Advice abounds on how to propagate various corals. Many methods can work for many corals, but sometimes you run into a finicky coral which doesn't seem to want to cooperate the way you hoped or were told that it certainly would and should. I've checked the gorgonian propagation subject out a bit more thoroughly than some who claim to be experts. After all, I listened to some of them before trying it myself. I've helped many people solve the problems they've had when fruitlessly trying to get gorgonian cuttings to attach to rocks the way they heard that they are supposed to easily attach and don't. The specific method can be more important and helpful with this particular coral than with many others. The method I developed (or did I reinvent the wheel?) is "hands-down" much better than other methods I've heard of and tried. Regardless of who may have invented this method, no one was sharing this method with anybody when I first tried it. Please let me know if someone else was using this method before 1996 so I can give them credit. That person may also be the unknown first person to use super glue attachment with coral cuttings(???). While Mark Barnes was developing the use of Super Glue gels, to more easily attach coral cuttings than previous people had been able to with runny super glues, he did try the gels on some gorgonian cuttings but not have as good of success as my modified method I started using just shortly after learning his basics. After watching failures with and without super glue, this method just kind of became the obvious answer as it begged me to try it. I've had an easier time and a much higher success rate with this method than with any other. Others who understand this simple method and have tested various other methods agree that this method really works best. Use this easy method if you want to have gorgonian propagation whipped.
Photosynthetic gorgonians, usually with tan or brown polyps, are best suited for most reef aquariums since they can feed from photosynthesis and also on food particles, plankton or artificial plankton drifting in the water column. Nonphotosynthetic gorgonians can often be much more difficult to keep in a closed reef system since they need constant feeding to stay healthy since they lack xooxanthellae to help feed them when adequate lighting is present. For this reason I'd recommend working with the photosynthetic gorgonians. Let's get started.
Cut off the higher portions of the tall stems of your "mother" gorgonian. Next, strip about one half inch of the skin from the bottom of the central stem of each new cutting. You will now have a short piece of the gorgonian's central stem poking out the bottom of each cutting. Use a sharp knife to strip this small amount of skin from the bottom of each cutting, being careful not to cut the protruding piece of central stem off which you will need for the next step.
You can make the cuttings long or short, straight pieces or branched pieces, but keep in mind that they seem to do best if at least one inch of skin is still left attached to the cutting after you strip the bottom one half inch of skin from the stem of the gorgonian cutting. When I have tried to make too many cuttings by making them extra short, I end up with only one half inch of un- stripped gorgonian above the stripped part. I've had a few more failures when trying to get too many new cuttings this way. When the cuttings are closer to two inches or longer the success rate is unbelievable. You do NOT have to cut a branched cutting from your original gorgonian, a two inch long straight stem is fine. Once the bottom one half inch or so of skin is stripped from the central stem, the cutting will look like a miniature coral popsicle.
Next, blot off any excess water or fluid from the stem and bottom of the gorgonian cutting. Then take some super glue (thick Super Glue gels are best), while working out of water perhaps over a glass type bowl or plate, and glue the bare stem at the bottom of your gorgonian cutting to the side of a reef-safe baserock or live rock. Now, put the newly glued part in a bowl of saltwater to set up or start curing the glue for a few seconds or more (moisture reacts with the glue - it heats it up and cures it), and then put it into your reef aquarium where the glue can finish setting/curing. The super glue will hold the bare stem of the cutting tightly against the rock while the skin grows down onto the rock and even covers the glued stem. It's weird how it grows over the stripped stem which is mostly encased in glue now, as if it can tell that the stem is under the glue and it wants to cover again. This part of the attachment process, covering the stem again, can be fairly quick as far as gorgonian growth rates go, perhaps a few weeks in some cases. The upward growth of the top of the gorgonian stem, and future branching, quite often go much slower than this.
