Fragging help please..

spinylobster

spinylobster

Member
So I have this green tree palau, and have decided to take a journey into fragging a branch, but have never attempted anything like this b4. I cut a 3 inch branch off this morning and rubberbanded it to a small rock and then placed it into the bottom of my tank beneath the original tree. So my question is... Is there anything else that I need to do, or just wait and see what happens?
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by spinylobster
the frag is standing upright now thats a good sign right
yup it will "re-inflate" and as long as you leave it alone it will heal rather quickly and be growing again in no time
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
at least two weeks or more. once the cut is healed completly you should be fine. (let the coral tell you is basicly what I'm saying) you dont want to frag it again while its still healing. if you want multiple frags try a less traumatizing method like constriction (I just learned the value of this method) use a rubber band or plastic zip tie to cinch one or more of the limbs. the coral will then slowly drop the branch/s. this is a very low impact way to frag slower than chopping but the survival rate for both the mother colony and frag is purpotedly much higher. this method is often used on low survival frags like green tree leathers yellow toadstools and such.
 
spinylobster

spinylobster

Member
Allright... Bad news, tonight I came home and the frag has come off the rock and I have no idea were it went... There is still a very small piece left on the rock. Will the very small piece grow, and how hard do I need to look for the fragged limb.. Its obviously under the rock work(over 50 pds of live rock).
P.S
The piece obviously came off due to constriction from the rubber band, how tight should the ban be, and is there a better way to frag than with a rubberband.
Thanks
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
a lot of time the dish method is a better way to attach. as using rubber bands can cut off the frag. take a shallw dish and put some sand and LR rubble in it. then put the new frag in the dish. cover the dish with bridal mesh to keep the frag in the dish. the frag will settle and attach to some of the sand or rubble wich you can then glue to whatever rock you wish.
constricting with rubber bands can be used to make low stress cuts for fragging tough to frag corals.
as for the little piece 90% chance it will grow if its attached to the rock.
rubber banding for attachment is far trickier than I used to think. I did it for a long time only occasionally losing a frag or cutting one in half. recently it seems I've gotten worse at it and have looked towards other methods that are more reliable (the dish method) as I keep losing more frags to cutting or slipping the band. the dish method is fairly fool proof.
 
goingpoor

goingpoor

Member
Ok i have this same coral and have fragged many times,works very well with fragging.I have also had the problem with small corals getting lost in my rocks,HOPEING ONE DAY THEY FIND THERE WAY OUT
.So here is a easy solution to it go to your lps store and buy a guppy breader drill holes in it and add your sucktion cups glue them if needed the sucktion cups keep it from floating around in your tank ,put your fraged pieces in there or even loose peices in there with rock ribble,it works great...

Anyways hope this helps ya out
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top