Learning to Frag

[Rosco's Reefs]

I am trying to learn how to frag a certain coral I am told is called a "leather." I bought all my supplies at the last Bulk Reef group buy but when I glue my frags to the little ceramic disks with the reef glue gel, they last about two days and then come loose and I have to fish them off the bottom of the tank.

 

I originally thought I had my rack too close to my powerheads and moved the rack close to the bottom of the tank. It is now not AS bad, but they are not holding to the glue. What am I doing wrong? Thx in advance

Edited March 29, 2011 by Rosco's Reefs

[BowieReefer84]

Cut it. Stick toothpick thru it. Use two rubberbands to get it to stay on rubble rock (or frag plug). It will attach itself in a couple weeks or less perhaps.

[Rosco's Reefs]

cool! So no glue?

[BowieReefer84]

cool! So no glue?

 

Not for softies. Glue is more for hard corals...

[Rosco's Reefs]

Thx very Much!!

[dbartco]

glue will not stick to leathers. you can also keep it in a tub with coral rubble or aragonite and after it attaches to that, glue the rubble to a frag plug or other rock.

[FearTheTerps]

To add on what Doug said, get some small netting or even bridal veil to cover the container. If using the bridal veil you can wrap the entire frag and the rock/plug.

 

I borrowed this image from another member, El Camaron. Shows very clearly what Doug was talking about.

[LanglandJoshua]

great illustration Terps, just a word of caution. Some corals can me cut in half and will heal, anemones WILL sometimes DIE, Zoanthids can pop and from what I understand the fluid can be poisonous and cause harm. I would let a more experienced reefer elaborate. But there are somethings you can play with, and others to just LEAVE BE. I have plenty of Zoanthids, and I dont slice the polyp. Instead I cut the "stomach" or part that attatches two or more polyps. Works great for me, and they heal fast.

[zygote2k]

joshua- you are mistaken. You can slice zoas, certain anemones, shrooms, palys, ricordias and they have a great success rate after cloning surgery. Most of the zoas can be spot glued, and the shrooms can be wrapped in netting or threaded to a plug. SPS are too easy- break off a piece and glue. LPS are more difficult- cut from the bottom then cut through the flesh at the top- LPS can easily succumb to brown jelly from fragging. As far as softies of any sort goes, if it has a branch, tie the branch down to a frag plug with many wraps of thread and then place a drop of glue on the ends of the thread to secure it. You'll usually end up with a "V" shaped frag.

Palythoas are the ones that you need to be careful with when cutting or handling. Their slime can contain palytoxin which can be harmful or even fatal. Just be sure to rinse your hands thoroughly and you'll be fine.

[Jan]

I'd like to add that in addition to LPS all corallimorphs and anemones can succumb to brown jelly disease. After fragging it's best to place the freshly fragged item under an area of flow. Not too high. The direct flow does help in healing and help to prevent brown jelly disease.

 

 

DO NOT HANDLE PALYS AND ZOAS if you have open wounds on your hands without gloves! You should always wear goggles when cutting palys and zoas. The best way to frag palys and zoas is to cut into the rock at the base so as to keep the polyp intact and so you will have a natural base for mounting, etc. Try to avoid pulling or anything that will cause the polyp to rip or tear. If you frag and place the frags in a holding container with water make sure to change the water before handling the frags. The water will have a high concentration of toxin from the stress of handling and fragging.

Edited March 29, 2011 by Jan

[hypertech]

For leathers, I thread floss through them and glue the floss to the sides or bottom of the frag disc/rubble to hold it down. After a little while the leather will attach and you can pull out the floss.

[Jan]

Save your rubble in a corner somewhere in your tank. It serves two purposes

 

1-piles of rubble make great place for copepods to live and breed.

 

2-if you ever need to frag LPS or corallimorphs or anything that attaches itself to rubble you'll always have it available.

 

Scoop it up and place it in a container. You want at least 1.5 inches" of rubble. All you have to do is lay shrooms on it or stick a softie into it. Place some netting over it to secure the frag. In about a week, sometimes less, they will attach to the rubble. Then you can glue and epoxy onto your rockwork.

Edited March 29, 2011 by Jan

[Guest thefishman65]

I hope this is not too far off topic.

 

A) Can someone tell me the difference between a mushroom and a ricordia.

 

B) Can you then tell me how to frag each of them

 

Thanks

[Jan]

All mushrooms are corallimorphs.

http://www.wetwebmed...om/corallim.htm

Ricordea is but one type of mushroom.

 

You slice them down the center with a razor blade. Make sure you cut through the oral disc. Not all shrooms frag well. they often succumb to brown jelly disease.

 

I hope this is not too far off topic.

 

A) Can someone tell me the difference between a mushroom and a ricordia.

 

B) Can you then tell me how to frag each of them

 

Thanks

Edited March 29, 2011 by Jan

[hypertech]

A ricordia is sort of an anemone like mushroom. I'm not big on classifications, but my understanding is that they are neither mushroom nor anemone but something in between. Often, you can tell a ric by bubbles on the oral disc.

 

For fragging, some people just slice them up like a pizza. I don't like this though. They propagate on their own by splitting. Mushrooms grow so fast I see no reason to frag them. Colorful rics seem to grow slower but they do still grow. This is why I like my rics. When they start taking too much space, I just remove one or two and sell them. Mushrooms grow like weeds.

[Guest thefishman65]

Thanks all

[Jan]

Here's a video on how to frag shrooms just so you get the jist of it. Apparently the ric wasn't fully attached and they were able to cut through the oral disc and still leave half the ric attached to the rock. This isn't always the case. I personally don't like the mesh they use. I prefer something with larger opening. I've used a nylon stocking and found that my frags didn't get enough water flow or light and got brown jelly disease.

 

[Jon Lazar]

As if this hobby isn't already nerdy enough , you really should wear goggles when fragging. Zoas and mushrooms love to squirt goo in your eyes when you're cutting them or even sometimes just handling them.

[epleeds]

Is this the rock u got from me with the blushing colt coral on it? If so the easiest way to frag it is to take he rock out of the water, place it on a hard surface and use a hammer and flathead screwdriver to "chisel" about 1" from the base of the coral and break it off. That way u have some rock that the coral is already attached to to glue to another rock.

[Rosco's Reefs]

Is this the rock u got from me with the blushing colt coral on it? If so the easiest way to frag it is to take he rock out of the water, place it on a hard surface and use a hammer and flathead screwdriver to "chisel" about 1" from the base of the coral and break it off. That way u have some rock that the coral is already attached to to glue to another rock.

 

 

Yes it is and it is doing great. For some reason aboout 10 little pieces of this coral fell off and I am trying to attach it to frag plugs so I can trade it or sell it. The advice here has been great. They look beautiful with lots of polyps, my goal is to bring them to frag fest this summer. Thx

Edited April 1, 2011 by Rosco's Reefs

[LanglandJoshua]

As if this hobby isn't already nerdy enough , you really should wear goggles when fragging. Zoas and mushrooms love to squirt goo in your eyes when you're cutting them or even sometimes just handling them.

Just agreeing here with what has been said several times, GLOVES!!!! Goggles too, but I had about 30-45 minutes of zoanthid fragging one day. My hands felt odd and I just didn't notice. After a while they started shaking, and at times rather violently. Although I got the job done, it was not something I want again...ever. I now wear latex gloves, and rinse them with RO/DI water first to remove all the powder I can off.

 

As for the fragging style itself. I am a fan of flat frag plugs, chopping them and gluing them to other frag plugs. I got a fragging kit from BRK as well, and it came with an extra thick rock cutting tool. Works great under a towel(catch debris) and some elbow grease.

 

As for mushrooms. I cut off a portion of it, and use a ruberband to affix it to rubble rock.

 

I have lots of kenya tree, when it buds off I place it on a pile of rubble or shells. Just like the other guys suggested.

 

Anemones, be sure to cut through the mouth(oral disk) and foot. I use an in tank refugium as a hospital for my anemones. The attatched pump let's me add flow to help be sure they heal properly.