Attaching soft corals

It get easier to attach these soft corals once you get the hang of it. It's easiest for me to do it on a frag plug with a rubberband but rock will work also. Superglue will not work at all on these corals. They slime themselves off the superglue. There's no way superglue or epoxy would work. The trick is to keep them as still as possible and the rubberband has to be just right or the coral will come loose or split in two. I like to do mine on frag plugs so I can set them on a rack or place them on the sandbed and they won't move around too much. This can take a week, a month, or longer depending on light, water chemistry and how much the frag is disturbed.

Here's a pic of how I did mine.


I wrap the excess rubberband around the peg on the bottom of the frag plug and that's how I adjust the tension on the coral. If the coral is starting to get away then just slip it back under the rubberband and tighten it a bit. Look underneath the rubberband and make sure it's not too tight and cutting the coral in half. Just enough pressure to hold the frag still. Some pressure is good and the coral will start to grow around the rubberband and look like it's going to make two branches but don't worry about that. Just make sure it's not cutting it completely in half.

and the finished product.





Don't try to rubberband it facing up like it normally would grow. Just lay it flat on the plug and once it attaches it will grow upwards toward the light and right itself again. Get the most surface area of the coral you can on the area you are mounting it to. It will look sad at first but it will take care of itself and once it's grown a little you won't even be able to tell.

If you don't like the look of frag plugs then once the coral is firmly attached then use a pair of cutters to snip off the excess plug from around the coral and superglue it where ever you like. If it still looks unnatural just give it a little time and the coral should soon grow over the remaining plug and you won't even know it's there.

do you buy your plugs or make your own? My kenya tree has been giving me frags but nothing to attach them to(I put on on a rock and it stuck, others are in the sand still).

grawlfang wrote:do you buy your plugs or make your own? My kenya tree has been giving me frags but nothing to attach them to(I put on on a rock and it stuck, others are in the sand still).

I buy mine but it shouldn't be too hard to make your own. Rubble rock will work too.