want to frag toad stool
- Thread starter wac
- Start date
Sarcophytons in general are IME some of the easiest to frag corals out there, (the exception being the "yellow figi leathers" or "sarcophyton elegans", bright yellow with tiny short polyps)
For any common sarco (toadstool - brown, green, gold...) they have very tough, leathery tissue and heal/attach very quickly. Perfect for fragging.
If you want to be cautious, snip one small chunk off an edge of the crown and try that first as an experiment, in a couple weeks you'll have a good frag and feel a lot more comfortable with cutting the origninal colony.
When Anthony Calfo did a presentation at a meeting not long ago he demonstrated cutting the entire edge, all the way around, then chopping it into frags.
Easy ways to try attaching cuttings;
1. stick a plastic tooth pick through it, then use a rubber band to hold the tooth pick on a chunk of LR so that the frag lightly touches the rock.
2. Gently wrap a rubberband around the frag and a chunk of LR being careful not to crush the frag.
3. Leave the frag in a small cup sitting in a low current area, with bits of LR in the bottom of the cup.
Superglue can be pretty un-reliable with leather/soft corals IME. I would encourage you to try #1 or #2 above.
Use a fresh razor blade to cut the frag off. Before cutting tap or otherwise gently distrub the coral a few times so that it pulls in all it's polyps.
Good luck
jk
Edit;
(I forgot part of the question) you don't need anything special in terms of dips, but it is always a good idea to have a small container of tank water to rinse the frag in after cutting and mounting. Disposable rubbermaid type food containers work well.
*If you have a bright yellow figi leather, aka. sarcophyton elegans, that may be a different story, they are more sensitive to bacterial infection. IME lugols dips seem to be helpful, but I can only say that as anecdotal evidence at best.*
For any common sarco (toadstool - brown, green, gold...) they have very tough, leathery tissue and heal/attach very quickly. Perfect for fragging.
If you want to be cautious, snip one small chunk off an edge of the crown and try that first as an experiment, in a couple weeks you'll have a good frag and feel a lot more comfortable with cutting the origninal colony.
When Anthony Calfo did a presentation at a meeting not long ago he demonstrated cutting the entire edge, all the way around, then chopping it into frags.
Easy ways to try attaching cuttings;
1. stick a plastic tooth pick through it, then use a rubber band to hold the tooth pick on a chunk of LR so that the frag lightly touches the rock.
2. Gently wrap a rubberband around the frag and a chunk of LR being careful not to crush the frag.
3. Leave the frag in a small cup sitting in a low current area, with bits of LR in the bottom of the cup.
Superglue can be pretty un-reliable with leather/soft corals IME. I would encourage you to try #1 or #2 above.
Use a fresh razor blade to cut the frag off. Before cutting tap or otherwise gently distrub the coral a few times so that it pulls in all it's polyps.
Good luck
jk
Edit;
(I forgot part of the question) you don't need anything special in terms of dips, but it is always a good idea to have a small container of tank water to rinse the frag in after cutting and mounting. Disposable rubbermaid type food containers work well.
*If you have a bright yellow figi leather, aka. sarcophyton elegans, that may be a different story, they are more sensitive to bacterial infection. IME lugols dips seem to be helpful, but I can only say that as anecdotal evidence at best.*
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