frogspawn question

[linuxpng]

I had recently picked up a frogspawn from the LFS (am new to corals) and because the coral was so spread out I failed to notice that one of it's segments (out of 5) have no soft tissue that comes out during lighting times. Is it better to remove that dead section (if so how?) or to just leave it be and to know what you are buying better next time? Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

just leave it be-it's an individual(dead) polyp skeleton, and will have no effect on the others.

though when it gets bigger, that will give you a natural dividing point for the two frags you'll make in the future :wink:

 

[linuxpng]

by frag (excuse my ignorance of terminology) that you mean after it grows I will be able to "break" the skeleton into two parts (or whatever) for relocation. If not, sorry for the dumb question. If so, what would be the proper way to do this without harming the coral? Thanks for all your information and patience.

 

[tmanning]

Yeah, frag means just that. As it gets bigger you'll be able to break branches off and trade then in at your fish store, or sell them to people. Helps make a little dent in the cost of this hobby and decreases the number of corals taken from the wild.

 

[Anonymous]

Frogspawns are great for fragging. I've cut mine in half three times in two years and the mother colony is still twice as big as when I got it!

Louey

 

[linuxpng]

This guy at one of the LFS suggested a hacksaw. That doesn't seem to sound good for the coral.

 

[Anonymous]

The part you are cutting with the hacksaw is just skeleton; the living coral tissue won't be bothered a bit.

 

[Anonymous]

you may want to first get some experience under your belt in keeping the coral for awhile, and researching propagation, before you even start thinking about a hacksaw, though... :wink:

 

[linuxpng]

Don't get me wrong, I have 0 intention of taking any saw to this coral.. I just thought the guy was out of his mind when he suggested sawing off part of the coral. I definitely have ALOT more reading and I really apprecaite the input I've received here!

 

[Anonymous]

just so you know-it is quite easy to do, and not as traumatic as you may think(prob'ly more traumatic to you, than to the coral :wink: )

but you'll do it, eventually(everybody does) good luck 'till then.

 

[Anonymous]

I use a pair of pruning shears. The kind that is made for cutting small branches. The bottom of the "sissor" has two blades. The top blade goes through whatever your cutting and then through the bottom two blades. They bottom two blades kinda help keep the piece in place while you cut it. Frogspawn skeltons break rather easily. It's kinda like cutting into porcelin or glass. You don't feel any give, then snap-o-la!

HTH

Louey