Devil's Hand & Colt Coral

[JoshLongton]

How do you go about fragging a Devil's hand? I have to wait a little longer before I can frag mine, but having the info ahead of time helps.

Right now I am planning on fragging my Colt Coral. How much can I frag off at one time, and how long should I wait before fragging it again?

Also I just found this site earlier this week. Was searching on Colt coral fragging. And I am very impressed. This is a little easier then running 50 miles to my local shop to ask questions. :D

[saltaddict]

www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/4030-colt-coral-fragging-video-podcast-episode-96-a.html

I found this through a search on google - hope it helps.

[Phurst]

Devils hand (or any leather for that matter) can be fragged just like the colt.

[JoshLongton]

Thank you both for your response's.

Salt Addict, that podcast is how I found the website. But thank you for bringing it to my attention, if I hadn't seen it.

Also the podcast only shows you how to frag the colt coral. Doesn't explain how much you can do at one fragging or how long you have to wait till you can frag it agin.

Phurst, thank for the info. So now all I have to do, is let it grow some more.

[rayme07]

Hi josh http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-basic/welcome.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org) to TR.

[Phurst]

It depends on the size of the coral really. If it's huge, just go to town chopping. if it's not too big, just take a couple of pieces. You don't want to stress it out too much. As soon as it's healed you can frag it again, but you'll probably wan to wait for it to grow out again before you cut it up again.

[Amphibious]

Also I just found this site earlier this week. Was searching on Colt coral fragging. And I am very impressed. This is a little easier then running 50 miles to my local shop to ask questions.

And, so much wiser!!! I don't know your level of experience, Josh, but you will learn your LFS is most likely the worst place to ask questions. It is a real oxymoron. Sad but true! Unfortunately most newbies spend big bucks before they find a forum to help them out. Fortunately, you have found us. We are here for you without any hidden agendas.

Welcome to TR.

Dick

[ryandlf]

Speaking as a noob myself, coral fragging is so scary. I haven't done much of it, but the little I have done was terrifying until I really got down and did it. You think to yourself, geez I spent $30 - $50 or sometimes more on this animal and now i'm supposed to take a blade and sever it. There are two things I have learned so far:

1) Fragging, done properly will not harm your coral and they are in most cases not as delicate as we think. That being said it's still wise to be careful.
2) I have found a lot of videos on youtube.com that will demonstrate how to frag specific corals. Those always seem to help. For the most part I think they are pretty reliable.

All in all, practice makes perfect and once you've done it a few times it will come naturally. I think if you ever have a chance to go to one of the events that pop up around the country you could probably witness fragging done live.

[JoshLongton]

Here are a couple of pics of the Colt coral I am thinking of fragging.

[Amphibious]

You could get a couple of dozen frags off that bad boy. Just cut the branching limbs. Start with one so you see it doesn't kill it. I'm surprised it's not dropping daughter colonies on it's own.

[Skurvey Dog]

He's branched off quite nicely and you should be able to get many frags. If you're reluctant, only cut one or two branches. I have kenya trees that grew like weeds. I started with one small $5 frag and kept pinching off it's growth and only stuck them in the small holes/crevices that dotted my LR. Within days they attached themselves and started with new growth and before I knew it I had a regular forest! :up:

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg59/Skurvey_Dog/20G%20Nano/FillingHoleswithKenyaTrees.jpg

[JoshLongton]

Some pics I took tonights. I moved te Devil Hand and the Colt Coral closer to the light.

Thank you for the comments too.

Here are links to the frag kit, plugs and UV lamp I just bought.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=7999&prodid=18478&catid=3 - UV Lamp
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=18487&prodid=36470&catid=3 - Frag Kit
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=18976&prodid=37705&catid=3 - Plugs

[Skurvey Dog]

The colt looks like she's perked up since you moved her. (Just basing it from the previous pic.) She's upright now and has a nice shape to her. :up:

[ryandlf]

Very nice let us know how the choppin' goes. What are you going to do with the frags?

[JoshLongton]

Very nice let us know how the choppin' goes. What are you going to do with the frags?

I was planning on selling them to my LFS for credit in the store. You always need supplies, and with the ecomomy the way it is, anything and everything helps.

Unless you guys have a better idea. :fish:


Just did my first frag of the Colt Coral. Will kep you posted.

[CarmieJo]

Hi Josh and :welcome: to TR. Congratulations on fragging your first frag!

[JoshLongton]

Does the frag coral look black and dead for a coupleof days?? Just making sure everything is going good.

[Skurvey Dog]

Let's have a look see Josh. Can you take a picture?

[JoshLongton]

I am not for sure what I am doing wrong. I have tried glueing, and rubber banding my frag down to the frag station. He keeps slipping away, and floating around my tank. I cannot get it to sit itself somewhere, and grow. Does anyone have any other idea's. And I see why the glue does not work on Colt coral. They are slimy, and wet. Has no way to attach itself to the coral.

[Phurst]

Here's a little trick I use when fragging stuff I can't glue. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a small one of these:

http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3761762t400.jpg

I fill the bottom with rubble, toss in the frags and sink the whole thing in the tank for a week or so. The slits provide enough flow to keep things healthy, but not enough to move the frags around. They settle to the bottom and attach to the rubble.

