fraging zoos???
- Thread starter Lishoop6
- Start date
MalawianDude
New member
Here check out this video found earlier this week:
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/printthread.php?t=272990
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/printthread.php?t=272990
johnanddawn
New member
2 general methods
1) what many do is simply cut the rock with a clipper or if its big a hammer/chizel so there are zoas on each of the pieces - i do not do this as i don't like my rock getting smaller and smaller but if your chopshopping its the quickest easiest method. BTW this is a good way to tell the true tank grown fraggers from the chopshoppers at the meet. anyone can by a large colony break it into pieces and sell it as a aquaculture frag. IMO i only by from true home grown fraggers and always avoid chopshoppers, they are just in it for the money.
2) what i do is take a razor and cut just below the zoa removing just the skin of the rock at most. this thin layer can then be superglued to whatever you want to. in this way i keep my mother colony intacked in my tank and only sell the excess growth
1) what many do is simply cut the rock with a clipper or if its big a hammer/chizel so there are zoas on each of the pieces - i do not do this as i don't like my rock getting smaller and smaller but if your chopshopping its the quickest easiest method. BTW this is a good way to tell the true tank grown fraggers from the chopshoppers at the meet. anyone can by a large colony break it into pieces and sell it as a aquaculture frag. IMO i only by from true home grown fraggers and always avoid chopshoppers, they are just in it for the money.
2) what i do is take a razor and cut just below the zoa removing just the skin of the rock at most. this thin layer can then be superglued to whatever you want to. in this way i keep my mother colony intacked in my tank and only sell the excess growth
While I agree with some of what you are saying I don't think it is 100% applicable. For example, I have a colony of Zoa's that ended up covering an old Fungia skeleton. I would have liked to shave them off and glued them to a disk but there would have been too much damage due to the really irregular surface they were on. Easiest way for me to break up the colony was to cut up the Fungia skeleton with a bone cutters. I hope that this has not made me a "chopper".
Not trying to start anything here and I have not been offended, just hope that when people see the zoa's I have at the swap they won't think I am a "chopper". But if they do I certainly am not in it for the money, just ask my wife cause hobby wise the amount coming in is not even close to how much is going out!
Aquabucket
Premium Member
I am a merciless "chopper" and proud of it. I don't go passing off wild frags as aqua-cultured though.
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Aquabucket
Premium Member
I'll chop 'em up for you. You can arrange a time to bring them into the store and I could meet you there if you want.
johnanddawn
New member
sorry folks i guess i didn't mean it like it came across.....
limpet - the fact that your breaking up an "artificial" rock, the fungia skeleton - shows that they grew in your tank therefore true tank raised frags!
aqua - i have seen some of your work and the fact that your not selling them as tank raised is also good..... your chopping takes big pieces that maybe someone couldn't afford and spreads them around to many as smaller bite sized pieces - also good! if your recall kass and i had you break up a wild caught into two so we could split the cost - but we knew what we were buying
its just that i have seen many buy pieces for the sole purpose of breaking them up and without any true growth in their tanks then sell them as tank raised - so i guess my problem isn't with the chopping but the misrepresentation of some - you know what i mean??? there is a trend in our hobby today to do this with zoas, acans, micros, chalice and some SPS because of the potential for money to be made on these types of corals, and because chopping is the only way to frag some of these its sometimes hard to know if it actually was grown out in someones tank or not.
i chop corals all the time but only represent growth from my tank as tank raised frags.......
better???
limpet - the fact that your breaking up an "artificial" rock, the fungia skeleton - shows that they grew in your tank therefore true tank raised frags!
aqua - i have seen some of your work and the fact that your not selling them as tank raised is also good..... your chopping takes big pieces that maybe someone couldn't afford and spreads them around to many as smaller bite sized pieces - also good! if your recall kass and i had you break up a wild caught into two so we could split the cost - but we knew what we were buying
its just that i have seen many buy pieces for the sole purpose of breaking them up and without any true growth in their tanks then sell them as tank raised - so i guess my problem isn't with the chopping but the misrepresentation of some - you know what i mean??? there is a trend in our hobby today to do this with zoas, acans, micros, chalice and some SPS because of the potential for money to be made on these types of corals, and because chopping is the only way to frag some of these its sometimes hard to know if it actually was grown out in someones tank or not.
i chop corals all the time but only represent growth from my tank as tank raised frags.......
better???
kass03
New member
I agree with Ron and Spike as far as I usually chop mine with a bonecutter also. I think it's easier to get a piece of the rock with it.
