My first fragging!

lcs

It's Spring!!!!!!!
I decided to be brave today and remove three of my blue ricordia that were on a rock and frag the six mouth one I have. I was reluctant to cut the six mouth one because it looks so cool, but I figured what the heck!

I think it went OK. I tried to cut the foot as close to the rock as I could. It wasn't easy because they, especially the large one, were in crevices. They sure slimed a lot. At least I hope it was slime and not guts! :hmm2:

I had purchased a plastic craft box from Walmart with seven sections. I wanted something shallow with just enough room for each ric. I only had a couple small pieces of rubble for them to attach to, so I bought some regular aquarium gravel to try as well.

I had seen a video on YouTube where they used a toothpick to get the ric off the rock after cutting so I used that to help gently pull the ric up while I made small cuts with an exacto knife. As I went along I would rinse it in fresh saltwater to hopefully remove some of the slime. The large, six mouth one was tough to remove so I had to do a combination of running the toothpick under/through the foot and using the knife. I hope I didn't beat it up too much. When I got the six-mouth off I cut it into three pieces - two mouths each. It wasn't easy to see them because it had retracted so much - it was easily a third of it's normal size.

I put them in my QT while they heal. Any ideas how long I can expect that to take?


Pictures of course!

Ric one:
IMG_2786.jpg


Ric two:
IMG_2784.jpg


Six mouth in the tank:
6mouthblueric24-1.jpg


Six mouth ric:
IMG_2785.jpg


Divided container:
IMG_2788.jpg


Three frags -
IMG_2794.jpg


Frags in the container:
IMG_2793.jpg
 
What are you planning on doing with them now?
One is going to reefboarder and a couple are going to the Museum! I'm going to have corals in the museum! :D :dance:
 
great job !!!

I've been putting off learning fragging...I think It's better for my corals that way :)
 
That looks like an awesome project! I like the divider idea it looks like the little frags will have no problem attaching to the rubble. It makes me a little nervous to try to frag things I am always worried I'm gonna handle it too much but knock on wood so far so good
 
Thanks guys!

Thanks guys!

looks like you've been doing your homework.
I've certainly tried! We'll see if it pays off. What would we do without the internet? :love2:

Did you place that frag tray back into the display tank?
Nah, it's in my QT. I don't have room for it in the DT, plus I figured they'd be happier with the lower light and flow situation in the QT. The only thing I'm a little worried about is that I didn't do any kind of acclimation to the QT water; I just dunked the tray right in there.

looks like the little frags will have no problem attaching to the rubble
I hope so. I was a little worried one of them would fall into the space in between, but I think it'll be alright.

I am always worried I'm gonna handle it too much
Ugh, I know! These poor things were poked, prodded, cut, squeezed, and dunked in room temperature water. :crazy1:

I'll keep you posted on their progress.
 
It's now been a week. I moved the two that had been removed from the rock and not cut to a section of the tray with gravel as they weren't attaching to the rock.

One of the rics that was removed from the LR attached to a piece of gravel a couple days ago! Whoo-hoo! And it looks good too. Not as full and colored as it was, but definately doing OK. The frags haven't attached yet and they don't look great, but at least they're not dead yet!

For the last few days I've had them under PC lights for 10hr/day.

The salinity in the QT tank is low, around 1.022. I'm going to slowly bring that up and see if that helps them attach.
 
I still have the rock that the rics were on in my QT. I took a look at it when I turned the light on and noticed that the remnants of the feet of the rics I removed are growing! I can see little, greenish nubs coming out of the foot. Cool! I'll have to try to get a picture.
 
My ricrodea florida grow a lot. I prefer to put rubble near them and let them grow over. Good luck with the fragging. You did a very neat job. Keep us posted on the outcome, please.
 
Thanks! All seems to be good so far. It's been just over a month. The two I removed from the rock have been attached for a while and their color is good. They're no where near as expanded as they were in the DT, but that's just because they're still in that craft container and they are a bit cramped for space. One of the three frags has attached for sure, but I don't think the other two have. Their color is good, but they could be happier. Honestly, I haven't had my hands in there for a while. I really should try something else for those that haven't attached.

I think the final test will be to see how they do once Tad gets them settled in their new home.
 
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