Fraging a candy  cane

V

vman181

[My buddy and I want to frag his Candy Cane coral so I can have some. My buddy is a real good guy he is going to give it to me. I am trying to do some research before we do this. I don?t want his half or my half die as a result of fraging. I did some research on RC and for the most part folks just cut them with sharp wire cutter or pliers. I also seen folks say they use Drammel (<--sp) tools to cut them. Any and all help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Kevin]
 
[When it comes to that type of coral, your best bet is to cut it where the skeleton is thinnest. No living tissue should be cut. Sharp dikes(wire cutters) should do this relatively quickly.

Because this is an LPS coral, the heads are filled with fluid so care should be taken to not damage the living tissue or allow it to hang/dangle too long from the skeletal base. Otherwise the soft section can tear or even pull away from the base resulting in a dead section.

A second person could lend a hand in holding the coral so that when you make the cut, they hold the two parts and avoid further damage.]
 
[In this case, wouldn't the thinnest part of a candy cane skeleton be nearest the tissue? I think I'd cut as far back away from the polyps as I could, whether it was a thicker part of the skeleton or not. jmo...]
 
[Thank you Marc and Duane!

If anyone else has any other comments that would be great. We will not attempt to frag this until Monday night. I have also heard you should do this in a separate water column which is as close to the one it came from just incase there is some sort of discharge from the coral. I have also read you should leave the fraged piece in the original tank for a few days to insure an easer recovery, this way the frag will not have to try and recover and adapt to a new environment. If you have any input on these suggestions I have listed please fill free to chime in.

Thank you,
Kevin]
 
[When I said the thinnest skeleton section, I'm referring to down in the branches, where it tends to "V". Away from living tissue.

Doesn't it seem like a picture with some arrows pointing would be more useful? I wish I had one now! :uhoh:

I agree with those other suggestions, they sound very wise.]
 
[i have fragged my candy cane plenty of times. all you really need to do is break it apart far away from the heads as you can as it is dead at the bottom of the branch. branching corals are very easy to frag as all you have to do is make a break where the dead skeleton is at. only time you need to use a dremmel is when you get the other kind of LPS in which it doesnt branch but looks like a wall or whatever you wanna call it.]
 
[Thanks Rick,
I will let everyone know how it goose and what method we use. I will check back here before we do it and see if anybody else has any input.

Kevin]
 
[Well we haven?t had the time to frag it yet. My buddy?s family came into town so he is spending time with them right now. He said we might be able to get this done on Thursday or Friday. I will let you know how it goes once it happens.

Kevin]
 
[I have a huge colony, fragged so many times lost count.

Step 1

grab

Step 2

break where you want

step 3

drink beer

cheers :beerchug:]
 
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