Coral Propogation : A beginners guide

poiromaniax

poiromaniax

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Hey guys,

So I thought Id post a pictorial on how to frag corals.

(I will add to this post as I frag more and more)

Mushrooms - Discosoma

You will need:

Cutting surface (I had some spare granite lying around)
3 x water containers
Some orange bag
Scalpel or Stanley blade (If you can, rather get a scalpel)
Gloves
Eyewear (Yes, Im serious - these corals squirt)
Fishing line or elastics
Frag plugs ( LR rubble,coral skeletons etc)
Towels (Reefers always need towels)

Some Pics:

I wear glasses, so that takes care of eyewear - although Im going to buy a full face splash mask

Water Containers - 1st to hold the mothers, 2nd to hold frag plugs and completed frags, 3rd to quick set glue and dunking the frags.

mothers.jpg

fragplugs.jpg

swishjug.jpg


scalpel.jpg

orangebag.jpg

:lol:
towel.jpg

gloves.jpg


Fragging

Take the mother colony and place it on your cutting surface.

Cut the mushroom into 4 parts (I prefer to cut the shroom on the rock so that it doesnt slip and slide all over the place)

Using your blade, scrape the mushroom off the rock whilst keeping a thin layer of LR from underneath the mushroom, ensuring that the whole foot comes off the rock (if it doesnt - dont worry, a new shroom will grow there)

Mushroom off the rock - you can see the thin layer of LR - Sorry for the bad pic, its hell to take photos on granite
offrock.jpg


Then, seperate the musrooms into 4 parts

quads.jpg
 
Mounting

Take however many mushroom parts that you would like per rock and place them right side up on the plug.

Cut a small square of the Orange bag and wrap it around the rock, making sure that the shrooms cant get free.

Use the elastic or fishing line to keep the orange bag from floating off the plugs.

Give the completed frag a quick rinse and then pop back into the frag holding bucket until you have finished fragging.

Bad pics of the completed frags recovering in my refugium
img1718.jpg
 
Zoa's, carpet polyps, colonial polyps, palys - Zoanthid sp

CAUTION - THESE CORALS ARE TOXIC, PLEASE USE THE UTMOST CARE THAT THE SLIME OR POLYP DOES NOT COME INTO CONTACT WITH AN OPEN WOUND OR BECOME INGESTED
Handling Zoanthids - Some Zoanthids Produce a Deadly Toxin
Palytoxin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some old pics of the mother colonies that I fragged
dsc0078p.jpg

dsc0074w.jpg


You will need:

Cutting surface (I had some spare granite lying around)
3 x water containers
Scalpel or Stanley blade (If you can, rather get a scalpel)
Gloves
Eyewear (Yes, Im serious - these corals squirt)
Frag plugs (LR rubble,coral skeletons, coral cradles etc)
Towels
Suitable SuperGlue

I use Two little fishes Corrafix
glue.jpg


Coral Cradles
img1763g.jpg


Fragging

Take the mother colony and place it on your cutting surface.

Using your blade, scrape the zoas off the rock whilst keeping a thin layer of LR from underneath the polyps, be very careful to not cut the polyps.

Slice the mat to detach the frag from the mother colony.

Mounting

Take a piece of the zoas that you cut and spread superglue evenly on the thin piece of LR underneath.

Push the Zoas firmly onto the frag plugs. Dunk the corals to quickset the glue (superglue dries "hot", so cooling it down while it sets helps)

Place the completed frag back into your holding container until youre done fragging.

Bad pic of the completed frags in my DT
zoafinish.jpg


And the frags the next day:
img1721p.jpg


And 2 weeks ago - just before i sold them
img1752.jpg

img1749t.jpg
 
Green Star Polyps, GSP - Pachyclavularia sp

Mother Colony minutes before surgery
img1761b.jpg


You will need:

Cutting surface
3 x water containers (1 for mother colony, 1 for holding frags/ plugs, 1 for quicksetting glue)
Scalpel or Stanley blade (If you can, rather get a scalpel for precision, but stanley blade works just as well)
Gloves
Eyewear (Yes, Im serious - these corals squirt)
Frag plugs (LR rubble,coral skeletons,coral cradles etc)
Towels
Suitable SuperGlue

Glue
glue.jpg


Fragging

This is to date, the easiest coral I have fragged. Much easier than even Zoanthids, and with less of a risk :p

Start by placing the mother colony on your cutting surface:
img1766y.jpg


Using the blade, carefully slice the mat , being careful not to cut the polyps.
Slowly pry the mat off the LR, it comes off quite easily. You can even slowly peel it off the rock with your fingers.

Here you can clearly see how the mat peels off the rock
img1767q.jpg


Once you have peeled off the amount that you are happy with, Simply slice the mat to seperate mother and daughter.

Place the GSP frags in your holding container while you continue fragging.

GSP frag already showing PE after cutting!
img1768d.jpg


Mounting

Take your frag plugs and spread superglue evenly on the area where the GSP will go, take your GSP slice and firmly press it down into the glue.

Place the completed frag in your 'glue setting container' for about 60sec.
Place your frag back in the holding container until you are done.

Pics of completed frags to come upon the 'morrow


HAPPY FRAGGING ;)
 
sure okes, stay tuned - there will be more to come.

Sinularia is next on my hit list ;)

Can a mod please make this thread a sticky
 
imageshack wont display outside of USA sometimes, use photobucket, or upload here
 
Last edited by a moderator:
All I see is a frog in an ice cube ???
Klippies en eish?
 
Another tip. It does not work to superglue mushrooms. The slime themselves loose and then float away.
 
I used a mesh I had over from my bonsai days, mushi attaches in no time to some gravel in the tub. Was like a day to attach, now I can glue to a bigger rock.
2975e60a-e66d-b040.jpg
 
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