Attaching coral frags

[salty in Gray]

Hey all!

I bought my first frag over at Westbrook Aquarium Sunday, seemed too good to pass up, little frags for 10-15.

Anyway, I brought it home but I don't really know what I am doing with corals.

1) How do I attach it? My snails and crabs keep knocking it off.

2) Any special care or feeding?

3) With good lighting (5.3w / gal MH and Compact Actinic), how quickly will this grow?


Thanks for any beginner tips!

 

[salty in Gray]

Here is a crappy picture.


Here are some more...

 

[bunsenburner]

Single mushroom are very hard to attach. You could either let it rest on the bottom and then glue the dried grains of substrate to a rock, or let it attach then more the rock to where you want it, or try and stab it with a plastic toothpick to someplace. Obviously the last is the harshest.

 

[dad300]

Another way is to take a rubber band and attach it to the rock that you want... a side benefit if you forget and leave it too long.. you'll have two...

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Agree with the above, I also sew it to rocks or plants from time to time with cotton thread and then clip it after it attaches.

Mushrooms have low light requirements, but if you have MH and good flow you could also keep an acro frag from the fragging demo at the Jan auction...!


Laurie

 

[salty in Gray]

or try and stab it with a plastic toothpick to someplace

Scary for me. That seems like it would damage the mushroom, no? Right through the mushroom itself?

Another way is to take a rubber band and attach it to the rock that you want... a side benefit if you forget and leave it too long.. you'll have two

I don't really get it, how would it attach? Around the base or right through the mushroom?

Mushrooms have low light requirements, but if you have MH and good flow you could also keep an acro frag from the fragging demo at the Jan auction

You lost me at acro What is an acro frag and where is the auction? Is this the meeting on the 28th?


Sorry to be numb, but I am slowly learning. :strooper:

 

[salty in Gray]

You lost me at acro What is an acro frag and where is the auction? Is this the meeting on the 28th?

Oops... just read the messages on the board, got it.

I am planning to be there on the 28th. Maybe you can show me what an acro frag is!

 

[dad300]

as far as the rubber band... just wrap the rubber band around either the foot or the whole mushroom and the rock you want to attach to... Make a sandwhich with the rubber band being the bread and the rock and the mushroom being the ham..... leave for a week and it should be attached.

 

[Driftwood]

Superglue will work. Just put a drop on the bottom of the mushroom and stick it to a piece of rock. Sometimes the mushroom will let go of the glue but most of the time they stay.

Good luck!
Dave

 

[jacksonsmom25]

I can never get the glue to work for me when it comes to shrooms. The rubber band I find is the best. imo

 

[debdellac]

I have taken some soft netting like you would make a wedding veil out of...I found a piece at a craft store. I made a nice long strip..place the shroom on the piece of small rock, wrapped the netting, and tie it loosely. In no time the small pieces of shroom were attached to the rock. I rinsed out the netting and will just keep using it over and over.

I had very small shrooms and have a habit of getting way to much glue, so i found this to be really easy.

Good luck!
Debby

 

[Radiography14]

attach it with a sewing needle .it does not hurt the shroom.stick it in a area with little flow until it attaches.it worked for me.then remove the needle of course.

 

[Naturebatslast]

I would mount it on a fair sized rock and let it spread. But use caution, sometimes mushrooms can grow prolifically. The picture, IMO, looks more like Ricordia, almost a yuma, and is probably attached to a small peice of rubble.
This works for me...Find a piece of rock that you want to attach it to, maybe fist sized. Blot dry the top side very throughly with a paper towel. Take out the Ricodia and blot dry the piece of rubble attached to it with a paper towel. Using a cyanoacrylate glue like Superglue or Crazy glue(use the gel, not the regular glue), squeeze a 1/4" dollop of glue onto the dry side of the rock, place the dry side of the rubble onto the glue, let it set for a minute or 2, then place it inthe tank where you you want.