To lay SPS frags down or not?

[Alexraptor]

When I first got started in this hobby, 17 years ago, my first SPS was a yellow/green montipora digita fragment that I got for peanuts. Back then the "fragging craze" had not yet taken off here in Sweden, and entire colonies were still the norm. I still remember the bemused chuckle from the LFS guy, when I asked for the price of that tiny broken branch at the bottom of the tank. 😄 But I digress!

 

At the time I never thought to affix the fragment to anything, but simple laid the entire branch down in a recession on the rock, and after a few weeks, encrusting growth was spreading in all directions from the branch. I've repeated the practice since with other frags of the same colony without issues. But it has made me wonder, how good/bad is it? Are there any actual risks involved? Seeing as the tissue on polyps on the face-down side towards the rock, will invariably 'die'.

 

The reason I'm asking this now I suppose, is because I have my eyes on fancier(and pricier) monti's, such as the forest fire and bubble gum digi's. Should I simply just place them upright and leave them on the frag plugs? Or would it be safe to simply remove them from the plugs and lay them down, in order to allow them to spread across the rock faster and at the same time, allow for more 'natural' growth patterns? Because lets be real here, naturally fragged SPS colonies(via storms etcs) are definitely going to start from a horizontal position most of the time. 😉

 

Thoughts?

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

I've always cut SPS frags (and any frag for that matter) off of the plug and glued them directly to the rockwork. I don't see any harm in just setting a frag down where you want it and letting it grow from there- like you said, in the ocean it's natural for pieces to be broken off and regrow where they fall, but, mind you, not every piece of coral that gets broken off in this way survives.

 

As far as "best practice" goes, I'm not so sure. I think the big idea of gluing or mounting frags is that they will stay put as not all spots on the rockwork where we want to place a frag can one just set it there; it's at an awkward angle or what have you. I feel that you'd probably be fine, if your scape allows, to continue just dropping frags where you want them and having them grow from there, but I'd like to see what other, more experienced SPS keepers think.