RHM4 Fragging Softies 122007

8/6/2019 RHM4 Fragging Softies 122007

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Now that your tank is established and your corals are

growing nicely, it is probably time to start thinking

about fragging – cutting a fragment of coral from the

parent colony to grow into another parent colony.

Growing out frags is a great way to generate corals to trade with

other reefers, as well as lessen the pressure of coral collection

on wild reefs. If you haven’t fragged a coral before, it can be a

little intimidating. But, once you get used to the idea of cutting

up the corals in your tank, you’ll see that it can be very easy.

While each species of coral must be handled in specific ways

during fragging, I hope to give you a general overview of twomethods which can be applied to a wide range of soft bodied,

branching corals including; Nepthea (green tree coral), Sinularia

(finger leather), Lobophytum (devils hand leather), Cladiella (colt

coral) and Xenia.

The first thing you need to get used to is the idea of cutting up

the coral you have spent so much time and effort trying to grow.

Just watching a coral pull in its polyps and shrink from being

disturbed is difficult enough, but cutting up soft corals can seem

extra disturbing because slicing into their soft flesh makes us

think about cutting up our own bodies. Never fear! Hopefully,

your corals have been growing so well that, like plants in a flower

garden, they actually need pruning because they are growinginto each other. Prepare yourself to do something that needs to

be done. Once you are over your initial squeamishness, you will

see that fragging corals can be fun and rewarding, and that the

corals you care so much about recover very quickly.

Before starting, it’s important to note that when disturbed or

fragged, many of these soft corals will produce mucus as a

defense mechanism. This slimy mucus can be toxic to otheranimals, so it’s best to take precautions to minimize the amount

that gets into your show tank. The obvious solution is to remove

the parent colony from the show tank before any cutting takes

place. I like to place my parent colony in a bucket or bowl of

tank water in my kitchen sink, and have another bucket or bowl

of tank water standing by for the frags. After cutting, the corals

go back into their containers where the mucus they produce

can safely be contained. You can even continue to do ‘water

changes’ with tank water in these containers, rinsing away

the mucus. Generally after 15-30 minutes, the corals will stop

producing mucus and you can safely return the corals to the

show tank. To protect yourself from the corals’ mucus, you can

wear latex gloves and safety glasses, and use tools dedicated to

coral fragging. Thoroughly wash all surfaces that have come into

contact with corals or coral mucus.

It is not always possible or practical to remove the parent colony

from the show tank. The coral may be too large to safely move, or

it may be encrusted onto some rockwork that is not removable.

In these situations, there are a few common sense precautions

you can take if you do need to cut the coral in situ. First, minimize

the number of cuts in the tank. Either cut a small frag or cut one

large piece and immediately remove the cut piece to a container

of tank water. Less cutting equals less mucus. Second, do your

fragging on a day when you are going to do a water change, and

change the water as soon as possible after you are done cutting

Third, run some carbon in the tank, either in a mesh bag in the

sump, or better yet, in a hang on back filter or canister filter. The

carbon will help adsorb the toxins the stressed coral puts out.

Soft corals are actually pretty easy to cut because they are...well..

soft. Sharp scissors are an obvious tool for the job, but in the

process of cutting, they can crush tissue resulting in the creation

of more mucus and extended healing times. A razor blade or

exacto knife makes a great cutting tool, though in slippery hands

they can be more dangerous than scissors. Regardless of what

you choose to cut the coral with, one swift cut rather than a

series of halting cuts will result in less stress on the animal.

The same colony of pulsing Sinularia af ter being removed fromthe show tank and placed into a bowl of tank water. Notice theretracted polyps and branches. The branch in the upper r ight of the picture will be cut.

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A colony of pulsing Sinularia “Bookfish Red” before fragging.

FRAGS

Cutting It Up – Fragging Branching

Soft CoralsArticle & ImagesBy Richard Ross



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Choosing where to cut a branching soft coral is also pretty easy.

Look for a place where a decent size ‘branch’ connects to the

‘trunk’, and then prune the coral, like cutting a branch from a tree.

For aesthetic reasons, some people cut as close to the trunk as

possible, while others will cut through the middle of the branch so

that, after the coral starts to regrow, the branch will look similar to

how it looked before it was fragged.

It is up to you to decide whether to cut the coral in or out of the

water. If the coral cannot be removed from the show tank, you

will be cutting underwater, and in my experience, scissors willbe more efficient than a straight blade. Before you start cutting

in your main tank, make sure to turn your pumps off; chasing a

softie frag that is floating around in the current can lead to loss

of the frag or damage to your other display corals. Even worse,

in your attempt to catch an errant frag that is floating around, you

could accidentally destroy your perfectly placed aquascaping,

and rebuilding will never look the same.

