Step by step - fragging GSP

[speg]

For those of you that are afraid to frag.. or just havent quite worked up the nerve to do it yet - have no fear! I shall guide you through the process of fragging one of the most simple-to-frag coral out there - *Green star polyps* or GSP.
First some info on WHY to frag. Some coral you may never need to frag in your life... although some you may have to do it on a weekly basis. It all depends on the type of coral. The coral we have chosen today (green star polyps) is practically an aquatic weed. If you do not frag this coral regularlly it may grow out of control. It may start covering your aquarium glass, filters, pumps, >>>other coral!<<< which is very bad if this starts to happen because you may end up having a lot of damage done to some of your prize coral. Some people may not have to frag it as often as others, it all depends on your lighting, feeding, etc. Also it seems that some types of GSP just simply grow slower than others. For me, mine must be fragged every other week like clockwork or what happens is it starts to grow in areas that I dont want it to.
Also fragging helps bring in a steady income to help you fund your hobby. Unless you have a large fragging opperation you probably will never cover all your costs by fragging.. but it will help you some. I paid $59 for the GSP rock i'll be fragging today, its around a 6"x6"x3" rock (square shaped). I have probably made at least $120+ in store credit after only having it for 6 months. There was only a small 2"x2" area of GSP on the rock when I first obtained it.. now it has covered the whole top of the rock and even has encrusted itself all over the bottom although the polyps do not sprout out on the bottom, there is only the purple-colored mat.
Ok! Lets frag. I'll be doing this in steps, each post will be a step and if you have any questions then feel free to ask. Please hold all questions until I have made all the steps though thanks.

 

[speg]

Ok! Firstly - The tools you'll need.
1) Some sort of knife. I like using a pearing knife courtesy of mothers kitchen (she doesnt know). This is used to scrape some of the 'mat' off the rock.
2) Pieces of rock to be used to attach the star polyps to.
3) Net - I find net to be the best way to attach gsp. In my opinion there is no other way. You'll want to make sure to have net cut out to cover the pieces of rock you have brought for this job.
4) Rubberbands - these are to hold the nets in place. Depending on how big your rocks are you will need different size rubberbands. I prefer short and thin ones rather than the really thick rubberbands. That way if you happen to place it over some of the gsp (or it slips and covers a piece) it only covers a small portion and the rest can still receive light.
5) A towell - Saltwater doesnt smell great if it gets all over the place... "Dont forget to bring a towell". Your wives and mothers and husbands and etc will appreciate this step.

 

[speg]

Step 1
Make sure all tools that are needed are together and you have the mother colony.
Its ok to keep the GSP out of water for a while, they are a hardy coral and will survive fine. I wouldnt recommend leaving them out of the water for too long.. but they should be fine while you're fragging. I have probably only had to keep mine out of water for 15 minutes total. I am sure some people have done it longer.

 

[speg]

Step 2
The cutting process. Depending on what kind of rock you have the mother colony on it could be very simple to scrape off pieces of gsp.. or it may be more difficult. My rock is NOT smooth and I am only able to take very small pieces off the rock here and there. This is fine, you dont need to get much off for it to grow. Also dont worry about being a butcher to the gsp, you're going to end up smooshing a little here and there - its ok. Try to push the knife as close to the rock as you can and scrape as if you were scraping the rock itself. What you want to accomplish is getting the mat as big and as intact as possible, but usually its hard to do both unless you have a flat piece of rock.
warning - do watch your fingers, you dont need a razor sharp knife to do this.

 

[speg]

Step 3
Remove the pieces you were able to cut from the rock, sometimes you can cut under a small area and actually pull some of the gsp off the rock with your fingers. The stuff wont look pretty.. but its still alive I assure you. Notice how I only have a small amount.. that is fine. With a lot of these small amounts on a rock it will cover the rock completely in no time!

