How to frag a shroom/and keep it.

oceana

oceana

Active Member
Hey there
This morning I decided to frag a few more things in my tank and since I see so many people asking about this I figured I would take step by step pics to help the newer people out. This tread should give you all the steps and pics you need to be able to start fraging all your favorite shrooms. We all know the only thing better then our favorite coral is to have LOTS of our favorite coral. there are many ways to do this but I find this way to not only be full proof but it also guarantees that the frags we make don’t just get lost in our tanks.
Step one. Preparations
Ok we have a shroom that we want to frag. Now what??
Here is a list and pic of the very simple things you will need
1. Clean straight edge razor
2. Clean plate
3. Small plastic cups (with lids)
4. Med or fine mesh netting. (Craft stores have it)
5. Small cup of sand from your tank
6. Small pieces of rock
7. Last but most important. A shroom of your choice
THAT’S IT!! You need nothing else




 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
So now you have all your supplies and you’re ready to begin. clear off a well lit and clean area to work in. I begin by taking a small amount of sand and filling the bottom of the cups I will be using to hold my frags after cutting. Them you take the small pieces of rock and push them down in the sand. You want only the tops of the rocks sticking out and you want to place them as close as you can together. Don’t worry about filling in every little space. Just do the best you can... the reason for the sand is if you just toss in a bunch of rocks chances are your small cutting will just fall through the rock and end up on the bottom of the cup. The sand keeps the shroom on the tops of the rocks and insures that they will have a nice flat surface to attach to. The pics below are in the order they are talked about above. In the next post we will begin cutting

 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Step 2. Cutting
Now that we have gotten everything ready we are ready to cut.
Begin by taking the shroom that you have chosen to frag and place it bottom down on the clean plate. It is very important that the plate is free from detergents and soaps. Make sure it’s very well rinsed off.
Take your razor and make a cut right across the middle of the shroom. Make sure you razor is clean and fresh. You want to cut the shroom not tear it. In this example I cut my shroom into 3. For your first frag IMO you should start by simply cutting the shroom in half. I find that it does not always mater but I always try to get some of the mouth on both halves. After you have made your cuts. Take your rubble cup and drop the cutting in. try to make sure the cutting are in the cup face up... your shroom is now fraged... in the picks you will also see a blue shrom that i tossed inas well. it had been on a rock and i wanted to move it so i pulled it from the large rock and put it in here so it will attach to a more moveable small piece of rock. Now its time to secure your frags so they don’t end up all over your tank




 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Step 3. Securing your frags
Some people glue, some people use rubber bands, some even use toothpicks.
Well shroom are very slimy and are escape artist. While I do know the other ways do and can work I do not find them to be a sure thing. With my method you will never have to worry about loosing a frag.
This is where the lid and netting come into play. Take your lid and razor and cut out the center of the lid leaving only the rim. Then take your netting and place it over the cup and pull it flat. Take the lid you just cut and push it on the cup over the netting. You don’t want to use the lid alone because you want your frags to get light. There you have it. A secure and worry free holding cup for your frags. Take this cup and SLOWLY put it into your tank trying not to stir thing up in the cup. You want to try and make sure all the frags remain face up. Place the cup in a low flow area of your tank. Wait about a week and then remove the cup. You will find that most if not all your cutting will be attached. You can now remove the cutting and the rocks they are on and place it where you want in your reef. If the rock they attached to is too small I find it helpful to glue the rock into place on your reef. every shrrom in the last pic started this way about 1 month ago. I hope I covered everything and answered any question. Feel free to ask about anything I may have not covered.




 
bovetek

bovetek

Member
Thank you very much for this. A freind gave me a little blue mushroom and now its about the size of a half dollar. I always thought it would spread on its own. But your method makes alot of sense as I have tried numerous time to glue the little bugger to a piece of rock only to find it somewhere else a day or 2 later. I gave that up and just let it go where it wanted. My only question is, how do I detach it from my rock. (of couse it attached itself to a 20# piece of LR that is on the bottom of the tank).
 
vlondi

vlondi

Member
Bove, you can just cut the shroom at the base in one clean cut. The base left behind can also regenerate into a new shroom in addition to the new frag/s you will have from the main part of it.
 
bovetek

bovetek

Member
KEWL!!!! :jumping:
I have an exacto knife that should work. I've had my tank up and running for a couple years but, I still really have no idea what i'm doing. I just, about 3 months ago, started keeping some softies, zoos and LPS. Also gotta a 90 in the works.
Thanks again
 
bovetek

bovetek

Member
Instead of making a new thread, I thought I'd ask in this one. Also it's a good DYI (thanks Oceana)
Ok--so how big should the mushroom be before ya frag it?
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
the one you see in the example above was about 2 inch when open. i have cut them up as big as 10 inches and as small as 1 inch. i dont cut when to small becasue they they or os tiny its a waste of time
 
scubatiffy

scubatiffy

Member
I took your advice but didn't put the rubble in the cup- after the frag (in the case a small Colt frag) attached, I cut the cup and glued the plastic onto a small rock. The frag attached pretty easy- within a few days. This is the way I'm going from now on- thanks for the advice!
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Yes. the green tipped one in the last pic is a Yuma and as you can see they attached just fine.
it also works for just about any softie but some like leather are better off glued or simply wedged between two rock.
 
tthemadd1

tthemadd1

Active Member
So I just cut up a star polyp colony. I shoved toothpicks thru them and wedged between rocks. I noticed that it takes a lont time for them to attach to rock therefore using this method. Has anyone tried another method for attaching these?
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
for stars the best method IMO is to simply gell glue the base to the rock you want. I have never had a problem doing it this way and within around 2 weeks you can see it growing out on the sides
 
tthemadd1

tthemadd1

Active Member
Originally I had two colonies on rubble. Just placed them on the LR rock and they took off. I just cut them into 20 seperate colonies. Pretty cool, all of them have opened and are doing great. I have used the glue in the past and am going to stick with the toothpicks for a few weeks and see if they attach. I know they dont attach quickly so I might have to go with the gel. Thanks for the advise....
 
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