Coral fragments for aquaculture are usually attached to a
solid substratum (e.g. rock, concrete, plastic, ropes, lines).
Such attachment is important to enhance survival, because
unattached fragments show low survival rates (Heyward &
Collins 1985; Nagelkerkenet al. 2000). This is probably
caused by the time needed for natural ‘self’ attachment,
which may take from several weeks to almost a year forin
situ-cultured coral fragments (Guestet al.2011). The preferred type of substratum to be applied varies among species and is dependent on the intended use of the fragments
and the culture approach (sea based vs. land based). For
the purpose of reef restoration, Shafir et al.(2006b) glued
nubbins ofS. pistillataon plastic pins. After grow-out of
the nubbins in a hatchery, the new colonies could be reintroduced on natural reefs by plugging the pins into holes
that had been drilled into the rocky substratum prior to
transplantation. Suspended culture on ropes (e.g. Soong &
Chen 2003) is particularly suitable for mariculture as a
means to reduce the effects of sedimentation. This method
delivers ‘clean’ colonies that can be positioned directly on
reefs or in aquaria without the need to remove unattractive
supports. For scientific purposes, gluing coral on plastic
plates or other flat supports is the preferred technique. The
supports keep the young colonies in a fixed orientation, but
allow flexibility to the experimenter to rearrange the position of the fragments and to use the fragments for metabolic measurements.