Toadstool

[Ziggy953]

Hey everyone!!

I have canopy off of my tank right now and I've got an itch to frag this giant toad I have. I've never done it before and need some help. Please chime in. Thanks

 

[Karegg]

Before the answers start coming in, so I can keep up: what's 'frag' mean?

 

[Ziggy953]

It means to remove part of a coral and start a new colony.

 

[Innovator]

Sarcophyton just to be accurate? How large is the stalk and can the rock be removed?

 

[Ziggy953]

It is attached to more then one piece of rock. I don't want to remove the entire coral I just would like to frag some of it. The pics below you can kind of see what I'm talking about.

 

[melosu58]

Frag means to cut the coral into smaller pieces and they will grow into bigger corals. Kind of like what I did to this coral.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f11/finger-leather-fragging-90008.html

 

[Innovator]

I would either cut the stalk straight through or round the diameter (pinwheel) about 1"-2" with a new razor. There will be much mucus so definitely run carbon and direct flow to the coral after cutting.

 

[ccCapt]

I saw Julian Sprung frag a leather like that. All he did was get scissors and started cutting it up and then rubber banded the frags to pieces of lr rubble.
Dunno about doing it in the display tho. I'm pretty sure it will slime up big time.

 

[Ziggy953]

Yeah I think I will hold off on fragging it until I move it to the new tank. I don't want to cause a chemical war in my tank.

 

[cmor1701d]

I was at an Anthony Calfo frag demo a couple of years ago and then had to frag my leather when I got back from a trip to India a year ago. I had to lose the stalk, but yours should grow right back. If you can't remove for fragging, get more flow to it when you're done and run carbon.

Just take a pair of scissors or a blade/scapel and cut a ring around the crown. Cut that into sections and attach each seciton to a rock. I had the best success running a toothpick through a piece and glueing that to the rock. I now have 7 pieces (2 much larger) gowinng in my tank. None are the size of the original which had almost outgrown the tank, but they are gowing and doing quite well.

You can see 5 of them in the photo that was taken this past December (Just over one year since fragging).

 

[Ziggy953]

Thanks for the information and the pics Cmor!!! I've decided to wait and frag it when I upgrade to the 210. I would rather do it out of the tank and I wil have everything out of the 72 eventually. I've decided to cut the Acro behind it back some so it's not touching the toad.

 

[cmor1701d]

That'll work. Then you'll have toadstool frags to sell too

 

[Ziggy953]

If I could ever get the guts to do it I could have a ton of Frogspawn to sell as well. I just can't bring myself to cut it up. IT was my very first coral.

 

[cmor1701d]

I'm thinkg of fragging mine. I have to go back and read Calfo's book again so I"ll know how to frag it without killing it.

 

[Ziggy953]

Well I have decided to run carbon on the tank and chop that toad up. I have a couple people interested in some of it and it is time to trim it back. I'll take pics of the process and post them here. I expect to end up with about 20 frags of toad so you guys better buy it from me! LOL JK.

 

[cmor1701d]

That's about the one item I don't need

 

[Ziggy953]

Well since I have decided to chop the Toad up I picked up a Phosban reactor. Kent Marine Phos-Reactor. I've been wanting to pick one of them up for a while now and I guess today was the day. I have it loaded down with carbon and it's running in my sump right now. Here are a few pics.

 

[Ziggy953]

I'm using a Maxi-Jet 1200 to move the water through the reactor. As you can kind of see from the last pic my water is pretty clear already. This is just running to take care of the nasty stuff I'm going to create when I cut on the Toad.

 

[dralarms]

I guess I'm lucky, my toad fragged it'self. It willl start with a small piece getting a small "tear" in it, then it will progress to where the piece is hanging by just a little piece, so then I'll take it off and SG it to a new rock, I've got 2 large (on is 12" across min, the other is 10" min) and 8 to 10 small ones (some as small as a small marble and some as large as 3 to 4" across).

I was told if you frag a toad you MUST take it out of the tank while you are cutting it. Take it out lay it on a towel and make your cuts, place them on your new rocks (I use SG, but rubber bands work with low flow tanks) and place them back in the tank.

 

[cmor1701d]

His rock is too big to take out of the tank till the new 210 is set up.