Cutting Gorgonians

[mbuckley]

I recently bought a large piece of a gorgonian. Unfortunately my eyes were a little bigger then my tank as the piece is too large for my tank... Is it possible to cut pieces off and have them form into new colonies like you would a piece of coral? If so any tips / tricks / things I should be mindful of?
Thanks, Mike

 

[tru conch]

use a pair of sharp scissors to cut off the excess amount.
then at the base of the cuttings, cut away a small piece of the flesh, but leave the core intact.
before cutting, have some small pieces of lr with a hole drilled into them (not all the way through, just so there is a small depression). make sure the dimple is just barely larger than the diameter of the gorgonian.
place the cutting into the hole, and super glue around the hole, holding in place for a few seconds.
you should be done.
try to keep as much of the gorgonian in the water as possible.
also check out garf. com on fragging gorgonians. they go into a little more detail, plus they have pictures to go along with. hth and good luck fragging.

 

[dburr]

Couple tips to add to tru conch
Try using wire strippers, perfect for leaving the core in tact and very sharp.
Do not get any superglue on the flesh. It will grow down to the base. Also, place in some of your water after a couple seconds. Super glue heats up when drying and water will cool it and will activate the glue and harden it fast.
HTH

 

[mbuckley]

If I'm reading this right, I strip a piece of the gorgonian like a wire? Cut off the orange "flesh" and stick the center into a hole?
Will any fragment start a new "colony". i.e. If I have 1 large piece, can I make 2 or 3 smaller pieces? Or do I need to leave the current base intact and just prune it back?
Thanks for your help, I'd really like to make a few smaller frags but I don't want to kill it either... (Ratrher leave it as is hen kill it...)
Mike

 

[dburr]

you just cut off branches and make frags of them. They will make new colonies. Try this site for more info.