to plugs. They were all glued at one point. I actually have another rack of other corals above them too so they are fine in sub optimal lighting. I have forgotten about some while fragging and been surprised how long they are fine out of the water.

 

[warren sweeney]

 

[rosshamsandwich]

kenya trees r great

 

[rock_lobster]

They will spread all over the tank no way to contain them. They will require frequent pruning and removal.

 

[norfolkgarden]

They will spread all over the tank no way to contain them. They will require frequent pruning and removal.

Yup. Wish the neon green ones spread that easily!

 

[James Hammett]

It popped off I glued it to a rock... wish kids were here today... teacher work day!!!

I also cut a piece off of what I think is a colt coral it was hanging to the floor

 

[James Hammett]

Cut the hanging limb on the right of this guy

 

[rosshamsandwich]

they are not invasive

 

[norfolkgarden]

they are not invasive

Um, if the regular pinkish with brown polyps Kenya tree is not invasive for you, similar to the pictures earlier in this thread, maybe you could check your parameters more?

 

[rosshamsandwich]

what should i be checking for??