Bkndsdl
Member
Zoanthid fragging!
Zoanthid fragging!
An easy coral to grow, zoanthids are very colorful and hardy, making them very attractive to new reef tank owners. The color patterns are almost endless, and some have fetched quite a penny. Some of us, me included, can’t afford to get these primo frags in bulk, so we have to buy small patches of 1-5 polyps (most I’ve ever paid for them was $5 a polyp, but I’ve seen some a lot higher than that!). If you know how to frag these, you can not only get them spread out in your tank quickly, but you can also recoup some of the $$ you spent acquiring them in the first place by selling off some. They can come in handy at frag swaps as well.
Here’s some green skirt, orange body, bright orange-mouthed zoas I got in a trade. There’s two rocks full of them, and I wanted to start breaking them up (I also bought some baby-blue zoas a few days ago; they cost me $5 a polyp, and there are 5 polyps. Not something I do very often but I just couldn’t pass these babies up, as I knew they wouldn’t last very long).
Ok, first things first: Fragging zoas can release palytoxin. I would make sure you have eye protection, i.e. goggles (glasses don't count), and gloves. When you cut or squeeze zoas, they can squirt out at you. Be careful!
Next, let’s take our rock out of the tank and examine it very closely. You want to break the rock where you will disturb the zoas the least. Sometimes, the zoas are growing separately, not attached by anything; in that case just break the rock in half. If they are attached to each other, you will want to cut the rock between the zoas where they are attached by membrane. There’s no need to cut through a polyp, because as soon as you take it out of the water the polyps will begin to close showing you their base, giving you plenty of areas to cut through without damaging a polyp. Pick the spot that will make the most of what you want to do; you can cut the rock into several pieces with many polyps on each, or break them up into individual polyps if you want.
Take your trusty diagonal cutter and break the rock at the point you’ve chosen. When you are breaking the rock, you’re also cutting the membrane of the zoas. In this picture, I'm cutting the rock between two polyps.
If you have zoas that are held together loosely by membrane and a few pieces of rock rubble, you can use a pair of scissors to cut them apart.
If you just want to separate a rock into more rocks, you’re done after this step. If you want to spread them out in your tank, you can take these small pieces and place them in different holes and crevices in the rocks.
If there are no holes to stick them in, you’ll have to attach them in the tank with epoxy. More on that later.
Zoanthid fragging!
An easy coral to grow, zoanthids are very colorful and hardy, making them very attractive to new reef tank owners. The color patterns are almost endless, and some have fetched quite a penny. Some of us, me included, can’t afford to get these primo frags in bulk, so we have to buy small patches of 1-5 polyps (most I’ve ever paid for them was $5 a polyp, but I’ve seen some a lot higher than that!). If you know how to frag these, you can not only get them spread out in your tank quickly, but you can also recoup some of the $$ you spent acquiring them in the first place by selling off some. They can come in handy at frag swaps as well.
Here’s some green skirt, orange body, bright orange-mouthed zoas I got in a trade. There’s two rocks full of them, and I wanted to start breaking them up (I also bought some baby-blue zoas a few days ago; they cost me $5 a polyp, and there are 5 polyps. Not something I do very often but I just couldn’t pass these babies up, as I knew they wouldn’t last very long).
Ok, first things first: Fragging zoas can release palytoxin. I would make sure you have eye protection, i.e. goggles (glasses don't count), and gloves. When you cut or squeeze zoas, they can squirt out at you. Be careful!
Next, let’s take our rock out of the tank and examine it very closely. You want to break the rock where you will disturb the zoas the least. Sometimes, the zoas are growing separately, not attached by anything; in that case just break the rock in half. If they are attached to each other, you will want to cut the rock between the zoas where they are attached by membrane. There’s no need to cut through a polyp, because as soon as you take it out of the water the polyps will begin to close showing you their base, giving you plenty of areas to cut through without damaging a polyp. Pick the spot that will make the most of what you want to do; you can cut the rock into several pieces with many polyps on each, or break them up into individual polyps if you want.
Take your trusty diagonal cutter and break the rock at the point you’ve chosen. When you are breaking the rock, you’re also cutting the membrane of the zoas. In this picture, I'm cutting the rock between two polyps.
If you have zoas that are held together loosely by membrane and a few pieces of rock rubble, you can use a pair of scissors to cut them apart.
If you just want to separate a rock into more rocks, you’re done after this step. If you want to spread them out in your tank, you can take these small pieces and place them in different holes and crevices in the rocks.
If there are no holes to stick them in, you’ll have to attach them in the tank with epoxy. More on that later.