If you have removed the parent colony from the main tank, and are

using scissors, you can do one of two things - either cut the coral

in the container of tank water or remove the coral from the water,

hold it with one hand, and cut with the other, letting the cut piece

fall into your extra container of tank water. If you are cutting withan exacto or razor blade, it is much safer to cut the coral out of

the water and on an appropriate cutting surface like a hard plastic

cutting board. This surface should be used only for your aquarium

(preparing food on a surface that you cut potentially toxic corals on

Pulsing Sinularia being fragged withscissors. A quick, definitive cut is best.

Pulsing Sinularia parent colony and frag. Notethe clean cut and the water losing clarity dueto mucus production of the stressed coral.

is a bad idea). For practica

purposes, you can think of

the branching soft cora

like a head of broccol

– much easier and safer

to cut with a straight blade

against a stable surface

than in the air.

Once you have cut your

coral fragment, you needto attach it to some kind

of substrate so you can

place it back in your show

tank or trade it for another

coral. While super glue

or epoxy putty is great

for adhering hard corals to reef rubble or frag plugs, the mucus

that soft corals produce, as well as the soft bodies themselves

make it an impractical solution for soft coral frags. There are many

methods of getting soft corals to attach to reef rubble or other

substrate, but I feel the two easiest and most surefire methods

are the use of a settling area and the “sandwich” method.

A settling area is simply a place were the coral frag can rest against

a substrate without being blown around by water movement

Settling areas can be made in plastic or glass bowls or trays

filled with a layer of reef rubble, frag plugs or other substrate for

the coral to attach to. For aesthetic and flow reasons, settling

containers are often placed in a lighted area of the sump or in a

frag tank rather than in the show tank. It is important that there is

still some water movement in the settling area - just not enough

to blow the coral around. Once your frag has stopped producing

mucus in your cutting bowl of tank water, simply drop it in the

settling area and wait. Over time, generally a week or two, the frag

will attach to the substrate it is resting on, and can then be moved

to an area of higher flow.

The sandwich method involves making a coral and rock rubble

sandwich, where the coral is the meat and two pieces of rubble

are the bread. The coral frag is placed between two pieces of rock

rubble, and the sandwich is held snugly together by rubber bands

It seems like simply rubber banding the coral to some rubble would

be easier, but in reality, it is quite problematic. It is very difficult to

have the right amount of tension in the rubber bands. Too loose

and the coral will slip out. Too tight and the thin rubber band will cut

into the flesh of the coral, splitting the coral into two pieces which

will then float

around your tank.

Using two piecesof rubble gives

consistent, even

pressure along a

large section of

the frag resulting

in fast attachment

while minimizing

the potential for

the frag to split or

float away.



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Pulsing Sinularia Sandwich. The top piece of rock rubble is muchsmaller than the bottom for aesthetic reasons.

Pulsing Sinularia parent colonyafter being fragged. The coralwill extend its polyps and in-flate its branches within a day.

Pulsing Sinularia frag sandwich several hours after being cut.

For the sandwich, I like to use one larger piece and one smaller

piece of clean, live rock rubble because I think it makes the end

product look less obtrusive. However, any size rock rubble will

work. If the frag is going back into your show tank, take a minute

to think about where the frag will go and try to pick some rock

rubble that will fit that spot. If you use two larger pieces of rock

rubble, you can double your number of frags; after the coral has

attached to both pieces of rubble, use your straight blade to slice

the coral down the middle, leaving coral attached to both pieces

of the ‘‘sandwich’’.

Once you have chosen your rock rubble, it’s time to make the

sandwich. To help minimize stress on the coral, dip the two

pieces of rock rubble you will be using in tank water before

making the sandwich. Try to put the branch inside the sandwich

while leaving some of the polyps exposed. Don’t be surprised

or worried if the coral continues to contract during the process.

Hold the sandwich in one hand and wrap the rubber band around

the rock rubble with the other. You want the rubber band to hold

the rocks against the coral snugly, but not crushingly. I like to

use one rubber band to loosely hold the sandwich together, so

I can make sure the coral is positioned to my liking. Then, I use

a second rubber band to tighten everything up. When you are

done, put the coral sandwich back into your container of tank water. Once the coral is done generating mucus, generally after

15 -30 minutes, you can place the sandwich into your show tank

or frag tank. After a week or two, the coral should be attached to

one or both of the pieces of rubble and you can glue that rubble

to your existing rockwork (see ‘The Art of Frag Gluing’ in volume

1, issue 2 of RHM for details).

Now, take a deep breath, calm yourself, andget fragging!

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RHM4 Fragging Softies 122007