What's a Fragback?

The Fragback concept embodies a unique way of reducing the impact that coral collection for the aquarium hobby has on the world's reefs.  It encourages the sharing of collected corals and the exchange of information related to creating optimal captive environments in which the corals can thrive.  It provides incentives for reefkeepers to engage in active coral propagation and, by design, creates economic disincentives for additional collection of similar wild corals.

It works like this:

• The owner of a unique coral makes frags available for a reasonable cost plus one or more fragbacks.
• Reefkeepers interested in growing out the coral acquire a frag from the owner and agree, if/when they successfully grow the coral out to double its initial size, to return a frag back (i.e. fragback) to the original owner.  Within reason, the returned frag should be the same size as the one the grower initially received.  If more than one fragback was initially agreed upon, this process continues until the agreed upon number of fragbacks have been returned.  Once the grower has met his fragback obligation to the initial owner, he is free to offer frags of the coral to others, for sale with or without fragback requirements, or for trade as he sees fit.

How do Fragbacks benefit the coral reefs?

Fragging and distributing wild corals to multiple tanks, as soon as is practicable, gives those corals which successfully endure the substantial stresses of collection and transit --from collector, to importer, to distributor, to consumer--  the best possible chance of being placed in a captive environment in which they can survive, grow and thrive.

Collection pressures for the latest "must have" corals will be reduced since hardier, significantly cheaper frags (no shipping costs) will be available locally.  As local coral availability increases, frag prices will rapidly drop and market forces will make continued wild collection of similar corals economically unsupportable.

How do Fragbacks benefit the "Provider" of a coral?

Reefkeepers who expend the substantial funds, time and effort required to acquire unique corals, receive many benefits from participating in fragbacks.  Most importantly, assuming the initial fragging is done responsibly, they greatly increase the odds they'll end up with a healthy coral.  If the piece of the original colony they keep doesn't survive, they can try again, as fragbacks are received, with the knowledge of what others might have done differently.

Selling frags from the original colony can substantially lessen the costs and risks associated with acquiring new corals.  Outstanding fragbacks provide a  form of disaster insurance against tank crashes.  Received fragbacks provide additional trading and selling opportunities.

Participating in fragbacks is an excellent way to meet other local reefkeepers with shared interests.

How big will my zoanthid frag be?

Frag sizes vary widely based upon the type of zoanthid and how difficult it is to acquire, keep and grow.  Rarer, slower growing frags tend to include fewer polyps.  The standardized zoanthid frag size descriptions and associated polyp counts used on this site are shown below.  Only open healthy looking polyps are included in the polyp counts.

Description	Min-Max # of polyps	Target # of polyps
Specimen frag	1	1
Tiny frag	2 - 4	3
Very Small frag	5 - 7	6
Small frag	8 - 12	10
Medium frag	13 - 19	15
Large frag	20 - 29	25
Small mat	30 - 40	35
Medium mat	41 - 59	50
Large mat	60 - 90	75
Colony	91+	100+