Coral Fragging 101

[forestal]

It was requested I write up an article of coral fragging. A bit lengthy but hopefully informative.

Basic Coral Fragmentation (Fragging)

This article is designed to be a primer and introduction to the topic of coral fragging, and to let reef keepers be more aware of the benefits of coral propagation. I have been a member of FRAG - Welcome To Fragexchange for 4 years now, and have been doing coral frag demo’s at IMAC and MACNA with the group during this time. The techniques we show is not proprietary or secret, nor is it difficult. Anyone can do it. I encourage anyone interested in learning more about coral propagation to get Anthony Calfo’s book Coral Reef Propagation, available at Reading Trees Publications. Anthony Calfo and Eric Borneman (Coral Husbandry) are often leaders at the Marine Aquarium tradeshows IMAC and MACNA in the fragging demos.
Come by and check out FRAG - Welcome To Fragexchange where our main goal is education to further hobbyist aquaculture and frag swapping to lower the stresses on the natural reef.

Protective Gear:
Always wear protective gear including rubber/latex gloves and goggles. Most corals produce numerous chemicals used in self protection and allelopathy. These can cause serious reactions and poisoning if touching mucous membranes (eyes/mouth) or even exposure to skin. An extreme example is palytoxin produced by Palythoa, but any coral may cause similar reactions, or a hypersensitivity reaction. Symptoms may include soft tissue swelling, numbness in lips, tingling, metal taste, hives, dizziness.
Exposure to reef water also contains numerous bacteria that can cause serious infection and is a good reason to keep your uncovered hands off of corals and out of the tank.

Before fragging a coral, it should be settled and healthy for at least 3 months in its home to minimize stress, and optimally the frags placed back in the same area with similar flow and lighting. Many corals produce a lot of mucous when stressed, so letting them soak and shed in a smaller container of saltwater with good water flow for a few hours is often helpful before returning to the tank. This will minimize the stress on the tanks other corals. It is important to place any cut corals in good water flow. Often we place the cut edge of some corals such as leathers or SPS directly down, where as meatier corals such as LPS with the cut edge up to hasten healing and prevent infection.
Many of the corals we keep are inter-tidal and remain in equatorial sun for hours at a time in their natural habitat, so have no fear sitting on your desk/table for 20 minutes will harm them.

Tools:
- Superglue (cyanoacrylate) available in many forms and names, but is all the same.
- Coral cutters shown here cutting polpys off of a Galaxea
- Wood chisel
- Dremel with diamond cutting bit

- Rubberbands, toothpicks
- Wet tile saw

- Rubber gloves, goggles
- Zip-ties
- Plugs/discs/rubble to place frags on


Soft Corals:
- Mushroom corals such as Rhodactis and Ricordia can be cut in pie like fashion, and each individual piece can be allowed to settle over rubble or placed on a small rock/plug or disc with various techniques. Using a needle and thread to stich and tie to rock vs. toothpick glued or rubber banded to the substrate, vs. covering with thin mesh such as craft bridal veil material to keep from blowing off of the rock. I have some friends who put a ricordia mushroom in a food processor and poured the contents into a small tanks with rubble, and within weeks had hundreds of mushrooms growing and settled.
- Removing zoanthids from live rock can be done quite easily with a sharp wood chisel used to push under the polyps and pull off the polyps with small amount of rock below. This rock can be used to glue to the new plug/disc/rock with super glue.

- Leather corals can have the outer edge removed with a sharp scalpel with deliberate cuts (try not to saw as this causes many more cuts and more harm), leaving the base and a circle of tissue. You will be surprised at how hard some leathers can be due to the density of their sclerites. This rim of tissue can then be cut into small pieces and placed over rubble allowing to settle or glued/sewn onto plugs/discs. The main colony can then be allowed to grow back and will have healed within 1 – 2 weeks.
Pictured is a Sinularia leather:


- Some corals such as colts/capnellas can be cut similar to xenia but may not be harvested sustainably unless the branches are pinched off over time using bands or zip-ties.
- Xenia can be difficult to glue due to softness, but similar to mushrooms can be sewn/glued with toothpicks/bridal veil/thread to discs or plugs. The coral can be cut with a sharp scalpel/razor through the base where 2 branches split

Stony Corals:
- Using coral cutters, dremel on branching corals to wedge and break branches, the pieces can then be glued to plug/disc. Corals such as Acroporids will often show better branching growth if placed horizontally giving the chance for more axial corallites to form. This is similar to natural survival when branches break off in a storm and fall to the sand/rock below and land on their sides.


- Larger/thicker corals such as brains, scroll corals etc, can be much easier worked with by running through a wet tile saw. The cut is fine and tissue heals quite quickly. The frags of these bigger pieces should have good water flow over the cut edges.
Anthony Calfo shown here cutting with tile saw a Trachophyllia brain coral:

[OrionGirl]

Awesome! Thank you for taking the time to contribute this article!

[FreddytheFish]

Great write-up, thanks for that.

[Emg]

EXCELLENT Dan !

Thank you so much for your contribution !




Eileen

[zanzimog]

Nice writeup!

Is that Anthony in the photos? He's looking old

[forestal]

Aye tis Anthony, I will pass that along hehe ...jk

actually my pics make him look gray, but he isnt