Ok gang, I was going to run this as a poll but couldn't think of enough options so it's going to be a regular old thread. A friend and fellow reefer asked me this question and it got me thinking:
What the difference between a "colony" and a "Frag"?
I'm not talking about the obvious ones. A small 1" stick is a frag and a softball sized acro is colony. I'm more interested in when does a frag turning in to a colony? I sometimes post items for sale that I refer to as mini-colonies and I'm wondering what other folks think fits that bill. Here's what I use as a reference, please tell me what you think and if I need to work on my definitions.
Frag - a frag is a piece of coral that has been removed from a larger piece and is healed up. Some new growth has been seen but it's still small. Typically in the 1"-3" range for the branching types and under 2" for encrusting. The key for me is that a "frag" can't be divided or fragged into anything else. I think of a frag as the smallest coral unit. It's a stand alone thing and what a lot of us start with. For LPS a frag would be 1-3 mouths/polyps with apparent healing. I don't have a whole lot of experience with zoas but I suppose a zoa frag would be similar to LPS with 1-3 heads.
Mini-colony - a mini colony is larger and could be divided into 2 or more frags. In my mind, the key difference between a mini-colony and a colony is that when you frag a mini-colony, you're left with only frags. For example, I sold some larger duncans that I labelled as "mini-colonies" because they had 4+ mature heads with a few smaller one's. With a band saw, it could be cut into one or two frags but that would be it.
Colony - a colony is a larger coral that can be trimmed into a few frags AND still have a "mother" that would at least be a mini colony. I recently sold a green bird's nest and I could have easily taken quite a few decent sized frags from it and still had a nice mini-colony left behind to grow out. Colonies can be pretty large but if they're fragged, there's still a good sized piece left over.
So, what do you guys think? These are definitions that I've been using and completely subjective. I'm not looking to argue my definitions; I just want to see what y'all think. I kind of feel onto this line of thought so tell me what comes to your mind when you hear or see items referred to with these different monikers.
What the difference between a "colony" and a "Frag"?
I'm not talking about the obvious ones. A small 1" stick is a frag and a softball sized acro is colony. I'm more interested in when does a frag turning in to a colony? I sometimes post items for sale that I refer to as mini-colonies and I'm wondering what other folks think fits that bill. Here's what I use as a reference, please tell me what you think and if I need to work on my definitions.
Frag - a frag is a piece of coral that has been removed from a larger piece and is healed up. Some new growth has been seen but it's still small. Typically in the 1"-3" range for the branching types and under 2" for encrusting. The key for me is that a "frag" can't be divided or fragged into anything else. I think of a frag as the smallest coral unit. It's a stand alone thing and what a lot of us start with. For LPS a frag would be 1-3 mouths/polyps with apparent healing. I don't have a whole lot of experience with zoas but I suppose a zoa frag would be similar to LPS with 1-3 heads.
Mini-colony - a mini colony is larger and could be divided into 2 or more frags. In my mind, the key difference between a mini-colony and a colony is that when you frag a mini-colony, you're left with only frags. For example, I sold some larger duncans that I labelled as "mini-colonies" because they had 4+ mature heads with a few smaller one's. With a band saw, it could be cut into one or two frags but that would be it.
Colony - a colony is a larger coral that can be trimmed into a few frags AND still have a "mother" that would at least be a mini colony. I recently sold a green bird's nest and I could have easily taken quite a few decent sized frags from it and still had a nice mini-colony left behind to grow out. Colonies can be pretty large but if they're fragged, there's still a good sized piece left over.
So, what do you guys think? These are definitions that I've been using and completely subjective. I'm not looking to argue my definitions; I just want to see what y'all think. I kind of feel onto this line of thought so tell me what comes to your mind when you hear or see items referred to with these different monikers.
