Testiment to regeneration

[Joshua1023]

I bought this Ricordia fl. a month ago. When I got it home I notice a chunk of another hanging off of the back. It wasn't sliced neatly. Honestly it looked as though someone had grabbed the main piece and ripped it from the rock. The chunk was very small, but I could see several small bright pink bumps on the fleshy mass. I've never tried to frag rics so I really didn't know what to expect. I posted a thread on this forum and everyone said just give it time and it WILL grow. O.K. here is a pick one month later.

I have three Rics now. The main two are just about to split, but this little one is by far my favorite just because of the color it is and how much it cost me from the get go.:rollface:

Oh, I do have a before shot.

 

[kiknchikn]

Don't you just love when the free corals you get look better than the ones you actually pay for?

Fragging rics is actually kind of fun, although a little messy. If you ever decide to do it here's a word of caution: make sure you lightly press down on the ric and squeeze the majority of the water out of it so that it doesn't squirt you in the eye when you cut it One almost got me the other day -- luckily I wear glasses.

 

[BigScott]

an kiknckikn thier smelly also..lol

 

[kiknchikn]

LOL... I try not to sniff them

 

[Joshua1023]

How do you get the Ric off of the rock its mounted to? How many pieces do you usually get from a descent sized one? Dou you take it out of the water when you are slicing it? Do you super glue it to a new rock or use wedding veil? Fragging would be far cheaper than buying and they seem to do really well in my tank.

 

[kiknchikn]

Here's what I do to propagate my ric floridas, but make note that I'm somewhat new to this and definitely not an expert:

1. I cut the ric off the rock leaving behind a decent amount of the foot behind, which will likely grow back into another ric, with either a very sharp pair of scissors or a fresh razor blade. I find it easier to have the ric somewhat inflated with water when I do this part so that you can get the blade under it easier and I hold it upside down under the water so I can see the foot better to cut it.

2. I then remove the rock from the water and put it on a cutting board where I use two fingers and press down on the ric gently, just enough to make the ric expell most of the water it is inflated with.

3. I use a straight and sharp razor blade to make a clean cut through the ric's mouth to cut the ric in half. The trick is to do one quick and clean cut, so that you damage the tissue as little as possible. I usually then cut the two halves in half again so that I have 4 pieces, each with a section of the mouth. For mishapened rics I'll sometimes make a cut that does not have a piece of the mouth, but so far they've always grown a mouth in time -- it just takes a little longer.

4. I use bridal veil and a rubber band to secure it to a rock. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I like to keep the bridal veil pretty loose so that the ric can move in the current a little. I've found that rics that get blown around a little (not a lot, just a little bit) tend to attach faster for some reason -- maybe it's just my imagination though.

5. Place it in a low - medium flow area with a decent amount of light. I like to keep a little space between frags incase one catches an infection or something, so that it is less likely to spread to the other healing rics.

6. They'll usually attach in anywhere from 1 - 3 weeks, but if a piece was cut without a piece of the foot it may take longer.


If anyone has any suggestions/better methods let me know. I'm always looking to get better at this

 

[Joshua1023]

That sounds like pretty solid advise to me, kiknchikn. I know my father tried something like that a while back.His issue with the netting I think, was that he put it on too tight. The netting ended up fusing itself w/ the mushrooms he was trying to propogate. Anyway that did not turn out so well. What have you found as far as lighting goes w/ these? I have mine only 12" away from my mh lights and they truly do not seem to mind.

 

[kiknchikn]

I use power compact lighting so I try to put my floridas as high up and under as much direct light as I can. I put my one yuma off to the side and almost at the bottom and he seems to be doing fine so far.

I've had similar problems with rics attaching themselves to the bridal veil. Usually they stick their tentacles through it and then don't want to let go. To solve that problem I use an exacto knife to carefully cut every other row of the netting, which allows the tentacles to slide out of the netting, but not get stuck in it and not fall out either. So far it has worked great.

 

[Joshua1023]

As always good tips. Thanx kiknchikn.

 

[kiknchikn]

No problem. For all I know I could be doing something horribly wrong though. I'm still learning how to do it best, and like I said, I'm very open to other people's suggestions

Hopefully I'll have some more yumas in the next 6 - 8 months so I can start learning how to prop those as well.

 

[BigScott]

HEY kiknchikn i do the yumas the same way..but thier a lil more cranky when it come to getting them off the rocks..the safest way i have found put in a high flo until thier almost detached by them selves then remove them.. i lost a whole colony by breaking up the rock i guess it did to much tissue damage...i dont want other people to learn the hard way like i did...its the safest way i have found... but im always looking for new methods..

SCOTT

 

[kiknchikn]

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try that out when the time comes