cutting and mounting zoas

B

BPKlein

I have these 4 Zoa rocks sitting on a piece of Tonga shelf rock. I would like to remove some of the zoas from their individual rocks and glue them directly to the piece of Tonga shelf. Then as they spread out, I hope that they will cover the piece of Tonga some day. I would like to leave some (maybe half) of the zoas attached to their original rock. That way I can Coop some and sell some. BTW I am planning on wearing gloves and eye protection.

Now the questions:

Since I can't get under the mat, can I cut the stalks off close to the mat and then glue the stalks to the Tonga rock?

Will the left over matt grow new polyps?

Since I feel that this is going to be a lengthy process...how long can I have them out of water to do the work?

I hope I got the pic attached correctly.

Thanks,
Bryan
 
Chiseling with a chisel or broad screwdriver is probably the easiest way. I've fragged off shelf before and its a pain the rear since its so dense. Focus on doing small sections at a time, I tried doing larger sections and mangled things up pretty badly. Try to make as clean of cuts as possible since tearing will damage the mats more than slicing them will.

You can keep them out for a bit of time, if you have a spray bottle handy, spray them every 5 minutes or so to keep them damp. People ship zoanthids and palys in wet paper towels all the time and they survive overnight or 2-day shipping without a problem, just don't let them dry out.

I'd strongly suggest using gloves of some sort and eye protection as they will squirt from time to time. I use latex gloves when I am doing a lot of them at once because I can feel things better with them. Resist the urge to scratch your face, rub your nose and things like that when working with them too. They could have a toxin in them and while issues with it are rare, they do happen. You want to avoid getting anything in cuts, sores or thin mucus membranes like your nose and eyes.

It looks like you have a few rocks under all those, so I would cut/pry those up first and then go to work on the extras once those are clear. Once you get things glued to their new rock, consider gluing a disc or two around them so when they grow out, you can cut those out and have ready made frags later.

Good luck.. and post some photos when your done so we can admire your knife work!
 
Thanks for all of the tips. I have to leave on a business trip tomorrow, but I will get started on this project next week.

When I chisel under the matt, should I actually remove some rock with the matt, or try to get the matt completely off of the rock?

Thank You,

Bryan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top