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Can't get myself to frag my corals (1 Viewer)

O

ouling

Senior Member
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Sep 6, 2012
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283
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Eden Prairie
I thought about fragging a few pieces of my larger colonies and get some cash. I bought the entire fragging kit, two frag stands, along with the best and most expensive frag plugs I can find. But now I cannot get myself to cut my corals! I really don't need the money but feel that I should get some return on my investment at this point because I always get really large corals that's too big to fit. Then I tell myself that I will frag a few pieces out and make it smaller, but after it goes into the tank I frag anything.

The only time I sold frags of something I wanted to keep was when I dropped a LR on my red dragon colony and severed it to 10 pieces. I have no problem selling or giving away entire corals that I don't want. I just can't do it for the pretty ones!!! One time a local reefer wanted to buy something from me for $400, we setup a time and he was going to drive a long way to get it, and I backed out of that day because I just can't do it. HELP!!!!

Anyone else have this weird feeling?
 
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Like most things in society there is now a clinical diagnosis for that. It's called fraggers regret syndrome.

Unfortunately there is no cure. But thankfully there are 10+ site sponsors that will assist with numbing the pain through your purchasing additional corals to fill in the now blank spots.
 
Thinking of it differently may help. If you frag your corals, you're helping keep pressure off wild reefs. Although it isn't much, it is definitely a more utilitarian than doing it for money. Who knows... maybe your subconscious just doesn't like the idea of selling your babies for cash. :biggrin:
 
This is what I went through with my montipora colony.
I waited and waited. During this time, the colony grew and grew. It eventually grew so big that I was forced to do something about it.
I decided to sell the entire colony and it was difficult to imagine what my tank would look like without it.
But I did it.
And I was glad that I did.

Don't look at it like you're doing a bad thing to the coral. You're not.
Your coral's growth is telling you that you're doing something right.
You should feel good about being able to share a coral that you grew with someone else.

So...
Just do it.

To be honest, I do sometimes wonder what my tank would look like today if I kept the large colony. But I know that I did the right thing.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the great advice. I think I'll give away a few for free and see what happens. I think that might make me feel better than selling them for money right off the bat.
 
If you feel like you still can't with all the great advice above.. you can always ask a fellow member for help. Someone who has gotten over the same fear you're dealing with and has the experience and know how to do so. I know we have plenty of people on here experienced in fragging who will assist you in making back some extra cash and making room for more things to frag later:)
 
Well you better get used to it as your going to need to cross that road eventually. With a relatively small tank and as much as you already have, your going to need to prune quite to keep them all.

When I frag, I do so to keep nice shapes. So when a branch starts to grow wierd of somewhat out of place, that's the one that goes. For trimming, you don't want to wait until it's a really thick branch. The thicker it is the longer it will take for it to heal on your mother colony and make it look ugly. Also with LED lighting and just a single puck so you really don't have any lighting in and different angles your going to want to frag the branches that shadow the lower ones the most. Otherwise as they get larger the bottom portions are going to die off and look ugly.

So really, fragging is going to be a must. Once you have mature colonies growth can seem more like a curse.
 
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First time fragging, I was scared shi..........ss, but after doing it, not a problem. You might as well just do, because you are going to have to eventually. You were at my place, saw me fragging/cutting pieces (mostly sps), depending on the coral and shape of what you want to cut, sometimes it just does not cut the way you want or expect. Tabling Acro's are the worst unless you are cutting tips, or using a band saw, remember the Strawberry Shortcake, it came off bigger than you or I had expected. Using a "bone cutter" works just fine, but can result in a non-exact cut, especially with the tables (a band saw is my next investment). When sps branching gets real thick, and using a bone cutter, just the act of cutting through the thicker calcium sends a shock wave throughout the whole colony, potentially creating numerous small frags.
 
