Fragging wall hammers/bubble corals

[Swip]

Anyone here with experience on fragging wall corals? I've read that you have a high risk of killing them if you frag them. But the wall corals that I get from Indonesia always look like they just break them apart with shears or something like that.

Any experience on the survival rates when fragging them with a wet bandsaw? Any tips?
I've read that super glueing sand on the cut helps but I'm not really convinced that that's true.

 

[Gundo5000]

It is def risky to cut them although Ive only taken a saw to mine a couple times. If you do it make sure you get as much of the tissue to retract before you do it. I would do it really late in the night when they have naturally deflated.

I had an idea a while back about putting a 1/4" wide rubberband around a section of one of my wall hammers to see if it would naturally move its tissue to either side of the RB and then allow easier, less risky fragging. I just havent had the balls to do it yet and really dont know how the coral would react but I may give it a shot sometime.

 

[Swip]

Many people use the rubberband method. It just takes a bit too long for me and there is still a chance of the hammer dying.

 

[organism]

+1 to the rubber band method, it's the lowest chance of mortality. Honestly if it takes too long you probably shouldn't be fragging the hammer, safety for the animals in your care comes first.

 

[Swip]

The choice is between being able to frag them faster, or not frag them at all.
I agree that you shouldn't risk killing the corals just because you want something faster, but I don't agree with the safety of the animals in my care being the most important thing. It's important, but it doesn't come first.
If it came first above all else, I wouldn't frag at all.

 

[organism]

If it came first, which it does, you'd frag in a way that is more likely to insure their survival. You have a responsibility to the animals in your tank, they weren't flown halfway around the world to die from a scheduling conflict.

 

[oceanarium]

Either way they are already effectively dead to the sea they came from.

I think mucking around with a rubber band and over handling the coral with a wet saw could be just as likely to lead to failure of the operation as a swift clean cleft of the coral with a chisel.

I think the main issue is trying to frag too small a piece. When i had a collectors licence they were pretty brutally smashed to pieces with hammer and chisels with near as to 100% survival. Only the bits that broke awkwardly like along the valley or small fragments were not likely to be viable.

 

[TrevorHenry]

respect your corals and they will respect you, frag them right and they will stay alive simple concept.

 

[Swip]

Alright I just had to try it. I fragged 4 relatively large wall hammers in 21 pieces.
The pieces are around 5cm(2 inches). 4 of the pieces died, the rest healed.

Maybe the rubber band method would've been even better, I haven't tried it. But 17 out of 21 is a good result for me and I will keep fragging them with the bandsaw.

Used a Gryphon Aquasaw XL with saltwater and iodine in the reservoir and started with cutting the flesh. Also wiped the blade with a paper towel after every cut, no idea if that did anything. Probably not because all the bad stuff is in the reservoir water anyway.

 

[Budman422]

Nice results keep us updated.