Frogspawn Fragging?

[Ziggy953]

Who has fragged frog spawn or branching torch? I have the canopy off my tank and am getting ready to attack my frogspawn. It is about the size of a basketball now and just too big for the tank. I could use some pointers if anyone has done this.

I have a dremel with a cut off wheel ready to go. Please chime in. I'll be taking pics through out to document the progress.

Thanks!!

 

[Innovator]

You can use sharp shears to cut through the brittle skeletal branches and not even remove the colony.

 

[Ziggy953]

Its got to come out of the tank to do this. I can't get to it where it is. I know that most people use a dremel or something similar to that to cut it. The skeleton is so brittle that I'm afraid that shears would destroy it.

 

[Innovator]

The same applies for dremel work just as long as you cut through the skeleton and not the tissue. Depending on how intricate the skeletal stalks are, you may have to cut out of your way just to stay proportionate to your desired end result. If there are several heads with tissues "joined" you can use a razor blade to slice through the tissue and then use the dremel to cut through the skeleton so tissue isn't ripped apart.

 

[vietcu]

You can use a jig saw to cut the skeletal part also. I did that when I got the 3 head frogspawn that was full of aptasia, worked out pretty well for me using it.

 

[Ziggy953]

Well I can't get it out of the tank without taking apart my rock structure...I'm not sure what I'm going to do now...

 

[pat8you]

Can't help you on fragging. Are you going to sell the frags if you can ever get it out of there?

 

[Ziggy953]

My next FTS will not look at all like it did...I have removed my large Teal Acro colony....I took pics of it out of the water with a ruler for scale...I'll post them in a little bit....I'm using the space it freed up for my new acros...I'm going to chop up the Teal and add it to the for sale...The colony is about the size of a basketball...

 

[Ziggy953]

Well I ended up using a hack saw blad and cutting 2 large sections off the frogspawn one has 6 heads and the other has 18. What a PITA!!!!

I also had to remove my large colony of Teal Acro...the mount was gone and the coral had shifted from all the movement in the tank. I took some pics of it while I had it out of the tank the size is impressive! I decided not to put it back in the main display I used the space for my new ORA frags and the colony I picked up. What a mess I have made...oh well getting to watch them grow again will be interesting...I'll get some pics posted tomorrow...I still don't have the light back on the tank yet...still working on the mess.....

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Oops... looks like I'm too late to offer advice. With my branching torch, I ended up using a short little hacksaw blade that I wrapped a bunch of masking tape around to make a handle. I also did it first thing in the morning before the lights came on so the polyps weren't in the way. But 18 heads... wow. That was a big hunk! I only did 3.

 

[Ziggy953]

LOL...thanks Kurt...I was going to use a coping saw but the hack saw blade did the trick...I pulled 24 heads out of the tank and still have 2x that left in the tank....I can't believe how much this thing grew in the last 2 years...It started out with 3 heads...

 

[cmor1701d]

Gald that worked for you. I fragged mine accidentally when I went to to move it one day. A stalk just broke off so I moved it to the other side of the tank and now have two. Both are getting big enough to frag again so....

 

[mandown123]

so is that how fast frogspawn grows? I was trying to figure out an estimation of how long it would take my now 2 heads of frogspawn to multiply into a respectable size.

3 heads * 2 years = 75 heads?

 

[Ziggy953]

Well that is how fast it has grown for me....I don't know if that is an average, above average amount of growth....

 

[mandown123]

here's hoping average

 

[lance]

They can grow fast. Mine had 2 heads and has been fragged one time already in about 2 yrs also.

 

[mandown123]

good news. my frogspawn is suffering from Napoleon syndrome next to my new RBTA. yup, i got it finally sunday night!!!

 

[Ziggy953]

Here is a pic of the frogspawn a couple of months ago...Center of the tank

Here is what it looked like when I first got it. Again Center of the tank in the back. This pic was taken a week or two after I got the frag. Ignore how terrible the tank looked back then

I'll post some pics of the new look of the frogspawn and the frags I have from it. Work is nuts right now so I have very little time what with working 12-16 hour days...I have a lot of pics and updates to make on my threads...

Oh and BTW that is the same toadstool too. See how tiny it was when I got it....