 

[speg]

Steps 4 - 5
Place the gsp mat side down straight on your pieces of rock. It may be hard to tell which side is the top and which is the bottom once you have mutilated it. The side with bumps will be the top and the flat side will be the bottom. Sometimes both sides look like they have bumps.. use your best judgement here. The worse thing that will happen is you'll put it on backwards and when we attach the net it'll attach to the net instead of the rock. At which time you can just rip off of the net and put it somewhere else.
Try to seperate the pieces according to how much you cut. The more you can get off of the mother colony the faster the frags will be able to grow together and look like a nice whole colony. This will help it sell faster at your local fish store.. thus making the owner want to do business with YOU more often.

 

[speg]

step 6
Ok now simply take net and cover your rock with the gsp on the rocks. I like to have the net firmly on the rock. Not too tight, but tight enough that you know the gsp will not end up moving. Use rubberbands as much as you think you need to. You are trying to remove all open 'flaps' of the net so nothing can get in or get out of the net.

 

[speg]

step 7
Last step! Just place them into your aquarium. As with any frags its good to place them in very low flow for a while until they are able to attach themselves. If you have a frag-shelf made to hold frags, then great. If not then any low-flow area will do nicely. Try to make sure they are in a secure spot where they cannot be pushed off a rock by something else, if they are continously falling upside down then it may make the attaching process longer.
These frags should be completely attached in around a week to a week and a half depending on your system give or take a few days. After a week is up (or a two weeks if you're not in a rush) then simply remove the rubberbands/netting and then you can move the frags to better loctions. For example higher in the tank so they can receive more light, thus growing faster, thus letting you do whatever you had planned with them much faster.

 

[speg]

That wraps it up! If you have any questions or feel I missed something, simply let me know. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I look forward to posting another step-by-step frag post like this in the future.
Remember its GOOD to frag, you are 1) helping save a reef. 2) saving other coral from getting overgrown by faster growing coral. 3) makin a couple bucks to help buy your next packet of frozen food.. or whatever
Enjoy -
Jesse

 

[speg]

Well I had hoped that this post would be used by at least one person obviously my time was foolishly spent. If you guys have a suggestion for a coral that isnt often fragged (but fraggable) i'll try to do this process again.. but with that coral.

 

[aw2]

Not foolishly spent, at all. Thanks for showing the process, Speg.

 

[mbowker]

excellant job in posting the procedure, I enjoyed reading a nd actually followed it to frag mine. Thankj

 

[azocean709]

i have a question. but not with GSP...its with a yellow gargonian. i bought a pretty beg frag from the LFS and was wondering how to cut it.

 

[speg]

You should be able to just break those off or cut them and they'll start growing again. You could place the cut into the sand or superglue (gel) it to a small piece of rock.

 

[azocean709]

ok...that was another thing...the super glue...LOL do i dry everything off? or can it be glued wet...<lookin at time frame coral is out of the water>

 

[1journeyman]

Great informative post.
I wonder if you could "frag" encrusting gorgonia the same way?

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by Speg
You should be able to just break those off or cut them and they'll start growing again. You could place the cut into the sand or superglue (gel) it to a small piece of rock.
Thanks so much for again, 1 more very informative thread.

So, I could break one of these "arms" off? How?

 

[speg]

Originally Posted by AzOcean709
ok...that was another thing...the super glue...LOL do i dry everything off? or can it be glued wet...<lookin at time frame coral is out of the water>
You're going to need to dry everything off as much as possible. The frag & the rock it'll go on. If something remains wet when you try and use the superglue gel, the gel may not dry and once you put the frag into a tank it'll end up floating away.
Most coral can remain out of water for longer than you would think they'd be able to. Of course you wanna try to get them back in as quickly as possible... but you certainly have enough time to screw around and glue things ***)

 

[speg]

Originally Posted by hot883
Thanks so much for again, 1 more very informative thread.

So, I could break one of these "arms" off? How?
Pick a spot on it and just break it off or cut it with scissors. Then that piece can simply be glued to a small piece of rock or stuck into the sand. Some gorgonians are much harder and can actually be 'broken' and some are soft and need to be cut, but could be ripped.

 

[escape2thewater]

This is a great and informative post SPEG! Thanks for taking the time to do it for us. Now if I just knew of something that ate GSP I would be soooooo happy! Like you mentioned in your post I let mine grow too big too fast, now its a nuisance.
Escape