Sunday, November 2, 2008

Divide and Conquer

My Colt coral has grown huge. After giving my two sons haircuts yesterday I decided it was time to prune back the coral. Hopefully I can get the clippings to grow on some rubble.

I pruned a few small branches back with scissors. Actually, they are the same ones I used to cut my kids hair. I then stabbed each cutting with a round wood toothpick and secured each of them to a piece of rubble or live rock.

Here are a few of the clippings:

From Paul's Reef




From Paul's Reef




From Paul's Reef


And here is where one of the clippings was cut from its mother:
From Paul's Reef

I think on a few of the clippings I may have stabbed the coral too low. The toothpick looks like it has been pulled through the base of at least one of the clippings allowing it to float away. Hmm, looks like I need to develop the technique a little more.

I also divided a mushroom. I sliced the head off of one and secured it to a piece of live rock with bridal netting and a rubberband. Look for a picture soon. The mushrooms have begun taking off in the last few weeks. They started growing more rapidly before I upgraded the lighting,



From Paul's Reef