A few tips now. It's best to not get glue on the skin of the gorgonian, since Super Glue seems to irritate gorgonian skin and often cause death of the skin covered with glue. Some corals are sensitive to Super Glue, and gorgonians tend to be one of them. Disc anemones are even more finicky. It IS best to have at least a piece of the gorgonian skin touching the bare rock when you glue the stem to it so that the skin can attach to the rock and spread over a small part of it and over the Super Glued stem. I have used runny super glue for this, but it is a bit more frustrating and difficult sometimes to get good attachment while keeping the runny stuff from getting all over yourself and everything else. I'd usually rather use Mark Barnes' Super Reef Gel ( reefgel@aol.com ), or at least another thick super glue gel from the store. But, if you're having a tough time with super glues from the local office supply, hardware or department store then you might really want to try the thickest and best, which is what Super Reef Gel is.
Just cutting off a piece of gorgonian stem and Super Gluing it right to a rock, standing up, can sometimes work just fine, but quite often they fall off after a day or a few. The fresh Super Glue sometimes irritates the skin of the gorgonian which can lead to detachment in some types of coral cuttings. Others and I have tried to drill the small holes in rocks and stick the cut off stem of a gorgonian branch somewhat or almost snugly into the hole and wait for it to attach to the rock around the hole, usually the skin in the hole is stressed and just rots. Can you see a potential problem here? After the enclosed skin rots then maybe the remaining skin above will sometimes attach back downward on the stem and onto the rock, if left undisturbed. The problem at this point is that the stem can get tipped around and this can thwart attachment progress. Another version of this method that has worked for some is to drill a slightly larger hole in the rock and use the extra crunchy Styrofoam balls used for craft projects. Stuff a small chunk of this crunchy Styrofoam loosely into the hole to lightly hold the stem in place while it attaches to the rock. You still have the rotting potential if the gorgonian is stuffed too deeply or tightly into the hole so that skin portion does not get circulation to water flow. I've personally had poorer results this way too. You can also rubber band or tie gorgonian cuttings to rocks. You can also tie or rubber band them horizontally to rocks and then they can grow onto the rock over a larger area and send up new multiple stems. This is much slower and can result in rotting stems where bound, and also slower attachment in most cases I've seen and heard of. Kind of like corallimorpharians, when you irritate the skin of gorgonian cuttings it delays attachment or can even prevent it. You can also lay a small cutting in a gravel bowl and it will attach if left undisturbed so it can attach. I've also tried the suggestion of stuffing wood or plastic toothpick pieces up into the gorgonian cutting alongside the central stem and then sticking the other end of the toothpick into a crevice or hole in a rock to secure it while it attaches and grows on the rock. Several others and I usually ended up with the gorgonian cutting rotting off of the toothpick where ever it touches the toothpick inside the gorgonian stem. But, when trying this method with very skinny natural broom straws I had more success, but still not as good as when I strip the bottom of the central stem and simply super glue that bare portion of stem to the rock. It's simple and sure. Why mess around with poor advice, questionable or inferior methods on those few corals which seem to be a bit more finicky? Once you've made two of them this way you'll feel like a pro on the next one. Cut, strip, glue, simple as that!
I do have a couple of 100% tank-raised gorgonians that are about four to six inches tall and about two years old. When you see claims of people or companies with totally tank raised gorgonians that they just made from cuttings a couple of months to a year ago, and this young gorgonian is four to eight inches long and well branched, you can bet that it isn't really 100% tank-raised. Most tan or brown polyped photosynthetic gorgonians only grow a couple inches per year in your tank. These imposter beauties are often just taken from a large gorgonian right out of the ocean which was cut into many pieces and each reattached to rocks. This certainly is a nice way spread one wild gorgonian around much further. But, in some less than honest cases the skin of the larger wild cutting is allowed to grow onto the rock and the tips have only grown just a tiny bit while in captivity when the coral is then sold as perhaps "10th generation 100% tank-raised". I don't buy anything from places trying to pull one over on me like this. Kind of like the president - didn't he tell a lie? Now, what else might not be the way he says it is???