Fragging softy help needed!!!

BoxerE · Nov 7, 2013

I'm planning on fragging a Kenya tree off a large frag plug and some toadstool leathers off a rock. The general idea is to take th tree off the frag plug and super glue it somewhere on the side of my rock aqua scaping to create the growing out of the rock look. Ditto the toadstools, though with them I'm fragging off each head or maybe some dual head pieces ad super glueing it to several different spots. Any warnings recommendations for procedure ect? I've never fragged or removed anything from the base it came attached to so I'm a bit nervous. Thanks !!!

Tahoe61 · Nov 7, 2013

If possible remove both from the tank to frag, they slime a lot. Run some newer charcoal.

Not sure how well super glue gel is going to work because the corals do slime a good deal, getting slime tissue to stick even for short times is a lot harder then getting calcareous skeleton to hold. I might be wrong on this point because I have never tried super glue for soft corals.

In the past I have used fishing line to tie frags of soft corals to rocks, I have used tooth picks, I have left them in small containers with rubble in low flow areas and allowed to attach on their own.

Don't be nervous, it's a lot easier than you think and you really can not do any long term damage to any other wise healthy coral by fragging it.

Reefing Madness · Nov 7, 2013

Lil tough glueing those guys down. Can be done, but if they don't like it, they get up and leave.
Run alot of Carbon in the system if you put em back right away. Best to leave em in some tank water for a bit, let them drop the majority of their toxins there.
The use of rubber bands to attach softies to rocks has been done.

BoxerE · Nov 7, 2013

I run carbon. Basically I cut my Kenya tree off the plug out of the tank as evenly and gently as possible and than glued him to the side of my rock structure. Been on for about two hours now so fingers crossed . The toxins do concern me but not sure how to avoid that if your trying to attach them directly to your live rock . Perhaps glue them to a small pebble and then attach that to the main rock

mfinn · Nov 8, 2013

I have never been able to super glue leather corals to anything.
They always slimed up really bad.
So what I do is to get 2 small pieces of live rock ( or dried) and trapped the stalk inbetween the two rocks and hold it all together with a rubber band.
The rubber band is usually ready to come off in about 2 weeks time.

BoxerE · Nov 8, 2013

Interesting . So you rubber band the stalk in place and then glue the rocks to your aqua scaping? My Kenya tree I did yesterday seems to be firmly in place and is coming back to life already!

mfinn · Nov 8, 2013

After the leather has attached itself to the rocks, I always just found a place to wedge it into, instead of glueing it.

BoxerE · Nov 9, 2013

Well it seems I've had some success so far . Managed to frag and secure the Kenya tree as well as 9 heads for. A toadstool onto various parts of my rock structure now I'm gonna give it a shot with a Pom Pom semis and a Duncan