[doctorthompson]

Here's a little trick I use when fragging stuff I can't glue. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a small one of these:

http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3761762t400.jpg

I fill the bottom with rubble, toss in the frags and sink the whole thing in the tank for a week or so. The slits provide enough flow to keep things healthy, but not enough to move the frags around. They settle to the bottom and attach to the rubble.

The little floating "breeder cages" work well for that too, just don't trust the "floating" part if you've got a lot of surface agitation. I keep mine held in place about an inch to 6 inches under the water (depending on what kind of frags are in it) with a small algae magnet.

A word of caution about the Devil's Hand if you keep Stony Corals

Since I didn't see it mentioned, if you have stony corals in that tank keep a close eye on them if/when you frag that Devil's Hand ... although some species of Lobophytum sp. can be mixed with stony corals they can also shed a LOT of excess mucus when recovering from fragging and even if not toxic, it can be quite irritating to any stony corals in the same tank. If you can't setup a spare tank to grow out the devil's hand I would at least change water and activated carbon a little more frequently than normal. If you have a skimmer, adjust it to skim a little wetter than usual (this adjustment is done for you on really cheap skimmers, heh, but I wouldn't swap the Prism on my 37gal frag tank for anything)

[JoshLongton]

Well I set up my frag tank. I also bought one of those little cage's for the frags and rubble. Now since it has been so long since I fragged them off the parent, do I need to snip a little bit off to get them to set on a rock, or will they do it on there own?

Here are two pics. One with the flash, and one without.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd69/JoshNY13/Tank/HPIM0955.jpg Flash
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd69/JoshNY13/Tank/HPIM0956.jpg No Flash

[Phurst]

No, you shouldn't need to cut them again.

[CarmieJo]

The set up looks good. I would not use the airstone, you will have salt creep everywhere.

[JoshLongton]

I have sorta giving up trying to let the frag choose a home. It has not done so in a month. So I went out and bought those plastic drink swords, and have impaled, and glued it to the frag station. I hope it works. I am not trying to kill anything. But I remember hearing something about using them in a podcast on here. I hope I understood correctly.

And I will keep you updated on how the frag is doing.

[CarmieJo]

Impaling poor defenseless corals with plastic drink swords, how could you? Actually it is a great idea as long as the coral doesn't float up off the sword.

[JoshLongton]

Ok. I worked itself off the sword piece. I am running out of ideas here. AHHHH.

[CarmieJo]

Nylon net wrapped loosely over the coral and secured with a rubberband. Some people have luck with sewing through them with fishing line and then securing the fishing line to a rock.

[sucker_fish]

What did you use to cut the frags off with? if it was something like a regular pair of household scissors or something else that may have been dirty, rusty, etc. you may need to re cut them with a clean xacto knife or some really sharp shears that havent been used. If the coral stalk is turning black it may have infection where it was cut, simply cutting the frag above the black area with clean tools should remedy this problem.

as far as using glue it is possible but must be done fairly quickly. this is how I frag my colt corals. Lay out a clean towel and grab some paper towels. place the desired piece of rock on towel and dry a small area with paper towel. get frag and place it on towel drying the end of stalk area with the cloth towel. put a couple drops of gel type super glue on rock and then dab the end of the coral on the paper towel or cloth towel to try to dry it as much as possible, immediately after that quickly put 1 drop of super glue gel on end of coral and stick it to glue on rock. hold it there for approx 1-2 minutes then put rock with frag attached in the tank. The water will actually speed up the curing time of the glue. as long as there is not too much flow in the area it should stay attached.

[doctorthompson]

I have a species of Sarcophyton (Toadstool leather) that refuses to stay put in a rubble tray after fragging and I usually end up having to do the same thing (plastic skewer) with them. I usually use old oyster/clam shells so I can glue both ends of the skewer to the edge of the shell leaving the frag lots of room in the middle.

If you take advantage of the fact that it's glued in place and give it plenty of water flow (alternating if possible) any commonly kept soft coral species "should" do fine with the skewer method.

It might shed a lot during the first few growth spurts so keep up with partial water changes (and run carbon if you have any other species in the same tank, especially stony corals). It's also okay to use a turkey baster to suck up chunks of the mucus coat once it's mostly hanging free of the coral. Don't tug or force (or brush/scrub!!!) the mucus coat off ... at best all that does is trigger another molt and another 2 or 3 days of mostly closed polyps).

If you have live rock in the same tank a light dosing of phytoplankton might help speed up the growth as well. Devil's Hands "appear" to respond to phytoplankon but I've yet to see a gut content analysis that shows that they directly absorb/consume much of it, more likely they're responding to and consuming microscopic organisms in the water/substrate that are drawn out by the phyto ... if you don't have live rock or substrate in there you're probably better off not dosing (please post results if you try phyto without live rock and notice a feeding response!)

last of my $0.02 on Lobophytum sp. (... which, if it isn't readily apparent, is one of my all-time favorite species of soft coral, heh)

[clownfish4me]

i have used a small plastic container and put broken pieces of live rock that i wanted the frags to attach to at the bottom of the bucket and simply spread the frags around the live rock. withen a few short days the fragged pieces were attached to the rock at which time i removed them from the bucket and placed in my main tank....