Ive tried the razor blade and found it alot harder to do and did'nt have as good of survival rate.
You don't have to cut up the whole rock either but just try to get a small part of the rock under them so you can glue that to another rock.
Lisa I used to use a scissors before I got a bonecutter and just try to grind/cut off a small part of the rock under them.
Just beware the scissor will rust so wash and dry it after.
Sometimes theres places where they are coming off the rock as they grow so start there.
kass
Ive tried the razor blade and found it alot harder to do and did'nt have as good of survival rate.
You don't have to cut up the whole rock either but just try to get a small part of the rock under them so you can glue that to another rock.
Lisa I used to use a scissors before I got a bonecutter and just try to grind/cut off a small part of the rock under them.
Just beware the scissor will rust so wash and dry it after.
Sometimes theres places where they are coming off the rock as they grow so start there.
kass
Aquabucket is very good at cutting up smaller pieces of rock. Just like the one that John and Kass split from Fish Unlimited, that was a pretty small rock and he chopped it up just right from what I saw so I would have him do it and watch what he does.
I'm also going to chime in the "safety alarm" here with cutting zoa's. I have read a lot of threads here on RC about people or pets getting sick due to the toxicity of zoa's. Wear safety glasses when fragging them and wear latex gloves if you have any cuts on your hands. Also be on the lookout for any polyps that fly off when you are fragging. I read a thread here about someone's dog dying after it ate a polyp that flew off a rock that was being fragged.
I mention it in my Fragging Yellow Polyps video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woaWoIJC25g
Better safe than sorry.
I'm also going to chime in the "safety alarm" here with cutting zoa's. I have read a lot of threads here on RC about people or pets getting sick due to the toxicity of zoa's. Wear safety glasses when fragging them and wear latex gloves if you have any cuts on your hands. Also be on the lookout for any polyps that fly off when you are fragging. I read a thread here about someone's dog dying after it ate a polyp that flew off a rock that was being fragged.
I mention it in my Fragging Yellow Polyps video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woaWoIJC25g
Better safe than sorry.
kass03
New member
That dog story has been going around for years. It was the guy had them in a bucket (if it's the same story I read) and thought his dog licked them or drank some of the water cuz the dog got sick and died but he never really knew if thats what it was from.
I would imagine a dog could get sick or die from licking alot of diff. corals.
Ive fragged alot of zoa's without ever a problem but being careful never hurts.
Theres diff types and the ones I've found possibly dangerous are my cinnamin palys which are much larger even than a normal paly. Those have shot water when I fragged them and are real slimy.
I always thought the zoa toxicity scare started from Leroy on G.A.R.F when he talks about true palys being very toxic which is more a false coral and they grow together with like holes in it.
It doesnt really look like zoa's but people including me call bigger zoa's paly's when they really arent.
I have some of that also and wont cut it in my tank.
Maybe I'm wrong lol.
kass
I would imagine a dog could get sick or die from licking alot of diff. corals.
Ive fragged alot of zoa's without ever a problem but being careful never hurts.
Theres diff types and the ones I've found possibly dangerous are my cinnamin palys which are much larger even than a normal paly. Those have shot water when I fragged them and are real slimy.
I always thought the zoa toxicity scare started from Leroy on G.A.R.F when he talks about true palys being very toxic which is more a false coral and they grow together with like holes in it.
It doesnt really look like zoa's but people including me call bigger zoa's paly's when they really arent.
I have some of that also and wont cut it in my tank.
Maybe I'm wrong lol.
kass
hereis a pic <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k133/lishoop6/KeithandAshleyWedding002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
and I will frag tomorrow and I will bring to frag swap if wanted
and I will frag tomorrow and I will bring to frag swap if wanted
