First time fragging, need help! Zoas

[aquamann183]

Hello everyone, I am planning on fragging some zoas for the first time and would just like to see what others say before attempting myself. I have watched YouTube videos and what not, but when people in the comments bash what the person does in the video it doesn't make me feel completely confident with trying what the YouTuber did.
Anyways, this is the zoa colony I would like to try and frag.



As you can see, the zoas have covered the plug, so I figured it would be a good idea to try and frag it.

My questions are:
1.) Do I have to completely remove the whole colony from the plug? I've seen people chiseling the colony off the plug, but that looks a little ridiculous.
2.) Can I just use a razor blade and slide it under a head or two and do it like that?
3.) What is a good number of heads to put on each frag? 1,2,3,4,5? Or doesn't really matter?
4.) Can I put any heads on this, or would that be too difficult?

 

[aquamann183]

Lastly, I have tile to put frags on also, and this is the silicone/glue I was told from a friend to use for fragging.



Besides all of that, I plan on wearing eye protection as well as latex gloves when doing the fragging.

Thanks for looking, and I appreciate all the help you guys and gals can give!

 

[moatdaddy]

1. either or. you can chop it into a dozen pieces or leave a nice clump on the plug.
2. i prefer a scalpel over a razor blade for the precision. Most zoanthids connect with a skins. simply aggravate the heads to close, then cut around group you want to frag. then slide blade under section of frag to free from old plug.
3. i like to do 4-6 but you can go as low as one.
4. you can use that rock but i like the tiles more, i use the underside not the smooth side. just a preference

yea eye protection is a must, they will squirt at you on occasion. that glue is fine.

oh youtube is your friend here. once you see some silly dude do it your will have all the confidence in the world.

 

[aquamann183]

Thank you for the in depth reply, I really appreciate it!
How long can the zoanthids be out of water, how long does the zoanthids need to sit on the glue before going back into saltwater/the tank?

 

[moatdaddy]

so a while, zoanthids in the wild can live outside of water for hours, they slime up as a sunscreen if i remember correctly. i just had mine out for 20 minutes tops. i had a bowl of salt water off to the side. cut, frag, glue, dip in bowl to let glue harden and keep the glue leaching into tank. then put back into tank. main thing is this is really really simple. hardest part is getting the bottom of it off the plug. some people dont even use precision, they just clip and tear some in half. depends on the quality of your tank imo as to how much you put the frags through. In nature it is normal for storms to smash up reefs and spread corals.

 

[aquamann183]

Okay, I will go ahead and give it a shot in the next few days and post my results.
Do you know what the name of that zoa is? Lol.

 

[jayball]

Woah, at what time was silicone made safe for fragging? Even though it says aquarium safe it should only be aquarium safe once fully cured. You want to use cyanoacrylate (sp?) based gel superglue.

Zoa's are easy to frag but it is much easier to get a bit of the rock they are attached to and glue that.

 

[aquamann183]

What glue would you recommend jayball?

 

[jayball]

First time fragging, need help! Zoas

It is basically any gel superglue. I personally like this one because of the dispenser http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003Y...pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=loctite+super+glue+gel
But any that says cyanoacrylate and gel is fine. Just please do not put uncured silicone into your tank.

 

[aquamann183]

Okay awesome, thanks for the heads up! So when I put the frag on the glue, do I just put it right back into a container with saltwater or do I wait a few moments first?

 

[aquamann183]

I bought some of that super glue at Lowes. The ultra gel, not ultra liquid.

 

[Drewl117]

I got some of the "brs" brand and I like it a lot. I no it's a little more money but it works really well even if they are all slimed up.

 

[jayball]

Okay awesome, thanks for the heads up! So when I put the frag on the glue, do I just put it right back into a container with saltwater or do I wait a few moments first?

Just hold it a few seconds until it sets, then after 30 seconds or so it should be good. You'll get a feel for it.

 

[aquamann183]

Okay, sounds good!
I will attempt to do a little fragging tomorrow and post some results hopefully!

 

[aquamann183]

Well the fragging went pretty good for the most part, but I think a couple of frags I accidentally pushed the heads down and they got covered in super glue because they aren't opening..
Also, a couple of heads on the mother colony don't seem to be opening, maybe I held the plug a little too tight when cutting. I was getting all the polyps off the sides of the plug so I had to hold it.

 

[moatdaddy]

Success IMO. First time is about learning not perfection. Good work sir.

 

[aquamann183]

Thank you for your words of encouragement!
One thing I noticed is that I'd get a couple of heads that were really small, and when I'd go to stick them on the glue, they'd get stuck on my gloves, and then when it fell onto the glue, it would sometimes fall and land upsidedown or something. Any tricks to not this happen? Using tweezers or something?

 

[organism]

That usually means you cut the frags too small, tiny frags are for when you have more experience.

 

[moatdaddy]

tweezers work but that is exactly how you get them to shot water into your face. been there done that. i wear a plastic face shield.

 

[aquamann183]

Ahh, okay, I just cut whatever was on the side of the plug, some big some small. What do you do if you drop the head(s) on the glue and they land upsidedown? Is it game over? Or is there a trick to fix it?