Think of it more like caring for a bonsai tree. To shape it and make it look good you will have to trim and frag. You aren't hurting the colony, you are helping it if done correctly. SPS is SUPER easy to frag and trim too. If you want someone to come do it for you I'm willing :)
 
I will frag once there is a clear and present danger of the corals touching each other. Currently there's at least 1/2 inch between them. I'll just keep the frag kit in storage for now.
 
I too use the bonsai approach since my tank is so small. I'd rather have a well trimmed little colony than an unwieldy larger one. Most of my trimming are really small so I throw a lot of those away, but if anything is larger than 3/4"-1" I'll save it to sell. If you have fairly large colonies you will be suprised that you can cut quite a few frags off and the coral and it will look almost unchanged. If those frags are of something cool and of good size you can make some money or trade them for other cool corals you've been wanting.
 
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A couple of times a year I will post up some frags of my most colorful stuff. More often than not I just prune all of my corals and throw them away. I like to take out rogue branches as well as shape the colonies. Sometime I feel bad for throwing out the branches so I make a point to frag and sell them a couple of times a year just to make sure frags of them get out in the club and spread to other members tanks.
 
I have had corals run into each other because I didn't do frags.But the fighting is fun to see to the extent that it doesn't completely kill the other guy. Here is my ranking of who pure killing power:

1. Dendos. Few of the dendros are over 3'' across when spread tentacle to tentacle. I actually use them to clean out aptasia. It will kill anything it touches and have killed my blue green chromis.
2. Acan Lord. It actually will spit out 1 ft of coiled sweepers and tangle the other coral. My superman blasto was killed by this and blastos are pretty tough.
3. Short cake <> Red Planet. These two are always interesting when others get close to them. No SPS I know except hydnopora, and maybe milli can touch them.
4. Slimer.
5. other acros...
6. pocilipora
7. birds nest.
8. montipora
9. tofu
10. red dragon
 
Serious question:

My acro is about 1 - 2 mm from my digi. Should I frag or would they avoid each other? It's a very large acro to move out the tank and frag. I'm very lazy, but I also don't want a dead digi.

Thanks
 
Any corals withing 1/2" it's time to make a decision. So 1/2mm, yes it's time. You need to incoorporate the pegging system so you can easily remove to frag/dip and replace. I use 3/16" rigid airline tubing to mount the rubble rock to the structures you can pull the coral out easily and/or rearrange/swap them anytime you want. You don't have to pre-drill the hole in your main structure although its a good idea too. Can easily retrofit by using an existing hole in the rock fill it with expoxy putty and then stick a piece a tubing in it to preform the hole.
 
David Grigor said:
Any corals withing 1/2" it's time to make a decision. So 1/2mm, yes it's time. You need to incoorporate the pegging system so you can easily remove to frag/dip and replace. I use 3/16" rigid airline tubing to mount the rubble rock to the structures you can pull the coral out easily and/or rearrange/swap them anytime you want. You don't have to pre-drill the hole in your main structure although its a good idea too. Can easily retrofit by using an existing hole in the rock fill it with expoxy putty and then stick a piece a tubing in it to preform the hole.
Click to expand...

do you have a picture or video of this? i would like to see please
 
Chris88 said:
do you have a picture or video of this? i would like to see please
Click to expand...

I can write up something a bit more formal. I've showed examples in older posts. I also plan to demonstate how easy it is at the Aquascaping workshop that was just announced. I learned the technique from StuckeyT who ( had I don't know if he still does ) large mature colonies, just pop'em out frag'em stick'em right back in. I was completely sold on it and have never looked back.

Just yesterday bought a nice yellow/gold torch coral. Rearranged/ swapped around about 4 different corals to find where I liked it best and corals looks nice contrasting right next to it. All were pegged and was quick and easy to find where I wanted it. A week later if you think it will look better in another corals place can move it in matter of seconds.
 
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Yay! I did frag it. But I'm keep the larger frags because I'm moving out the zoas to make room for them. :( Just can't let go.
 
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