Why you shouldn't overdo fragging of Acros.

[Achilles Tang]

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Next, take a given Acropora species. Frag it, leaving the mother colony and daughter colonies in the same tank. Because of increased tissue mass, the mother colony will have more energy stores available in case of stress than the frag would. Bathe both of them in water that contains a stressor, the frag would succumb to the cumulative stress before the mother colony would. Reason fragging the coral would force it to shunt part of its metabolism into repair/growth, rather then energy storage. Also, as chemical warfare starts, the coral will slowly ramp up it's own defenses and offence- meaning it will also start producing secondary metabolites. In a coral already short on energy reserves, having to heal and work hard on producing chemicals, the coral will be stressed. This is why I believe that the fragment checked out before the mother colony. You also can keep in mind here that the frag/mother colony are genetically identical.

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[hongqixian]

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Next, take a given Acropora species. Frag it, leaving the mother colony and daughter colonies in the same tank. Because of increased tissue mass, the mother colony will have more energy stores available in case of stress than the frag would. Bathe both of them in water that contains a stressor, the frag would succumb to the cumulative stress before the mother colony would. Reason fragging the coral would force it to shunt part of its metabolism into repair/growth, rather then energy storage. Also, as chemical warfare starts, the coral will slowly ramp up it's own defenses and offence- meaning it will also start producing secondary metabolites. In a coral already short on energy reserves, having to heal and work hard on producing chemicals, the coral will be stressed. This is why I believe that the fragment checked out before the mother colony. You also can keep in mind here that the frag/mother colony are genetically identical.

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It looks like a continuation of some posting???

[Achilles Tang]

taken off a newsgroup posting.