View Full Version : how to frag zoo's?
hey nice UR's, i've got a nice rock full of some sexy bright green zoo's i want to frag, cause theres loads on there, and i want to start doing some swapsies....
i have one question tho.... how the bloody hell do you frag them?> is it hard? a bit of advice would be excellent......
im seeing all these nice frags in the swapsies thread and i want in on the action!
cheers
:)
marc
just in case it might help.... heres a link to a earlier thread of mine which has a photo (all be it a crap one) of the zoo's in question!
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=196822
I'm interested too, I have a huge rock covered in Zoa's, and because of it's size it takes up half the tank. Would love to just split it in half, keeping half, and getting credit or trading the other half!
dan-the-man
18-01-07, 12:10
I've found that you cant kill them!
I've sliced off the top of 'em before and they regrew in quickly at both sites.
You can wait for them to grow anyway, which they do at incredible pace.
Or you can just smash the rock with a hammer and hey presto you have lots of frags :p :D
HTH
Regards
Dan
Hi with a razor blade slice them from the top into two, and let them grow.
mikeadams1985
18-01-07, 19:29
the zoos form a 'skin' over the rock, which the polyps grom out of.
What you want to do is slice the section you,
then using a fine blade, stanley or art knife, get under the skin and just kinda peel it off.
i prefear the simple method of, chizel and hammer tho, Smash the rock using the 2. there ya go some frags :)
Theres a tutorial somewhere on RC im sure. Ill try and dig it out for ya.
mikeadams1985
18-01-07, 19:32
http://www.zoaid.com./articles003.php
Slice 'em and dice 'em.
Ive heard of some peeps putting them in a food blender and lobbing the excrement back into the tank for a nice healthy carpet of zoos to appear and flourish at a later date.
Matt
then using a fine blade, stanley or art knife, get under the skin and just kinda peel it off.
The problem I seem to have had is that the frags I've had with no rock attached, are a pain to "attach" to rock later! Kept on disappearing behind the back of the rock work.
I admitted defeat on one of the latest of such frags, jamming a small piece of tooth pick through the foot of one, into some rock behind, with a little milliput to fix it properly, did the job!
cheers for all the different bits of advice people, i just gotta decide which one of the methods will make me feel less brutal as im hacking or smacking or slicing away! poor zoo's......
but needs must!
if i get the balls to do it, i shall update how i get on!
cheers again much appreciated
marc
Marc Foord
19-01-07, 14:24
another option - put a small rock next to the main colony and let them creep onto it. once populated you can then swap/sell the rock with the zoos on.
cheers for all the different bits of advice people, i just gotta decide which one of the methods will make me feel less brutal as im hacking or smacking or slicing away! poor zoo's......
but needs must!
if i get the balls to do it, i shall update how i get on!
cheers again much appreciated
marc
You don't feel that way when you cut the grass do you?
Marc Foord
19-01-07, 16:00
You don't feel that way when you cut the grass do you?
isn't that plant vs animal though ? (although i'm sure a lot of corals get treated more like plants than animals) :o
What about swatting a fly, or doing a freshwater dip to get rid of unwanted critters :D ?
This could turn ethical/moral in a bit!
Surely it's for the greater good, as you're aiding the animals/polyps in their spread and reproduction!
Marc Foord
19-01-07, 17:23
nah, not getting moral, just found it funny comparing a coral to a lawn :p
But do corals have a central nervous system and experience pain?
We take cuttings of plants to propagate them and think NOTHING of it, we trim their roots to improve their appearance, hardiness and ability to create a firm base, we cut hedges, we prune plants, we cut flowers. There is without a shadow of a doubt a similarity and comparison between these things nad tkaing cuttings of corals. I think worrying about taking cuttings of corals because youre a) squeamish, or b)concerned you may inflict pain on it, is something most people never even consider when they do the very same to plants.
JMO
Matt
Hey, i was partly joking! i wern't judging any of you or anything..... the way i see fragging any coral is that its better to do that IF you can, than take it from the ocean...... like i say im just nervous, something i've never done before....
to summarise, im just a brummy puffta!
:)
honestly though, cheers for your help guys, i'll likely try most of the methods mentioned to see which i prefer/works best for me!
But do corals have a central nervous system and experience pain?
We take cuttings of plants to propagate them and think NOTHING of it, we trim their roots to improve their appearance, hardiness and ability to create a firm base, we cut hedges, we prune plants, we cut flowers. There is without a shadow of a doubt a similarity and comparison between these things nad tkaing cuttings of corals. I think worrying about taking cuttings of corals because youre a) squeamish, or b)concerned you may inflict pain on it, is something most people never even consider when they do the very same to plants.
JMO
Matt
Mandarin Dragonet
21-01-07, 16:07
if you scrape them off youll not cut the numbers, as the 1/2 polyp will grow back its just multiplying. i think youll need a dremel for splitting the rock.
I find superglue, the gel type for ease, fixes the zoas quickly and easily to new areas of rock
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