Cutting frag's...
 

I'm kinda' goona' direct this question to ol' Bob. Any other "hackers with advice are requested to join in. That's why I avoided a "PM" to the ol' grump. :lol: . Besides, I know ya'll enjoy reading my dumb questions...

So Bob gave me pretty nice Colt Coral at the last meeting. No, actually, he sold it to me! (after all the nice names I call him... :rolleyes: ). It's been doin' awesome and I'd like to cut a frag and see if I can make two. That's the concept isn't it? The last time I "butchered" a coral (finger-leather) it leaked for a bit and then died... :frown: . A.J. set me straight and informed I should have allowed the specimen to acclimate prior to surgery. I should have known better and now I do for sure.
Do I make a full vertical cut at one of the "branches" or a vertical cut to where the branch meets the "base" and then a small horizontal cut... ? :confused:

I enjoy your questions, Doug, but I won't call them dumb.
:biggrin:
I disagree with cutting up a coral as a reward for it doing really well. If it's in high demand or rare, then okay, but if it's doing well then let it grow and become a mature specimen. Our typical little pieces are nothing close to what they could be, anyways.

Don't start chopping for the sake of chopping (been there done that) - wait until fragging is necessary, like when they start to overgrow the space allotted. Just my take on things, I think the concept is to grow them up to be large and healthy.

Zoos are different, though. There's a bit of a frenzy lately, so we're fragging our frags... :mrgreen:

from what i sawat the last meeting, u can use the following to obtain frags..

clippers
wire cutters
chisel and hammer
sledge hammer
small explosive device

course some tools are easier to control the size of the frags

Take a nice clean razor blade and cut off a "branch" just below where it forks. This will give you a nice V, to elastic it to some LR so it won’t come off. Don't bother trying to glue the colt to the LR. It won't hold for more than a day or two. Believe me I have tried. Where you have taken the cutting from the parent colony you will see many small exposed circular filaments. These will form the pharynx for new polyps, which will become visible within a week or less and full-grown in two. It's quite amazing how quickly they recover. Your frags will take a couple weeks or more to attach themselves as well.

OK, let's try to bring a little sense to this thread. I don't want to tell Alan he is wrong, especially after the nice zoos he left me. However, Alan in this case you are not quite right. And Evan your description probably is correct in most cases. However, in the case of my Colt on which you tried that trick, it did not work. The elastic cut through the frag, and it became two free floating frags. So far I have managed to get one piece to attach by trapping it in a small tupperware container surrounded by rubble. I am still waiting for another piece to anchor.
The Colt I sold Doug is quite different. It is what they call White Colt. It is an encrusting, low growing coral. The way I fragged it was by chopping up the rock it came in on into a number of pieces. That coral spreads from the base. So if you place it next to another rock, it will grow onto that rock, and you can easily divide it by cutting, and both will be attached. Alternatively you can attach the small piece of rock the coral arrived on onto a bigger rock using epoxy or Krazy Glue. Then when it has spread, you can chop up the rock like I did.

:crazyeye: :onfire:

TOO funny... Hello? Is that English? If I'm not wrong but still not quite right, then what is wrong? I posted no technique, just opinion and advice. Which of these is wrong??

If he is set on fragging, then he now has ample advice. Thanks for clearing things up.

:confused:

I am not sure about the maturity of this coral, as it grows laterally, it may be as mature as it gets.


I just wanted to say that the advice given was not correct for this particular coral, as I think Iam the only person in our group who has a lot of experience with this coral I feel my advice is more correct. :rolleyes: :eek:

Right you are.

How about a hammer drill in a plastic bag to break up the rock? Also, a heavy guage grounding probe might help if drilling right in the tank.

Sorry but I'm not of much help with Colts. I tried fragging an overgrown colt once long time ago with poor results. As for the encrusting type, if its similar to the one I have, it seems easiest to let it encrust onto to the rock of your choice. Then seperate them.

Note:these softies really, really don't admire star polyps. If you have star polyps nearby don't let them spead on the same piece. I found out the hard way :sad:

kari

Way to go Alan ! Gettin' Bob's blood pressure up...Kari, a hammer drill in a plastic bag ??? :eek: . You've been spending too many hours in the bush my man... :drinking: And Bob, you are NOT the only person in our group that has a lot of experience with this coral. It's my coral and I paid for it. It's in my tank and I look at it every day. Does that not entitle me to say I have experience...aaah, never mind. Just tryin' to spike your blood pressure... :razz:
Maybe what I will do is just let it continue to spread and "cut it loose" at a later date... :confused: