have i gone nutz fragging?

bmkindig · Mar 22, 2006

shimmy_yaz · Mar 22, 2006

Nice I like the step by step pictures that mkes it really kool to see the whole process go down. I don't have knowledge of fragging yet so it was nice to see that.

nate4546 · Mar 22, 2006

Sweet I can't wait til the Reefnest Swap!!

sassyfishy · Mar 22, 2006

Wow....I don't think I'll ever have the guts to do that. What's the success rate like on the fungia?

bmkindig · Mar 22, 2006

hey
so far all the frags are doing quite well. honesty on the fungia i hear it's like a hard mushroom and frags do well but with the 1 good hit to the mother colony i got 4 peices and i heard the survival rate is at least 50% so worst case i doubled the coral and saved 1 for the ocean. but on the down side regrowth back to a circle will take from 4-8 monthes.if the info i got is correct this coral was never fragged before,you are supossed to be able to see the outline of the original frag if you turn it coral over.

bmkindig · Mar 23, 2006

hey
hears the toadstool step by step.

mother colony
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/b6265e1f.jpg

out of water getting ready to cut.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/76b75048.jpg

1st cut i'm about to cut a doughnut shape off the top.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/bfcc5867.jpg

doughnut frag coming off
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010134.jpg

mother colony after frag is cut off
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010136.jpg

cutting the doughnut into frags
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010138.jpg

5 of the 6 peices cut
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010141.jpg

getting the needle and fishing line to sew the frags to a shell
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010143.jpg

tieing line to shell
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010144.jpg

sewing the frag to the shell
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010146.jpg

bunch of finished frags in a saltwater bath (important in my opionstep) with just an airpump for water flow.don't use this water in your tank. many toxins and such maybe released during this time leave frags in for about an hour
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010163.jpg

mo if you see this you have my permission to use this on reefnest's website

Murph72 · Mar 23, 2006

That's pretty cool Brad. Hope it works out. I can honestly say I'd never think of trying to break up a coral like that plate....I classify that under "pretty scary."

Btw, how do you keep track of those frogspawn babies that are that small? I have some just like that on my frogspawns but never removed them for fear that the water current would just topple them.

I guess I need to start fragging for the swap. I can tell by the lack of posts on fragswapper that nobody has really gotten that far yet. You've inspired me to get started...though I don't anticipate taking a chisel to anything that doesn't have it's own head

bmkindig · Mar 23, 2006

hey murph,
"Btw, how do you keep track of those frogspawn babies that are that small? I have some just like that on my frogspawns but never removed them for fear that the water current would just topple them"

mmmm i guess i forgot some pics.a trip to the dollar store(cheap super glue gel)(duro works well in my opinion) and this might help

razor blade to a small baby head of frogspawn(this is a good thing to do because the baby heads don't get the proper lighting because the mother colony aborbs the light 1st if you get under the head to the skeleton you a better chance these small heads usually die off several times and regenerate before we even notice them so you are accully saving the life of that head or at least increasing it's life span
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010180

glueing the rock
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010181.jpg

carefully attaching the baby head to it's new home.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/bmkindig/P1010176.jpg

wenright · Mar 23, 2006

Did you ever stop and wonder if any of your subjects felt anything? I can almost hear my leather screaming as I frag it. LOL
Great pics

sassyfishy · Mar 23, 2006

Extremely educational!!! Thanks for sharing!

bmkindig · Mar 23, 2006

hey
this is what ncpars is about!!!!

sassy can i do your corals next? when you ever get that far (i have "tought" fragging classes before.

shimmy_yaz · Mar 23, 2006

Yeah I love this thread. It is very informational in the process of fragging. Like I said before I have no experience and wouldn't have a clue where to start with most of it so this really helps to see it all go down. I am sure once I get everything up and running and my time to frag comes I will be on here screaming HELP!

rickyfins · Mar 23, 2006

Hey Brad great thread! I am not going to have any LPS ready for this swap but maybe in the near future. I have an elegance that is doing well and should be able to frag it within the next few months. I will take pics and post them for all to see! I have to admit, the elegance is the only coral I am actually afraid to frag. I guess I will have to get the guts and hope for the best. I hope that my elegance frags do well enough to get some more of this unstable coral into the hobby through my frags.

Thanks again Brad,

Rick

sassyfishy · Mar 23, 2006

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7018945#post7018945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bmkindig
hey
this is what ncpars is about!!!!

sassy can i do your corals next? when you ever get that far (i have "tought" fragging classes before.

Sure!! But right now all of them - the few I have so far, anyway (except my fungia) are frag-sized still. I'm not sure I have the heart to see my plate coral fragged just yet. I'm quite attached to it. (I swear it has personality). It's really a gorgeous piece - about 6" in diameter when expanded.

fishy-doc · Mar 23, 2006

nice photo's, keep us updated

JonK · Mar 23, 2006

Nice work Brad. Great pics of the whole process!

bmkindig · Mar 24, 2006

hey ricky
take the elagence over a wet/dry tile saw and it will be fine.(so i've heard)

i've had my plate coral for about 2-3 years it was 1 of my hard corals and it has gotten huge i just couldn't stand it walking all over this place and i was thinking about selling it but then i saw how to frag 1 being done in person and i took the challange and now i have 4 plate corals so far they're all doing well the 1 piece is still small and doesn't seem to have part of the mouth attached to it so i left it partly attached to the bigger piece but it can still be cut with a razor blade.

my 1st "loss" i gave bubba a piece of the frogspawn for his tank and the head came unglued from the rock.mmmm i'm thinking the emerald crab had something to do with this.we did mange to find the missing head and reglue it to the rock.

and i have a hairy mushroom mia but that's a common thing

JonK · Mar 24, 2006

Brad,

As long as I am recalling correctly. You don't need a piece of the mouth on the fungia for it to stay alive. Anthony said you could take a hammer to one and most of the pieces would live. He said if you kept your nitrates around 3 - 5 ppm it would help the fungia absorb the nutrition it needed and all the pieces would develop a new mouth within a few months.

Jon

bmkindig · Mar 24, 2006

hey jon,
i remember something like that which i'm not consenerned about the whole thing surviving just as long as most of it survives but i guess i'm trying to play better safe then sorry. since i know this will take 4-8 monthes to be a circle again.

lawmary · Mar 31, 2006

Hi Brad, nice job on the frag pics. I wish I had taped the Anthony Calfo talk. It was so much info, I couldn't take it all in. I have some pretty large corals that should be fragged so maybe you could use them for a demo sometime. I have a QT so I guess that would work as a saltwater bath?

have i gone nutz fragging?

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