I recently went to my LFS looking for frags for my nano. I saw he had some nice frags for 10 bucks so I asked for one. Instead of getting the ones that he had in the priced section, he CUT a section from his mother colony and THrew that in a bag with some water. I think I was in too much shock to react and when I got it home after acclimating it for and hour I put it on a small rock held by a toothpick that is tied down by a rubberband. The frag still does not look happy. Its been about 24 hours now. IS this common practice? Should I return the pitiful little frag and get one that looks established or just ask for my money back? :roll:
LFS sold me a xenia frag will it make it?
- Thread starter shabash
- Start date
my water param are still ok. I am worried tho that if it dies it will nuke my tank i have a 12g nano and I cant afford it turning to slime before I can get it out. I am willing to give it time to"get better" but not at the cost of my tank. I have a hydor wave maker and I have put the frag where it will get a regular blast of water.. is that ok too or should I move it to where it will get little flow? I still havent figured out how to attach pics here.
click "postreply" instead of quick reply.
there will be a browse button to find the pic.
listen, xenia is like weeds of the ocean. i cut mine off of rocks with scissors, where it's too close to my favorite corals, and 3 days later, it's grown back. it's not easy to kill. like mrktplayer said, if your water parameters are ok, it will grow nicely....AND QUICKLY!
there will be a browse button to find the pic.
listen, xenia is like weeds of the ocean. i cut mine off of rocks with scissors, where it's too close to my favorite corals, and 3 days later, it's grown back. it's not easy to kill. like mrktplayer said, if your water parameters are ok, it will grow nicely....AND QUICKLY!
I think you would have been better off with the toothpick, personally, but the mesh should work fine as well (haven't tried it that way personally), so I'd leave it as you have it. Like Mr. X said, it's usually a very forgiving coral and you'll have more than you know what to do with before long. Also, don't worry about it nuking your tank. I don't believe it releases any toxic chemicals, and they usually decay slowly if they do die, so I wouldn't think you'll have any issues with a frag that size.
I think that was very bad form on the part of your LFS by the way. I generally don't even give away xenia I haven't gotten to attach to something, much less sell it. The only time I'd accept a frag the LFS just then and there snipped off from the mother colony is if it were a hard coral. I can understand you just not reacting mentally right away, though. There are plenty of times, I've gotten home and thought to myself, "now, why did I find that acceptable?"
I think that was very bad form on the part of your LFS by the way. I generally don't even give away xenia I haven't gotten to attach to something, much less sell it. The only time I'd accept a frag the LFS just then and there snipped off from the mother colony is if it were a hard coral. I can understand you just not reacting mentally right away, though. There are plenty of times, I've gotten home and thought to myself, "now, why did I find that acceptable?"
I can tell you with certainty that that will be the last time I buy from him. It's too bad since he just about 5 minutes from my house and the only really good LFS I have found is more than an hour away from me. but I guess it will be worth the drive and even the prices. I should have gone with my gut. His store smells "funny" and he boasts excellent water quality but has red slime algae all over his fish display tanks. I only bought because the coral tanks looked good and his frags (the ones that he didnt sell) looked great too. I hope all the manhandling Ive had to do to that poor frag dont kill it but it appears that if I was going to abuse one I picked the right type of coral to do it too..lol!! Thanks for the responses, I will keep you posted in a few days to let you know if it makes it.
well, since it is quite convenient, don't boycott the store...because someday he might have a real awesome coral you want. i have a few stores nearby that i cringe as i enter. but i still enter. as you get more familiar with things, you'll know what to accept and what not to.
islandcrow....that last statement you said.....how well i related to it! too funny!
i don't know about the mesh though...like above mentioned, i think i like the toothpick idea better, although i would have just gently squeezed it between 2 rocks and let it attach itself.
islandcrow....that last statement you said.....how well i related to it! too funny!
i don't know about the mesh though...like above mentioned, i think i like the toothpick idea better, although i would have just gently squeezed it between 2 rocks and let it attach itself.
thats true but his attitude is not one that I think I want to encourage. OK so I will hold the jury out on the store. I think that at this point im gonna leave well enough alone and see what happens. There isnt enough of a stalk to squeeze between anything so I'm not sure I would have had any luck trying to put it between two rocks but if the mesh doesnt work ill try that with whatever may be left of the poor creature.
It will be a good deal if the frag makes it yes. but i'm not so sure it was worth all the worry ive been thru, if he had sold me one that was already established on a rock like the ones he has in the priced section there would be no question as I am sure none of this would have happened. Even for a hardy coral, its been thru a lot.
10 dollars for xenia isn't a bad price from a store, but the way things went down was crap. i don't blame shabash for losing respect for the guy.
shabash..did you check out frags.org? there is a link for it above. you might be able to find a fellow reefkeeper close to you who you can trade with/buy from. and it's about the cheapest way to get nice stuff.
shabash..did you check out frags.org? there is a link for it above. you might be able to find a fellow reefkeeper close to you who you can trade with/buy from. and it's about the cheapest way to get nice stuff.
Yea, I can understand that. I feel that way towards some of the stores here. I haven't tried frags.org but I have been getting frags from local reefers. I've been doing this recently and it's so much fun. What would have cost me $300 from an online store I paid $75 from a local reefer. Not only do I get great deals but I get to see other people's setup and learn from them.
no I havent tried that site yet, but I will check it out, thanks. If worse comes to worst, there is a very good store that I can go to but like I said its over an hour drive and the prices are a bit high, but you can see the difference in livestock right away. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for...
Thanks again to all those who responded. here's an update on the frag. see pic below..
I waited 3 days and tried to remove the mesh..the frag stuck to it rather than the rock it was tied to..oh well. So I turned the mesh over and tried to epoxy that to the rock.. no luck.. it seems mesh and epoxy don't speak the same language. so I tied a rubberband to the mesh around the epoxied rock and BINGO finally!! The frag is happy and seems to be doing fine. it's opened up and pumping just like it should. I'm going to wait another week to remove the rubberband and cut off what ever extra mesh I can but it looks like its going to be great.
Again, thanks all for your advice!
I waited 3 days and tried to remove the mesh..the frag stuck to it rather than the rock it was tied to..oh well. So I turned the mesh over and tried to epoxy that to the rock.. no luck.. it seems mesh and epoxy don't speak the same language. so I tied a rubberband to the mesh around the epoxied rock and BINGO finally!! The frag is happy and seems to be doing fine. it's opened up and pumping just like it should. I'm going to wait another week to remove the rubberband and cut off what ever extra mesh I can but it looks like its going to be great.
Again, thanks all for your advice!
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