Bob, you could also frag it very carefully with a hammer and chisel, and yes you will loose a few polyps but this type of coral is hardy to frag.

I have broke off similar corals with hammer and chisel before. Once you break the pieces you should give them a rinse in some saltwater for about half an hour before returning then into the main tank as they will release some mucus. Also be sure to use a clean chisel, this lessons the chance of the coral getting infections. When placed back into the tank, be sure to place the cut side of the coral into a high flow area of the tank for a week or two until it heals.

Some people may think this is an extreme method of fragging corals, although I have done this to many types of LPS corals including frogspawn, torch, brains, and even bubble corals with no losses. It's no different on a coral this way, than by natural methods such as storms or anchors or divers :mrgreen:

Anchors and divers, a natural method of coral propogation. Sounds like an oxymoron. :mrgreen:

Chad

I think what I understand is that what you are breaking is the coral's skeleton into some smaller pieces. If that is so, it is logical to think that if you leave it alone, it will just continue to grow bigger. Is my thinking here correct :question: :question: :question:

Yes Bob that's exactly what will happen, I was just gave the frag tip incase it was grwong to large or maybe incase you just wanted
to diversify a little :mrgreen:

Yeah Chad I know it sounds crazy, at least a lot of dive companys and tropical resorts now use anchor line bouys :exclaim:

I am somewhat confused. Sprung's book on corals states that Favia (which I think this is) is "assive or encrusting" I have not been able to find a dictionary meaning for "assive" If it is encrusting, it should grow onto an adjoining rock. when it does this, does it grow a new skeleton :question: Sprung's book shows pictures of a number of small colonies close to each other. If only I could find out what "assive" is :confused:

Could it be a misspelling for "massive", Bob?

Mitch

That is what I thought, but it says "assive OR encrusting", which means to me that there are two ways of multiplying. :confused:

which book and page?
(I might have it)

Mitch

It is CORALS - a quick reference guide - by Julian Sprung. The page number is 108

Yeah, I've got that. I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to be Massive AND encrusting....
If you look on the page before, Diploastrea description starts with "Massive...."(and massive is capitalized)

I've never heard of "assive"... something close on Seinfeld though...

Mitch :mrgreen: