Curious about frags

[FishWife]

OK; so we're getting close to importing our first corals. What we don't understand is just how you add corals to a tank. Do you just set a frag (which I guess is growing on a small chunk of rock, right?) to a handy ledge at what a book or person says is the right depth/light etc. and watch it attach to your existing live rock over time?

 

Same in reverse: how do you frag OUT, or remove, or move corals?

 

Just needing more clarity on the general proceedures.

 

PS: In related wonderings... HOW do you "split" an anemone... aren't they one animal?

[Nitro Junkie]

how long has your tank been setup/cycled ?

[Leishman]

Lots of good basic fragging info Here @ GARF

[FishWife]

Lots of good basic fragging info Here @ GARF

 

Nitro: we've been working along at our system, which involves a refugium (30 gal), sump, and 80 bow. Our system is not complete; the refugium's been cycling for three weeks, had live rock in it for two weeks, and has one clown fish (we couldn't resist and needed a fish, so) for one week. Meanwhile, the live rock we got (some in the 'fuge -- 2 weeks old -- and some in our QT tank -- got it last night -- is well seasoned: we're cycling and patient but a lot of what we have we've gotten second hand, so the tank in its key elements is much further than one-to-three weeks along. We also have T-5s; all we lack is hooking up the bow to the 'fuge, and for that, we need to construct a closed loop. So, we're about one or two weeks off of bringing the bow tank online.

 

As we've been anticipating that wonderful day, we've been anticipating corals... in a month or more... and got to wondering the above.

 

Thanks for asking! It shows that you care about the animals.

 

And, thanks Rik, for that link.

Edited September 26, 2007 by FishWife

[Nitro Junkie]

with a young tank (mine is to) you may want to start out with some softies.

 

A frag is just a small piece of coral that has been cut or broken off a larger coral and attached to small pieces of live rock or "plugs" of various types to propgate it. When I get a new frag I usually put it down on the bottom to let the coral adjust to the tank. and move it around or up and down in the tank accordingly.

[Rascal]

Start with something hardy, but make sure it is something that fits into your long-term plan for the tank.

 

There are some hardy sps, too -- monipora digitata for instance.

 

For frags mounted on plugs, I usually use some underwater epoxy to attach it to the rockwork. When using epoxy just remember that it is not glue. You can mold it around the base of the plug and mash it into some cracks and holes and when it hardens it will hold everything in place, but don't expect it to just stick like glue would. For unmounted frags lately I have taken to just using super glue gel (the handi-bond type from a group buy last summer). I put a generous dab on the base of the frag and then push it against the rock under water until it sets up a bit. So far this has worked surprisingly well and takes up a lot less space than the epoxy.

 

Some people just fine a secure place in the rockwork and place the frag so it will encrust as you describe, but when I try this it seems someone always wants to redecorate, so I have learned to make sure my frags are more secure initially.

[zotzer]

People have been very generous with donating extra frags when I've bought something from them. Both things I actually bought and paid for were rocks with stuff on them, so I just positioned those strategically in the tank. All other frags were loose, so I used the super glue gel (also donated to the cause by the very gracious lanman) and just glued them right to the rock.

 

The exceptions were GSP...they were on a frag plug, and I glued the plug to the rock, and some mushrooms, that I just fiddled with in low flow areas with a long reef tweezers until they settled into a spot (some people use bridal netting or something....I found they just stayed put after a few minutes). One of the shrooms kept wanting to move into a hole, but I'd move it back to the spot I wanted it to stay every morning, and eventually it got the message. ROFL

 

It's so amazing that these teeny tiny fragile, almost dead looking things, come to life when you stick them in the tank with some superglue! Pretty cool stuff, and way easier than I had expected!

 

Tracy

[lanman]

People have been very generous with donating extra frags when I've bought something from them. Both things I actually bought and paid for were rocks with stuff on them, so I just positioned those strategically in the tank. All other frags were loose, so I used the super glue gel (also donated to the cause by the very gracious lanman) and just glued them right to the rock.

 

The exceptions were GSP...they were on a frag plug, and I glued the plug to the rock, and some mushrooms, that I just fiddled with in low flow areas with a long reef tweezers until they settled into a spot (some people use bridal netting or something....I found they just stayed put after a few minutes). One of the shrooms kept wanting to move into a hole, but I'd move it back to the spot I wanted it to stay every morning, and eventually it got the message. ROFL

 

It's so amazing that these teeny tiny fragile, almost dead looking things, come to life when you stick them in the tank with some superglue! Pretty cool stuff, and way easier than I had expected!

 

Tracy

Poor shroom! Let them move into the hole. You'll be surprised how far they can stretch their 'foot' when the lights come on, and they hide in the hole at night. I bought a piece of live rock that had a shroom in a hole back in February. I didn't know it had a shroom until about the middle of March. Now there are two - and they disappear at night.

 

bob

[zotzer]

Poor shroom! Let them move into the hole.

 

ROFL....ahhhhh Bob. Welcome to my domineering side!

Tracy

[treesprite]

I just had my first experience of supergluing a couple frags to pieces of rock rubble - not at all difficult to do.

[lanman]

Lots of good basic fragging info Here @ GARF

GARF is great - that is where I learned about coral propagation; and I blame them for the fact my frag tank is full to the brim, and I still have things I haven't tried! As soon as I get some space in there, I'm going to try sectioning a ricordia fiji. They give you a lot of confidence in what's going to happen when you chop the entire head off a ricordia and slice and dice it. I <3 GARF!

 

Fragging montipora digitata's is something you will probably learn by accident the day you buy your first medium-large monti digi colony. I placing it in the tank, and working around it - you will knock off a few pieces. Just glue them to a piece of rock, put them on the sand, or in your frag tank - and they will eventually encrust and grow. Softies are more of a challenge; you actually have to slice off a piece, and find some way to anchor it to a rock. Some, like Xenia will happily spread all over any piece of rock placed next to it and slightly higher. Then you just slice between the new and the old. When I first started doing xenia, I built 'rocks' out of small pieces of rock with just a couple drops of superglue. Once the xenia spread all over the rock, I would slice the tissue, and just break the rock apart.

 

As with photography, where I liked the darkroom work more than the picture taking, my favorite part of this hobby is propagating. Some of the newer aquarists that stop by to pick up stuff from me get a good laugh when I pick up my dremel and start slicing them off pieces of everything.

 

bob

[bprinehart]

. Some of the newer aquarists that stop by to pick up stuff from me get a good laugh when I pick up my dremel and start slicing them off pieces of everything.

 

I am a proud Dremel user myself! I think it's important to read up on the least stressful way to frag first though...a friend of mine who shall remain nameless gained the moniker "Sgt. Slaughter" after a few attempts at fragging some Xenia. Whatever you do, make the fewest number of cuts, incisions possible, use a sharp blade (this is terribly important) your livestock with thank you.

 

About the Anemones, they frequently reproduce through fission (Splitting) in the wild, and I think people frequently slice them directly across the oral disc with a sharp blade to create clones of their own. I think flowerseller has a video somewhere on Youtube where he demonstrates how to split a BTA. I personally don't have the heart to do it. But I will go after a candy cane with a pair of bone cutters like a mad man!