fragmenting corals

[Kwater]

I was hoping to ask some questins about fragmenting. First is it easy. Second can you take the coral fragment u just took and put it in the orignal tank. And is there a diffrence when you fragment hard corals and soft corals or is it the same proscess

 

[Bifferwine]

Overall, it's pretty easy. Some corals are easier to frag than others. For example, if you have a mushroom you want to frag, you can take a razor blade and just cut it into pieces down the center (like a pizza). As long as each new piece has a portion of the center mouth, they should grow into new little mushrooms. With most soft corals and leathers, you can usually just take a razor blade, cut off a branch, and shove the new branch in between some rocks and it will attach itself eventually, like a new coral. You can keep the new frags in the same tank as the "mother colony", no problem.

There is a different process for softies, LPS and SPS. With LPS, most have a hard skeleton at their base. Like for hammers, frogspawn and torches, you can break off the branches, but do it as far down the base as possible, because you don't want to damage the flesh inside the skeleton. For SPS, it's usually as easy as snapping off a piece of the original colony. Keep in mind that fragged SPS will usually take some time to heal and will need to be mounted to some sort of plug or rock (superglue gel and epoxy putty work well).

There are some good videos on YouTube of how to frag different corals if you want to take a look.

 

[Kwater]

thank you that is alot of info. Now I was wondering if you slice themushrooms won't that hurt them, is there any corals you can frag without hurting or no. Also does breaking off a piece of the stoney corals hurt them too. And when u break off a piece of the stoney coral do u stick it with the glue to a rock or to a little plate. ???

 

[Bifferwine]

You can't really hurt them. They don't have a centralized nervous system, if you are talking about causing physical pain to them. That is how lots of them reproduce naturally anyways. You can use a little rock or a little plug (they are usually ceramic or plastic), called frag plugs.

 

[yote]

Its also a good idea to give the corals a dip in Lugols solution after fragging them.Seems like the iodine helps them heal a little quicker.

 

[messiah023]

Hi Kwater,

Thought you may be interested in this site.
They show you how to frag your mushrooms pretty thoroughly.

Good Luck!!

 

[Kwater]

ok thank you everyone. And yes that website is verry helpfull. and my last questin is when you fragment something like a candy coral with a stalk you just break the stalk as close to the base as possable. And I hear that that has no pain for the coral. Is there a step I'm leaving out

 

[daugherty]

nope just snap it off as far from the meaty tissue that you can

 

[messiah023]

Kwater,

Here is a very good site to read up on.
This is the link for the CC Coral fragging : http://fragoutpost.com/coral-propagation/caulastrea

 

[Kwater]

great thank you everyone. This info really helps.

And than for the new site I will check it out