Fragging Advice

[miggs76]

I've never fragged anything as I am less than a year into this wonderful hobby but quite a few of my coral are getting too big for my tank. I need some advice about the following:

 

1) Toadstoal---from what I have read online I can just use scissors and cut off a piece...attach to a rock?

2) For mushrooms...should I just wait until they shrivel up in the evening and use a razor blade to slice it at where the stem meets the rock? I'll try using mesh to keep it on a frag plug or rock

3) For zoas --just use a razor blade to scrap it off the rock it is on? I will just glue to a new frag plug.

4) Finally...I have some encrusting montipora that has spread across a large rock....can I just pry a piece off of the rock?

 

Thanks in advance.....I must be doing something right if it's all growing!

[Jan]

You can take a pair of scissors and trim your toadstool. Frag it into a bucket with some tank water after a water change. Then you can tie the pieces to rock and place them in a frag tank or your main display to sell or give away. I like fragging toadstool vertically but you can do it anyway you like. It will all grow.

 

I take bone cutters and cut away at the rock just under the mushroom. Try to detach the shroom with some of the rock or else you'll injure it and it may get brown jelly disease. It's easier to attach to other rock if it is alrady attached to rubble. If a shroom falls off by itself it's best to place it in a bowl with rubble rock or attach it to a piece of rock with some kind of netting until it attaches.

 

Wear gloves a goggles when fragging zoas! they release neurotoxins that are harmful even in small doses to humans. I take bone cutters to zoa rocks too. If the rock is thin I'll cut the rock into pieces with the zoas attached. Do not scrape zoanthids. Work with them in a container. Sometimes you can peel them off a rock but you really need to wear protective gear and work outside your tank with them.

 

Plating montipora can be chipped off with your hand or bone cutters. It's fragile. If you can get under it and chip away at the rock you may get larger pieces. It grows back fast.

 

This is just how I frag. Others may have other suggestions.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Jan

[miggs76]

You can take a pair of scissors and trim your toadstool. Frag it into a bucket with some tank water after a water change. Then you can tie the pieces to rock and place them in a frag tank or your main display to sell or give away. I like fragging toadstool vertically but you can do it anyway you like. It will all grow.

 

I take bone cutters and cut away at the rock just under the mushroom. Try to detach the shroom with some of the rock or else you'll injure it and it may get brown jelly disease. It's easier to attach to other rock if it is alrady attached to rubble. If a shroom falls off by itself it's best to place it in a bowl with rubble rock or attach it to a piece of rock with some kind of netting until it attaches.

 

Wear gloves a goggles when fragging zoas! they release neurotoxins that are harmful even in small doses to humans. I take bone cutters to zoa rocks too. If the rock is thin I'll cut the rock into pieces with the zoas attached. Do not scrape zoanthids. Work with them in a container. Sometimes you can peel them off a rock but you really need to wear protective gear and work outside your tank with them.

 

Plating montipora can be chipped off with your hand or bone cutters. It's fragile. If you can get under it and chip away at the rock you may get larger pieces. It grows back fast.

 

This is just how I frag. Others may have other suggestions.

 

 

Thanks I appreciate your help!