How do i frag a Frogspawn?
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Softies
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions soft corals.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56975
Printed Date: December 29 2025 at 12:30am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: How do i frag a Frogspawn?
Posted By: tfmreefs
Subject: How do i frag a Frogspawn?
Date Posted: June 06 2012 at 3:21pm
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How do i frag a frogspawn? The thing that makes me wonder is that ever time i try to get it, is that it sinks in the rock that its on... And what would i use? How deep to i cut it? WHere do i do it at? Any help would be awsome! thanks:) ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Replies:
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: June 06 2012 at 3:43pm
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Frogspawn skeleton (the hard part) looks like branches of a tree. The part where the soft coral body sticks out is reffered to as a 'head'.
You cut off a single branch (or multiple branches) to frag it.
Cut it as close to where the branches meet as possible.
If you only have a single head, you can't frag it yet.
------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 06 2012 at 5:32pm
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Sometimes you can break it by hand. If it's too strong or I can't hold it without damaging the head, I use dikes/diagonal wire cutter or a Dremel to cut or score the skeleton for breaking. I've had pieces where the whole branch shattered and the head fell into several pieces. Not to worry, any small bit of flesh left on a head can regrow into a full head and eventually an entire colony. Whoops, that is different than what Bob said about a single head.  I used to make part of my living growing and selling coral.Something not often realized is that the hydrated/fully expanded head can get cut on it's own razor sharp skeleton if removed from the water while fully hydrated. Before removing it from the water, shake it a little to make it retract. Also, I always remove Frogspawn and the entire the family of Euphyllia corals like Hammer and Torch, from the water in the upside down position to further avoid cutting damage. Hope this is not TMI.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: Josh95
Date Posted: June 06 2012 at 7:20pm
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Depends on how careful you want to be, I just took a flathead screw driver, got close to where the heads split, put the head of the screwdriver there, and tapped the back of the handle until it broke. ------------- Josh M. Phone: 406.471.1334 |
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: June 06 2012 at 7:43pm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark, you crack me up  What I said was 'different' because I read his post carefully and took note that he does not even know that the skeleton is part of the coral (he calls it the 'rock' the coral is sitting on) and because it sounds like he thinks you frag a frogspawn by removing the head off of the 'rock' and cutting it up like a Mushroom coral  And while you may someimtes be able to salvage cracked / broken heads, a much less experienced hobbyist (like tfmreefs) is going to end up with small pieces of frogspawn skeleton all over the place, some with shreds of live coral on them... most of which - if not all of which - will eventually die... So I stand by my original comments.
------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
tfmreefs wrote:Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 06 2012 at 10:33pm
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Oh, haha thats the rock part i thought is the skelleton:) I did not know that:0 thanks guys ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 07 2012 at 7:29pm
 Oops, I missed the part about it sinking into the rock.Yeah the end of the branch/skeleton is constantly being built up at the tip by the growing coral. One head grows and branches out into two or three and those grow and branch out. These are some of the "reef building corals" of which you may have heard. I'm standing with Bob. 
------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Fatman
Date Posted: June 07 2012 at 10:56pm
| Wise decision, very wise. |
Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 07 2012 at 11:27pm
"much less experienced, like tfm reefs" really?? ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 07 2012 at 11:33pm
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I didn't know this stuff , duh no crap u wonder why I put a post saying "how do I frag a frogspawn" I didn't know this so of corse I'm new to this. I didn't know much about frogspawn that I bought which came in a pack of other corals and I was just wondering how to frag it because this is one coral I don't know to much about. But just because of that one other coral doesn't mean I'm "much less experienced" ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: June 07 2012 at 11:52pm
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Um I am guessing seems you're a teen and all these guys have been in this hobby for as long as you have lived that that is what he meant. You are less experienced than a lot of other reefers because of your age and how long you've been keeping reefs... ------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 07 2012 at 11:57pm
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Yes, obvioulsy, but i absolutly do not like being refered to as the "unexperienced hobbiest" Yes i realize that you guys have been doing this for a long time, but i put this post up to learn how to frag this, not to here that hes probaly going to do this, and this is probly going to happen, and bla bla bla ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 12:09am
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I don't think it was a personal attack. If you are inexperienced in what the skeleton of a coral is you are inexperienced in this hobby. Not just on a frogspawn coral, I am not trying to be rude and he was trying to say please don't do this as this will happen. Not saying you would but sometimes it's hard to read text and hear the tone it's used in. ------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 12:17am
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Yes, agreed, and i do know what the skelleton of corals are. I just thought (since this was my first time having a frogspawn) that it came on a rock. All some one had to say was thats a skeleton, which some one did. And then all i was looking for was and this is how you do so, which i also did, but i wasnt looking for anything else after that. Im not taking it personal but i just dont want to be reffered to as the unexpereinced hobbiest, just because i came across a couple questions about frogspawn. Their skeletons are just different than all to other corals in my tank. Obviously they are different corals too ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 1:17am
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It's settled then. You're doing alright. Asking questions is a good way to learn. I've been at this hobby pretty intensely since 1993 but I still learn things from you and others every time I come here. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 9:45am
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Tanner -
I apologize if my comments came off as rude or condescending. My response was really more to Mark, in the context of "Hey Mark, remember that not everyone out there has as much experience with corals as you do..." and was not meant to single you out or belittle you in any way.
And - just to be fair - since you have only been posting here for about 2 months, and your very first post here was "Hi I just started my first tank a little while ago and was wondering ..." and since I was comparing your time / experience in the hobby vs. Mark, who has more than 20 years in the hobby...
I think most reasonable people would agree that any person with 2 months of experience doing anything is "much less experienced" than someone with 20+ years of experience. That doesn't mean they are putting down the person with less experience.
And I agree with Mark that we older guys can - and do - learn alot from the younger guys.
(I got my first mushroom and leather corals while working at a LFS back in 1978, so 34 years keeping corals for me )
And, just because we have been in this hobby a long time, it doesn't make us any "better" than you - it just makes us... old
 Right, Mark?
 ------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 12:24pm
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I'm not that old, am I? ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 12:55pm
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K, sorry to get on my high horse:/ I see what your saying ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 12:56pm
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Sorry, and yes I do now realize that you can't tell the tone of ssomeone else's voice behind computer/phone ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 12:59pm
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Also just an FYI I have been doing this a little more than six months... ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: Fatman
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 3:54pm
| You guys forget that with age comes wisdom. The issue is we forget where we put it. |
Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 4:47pm
 Lol------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: DLindquist
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 7:39pm
....Yes, much less experienced. However, don't take it so personal. ------------- A government strong enough to give you everything you want, is powerful enough to take everything you have. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 8:35pm
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When I started in the hobby, I read a bunch of books. The WMAS didn't yet exist and neither did the www. Six of us started this club, the WMAS, in 1995 to learn from each other and as soon as we could, in 2002 we (I mean Jake) created this forum. It worked. Books can become outdated quickly. Now, with help from online groups like this, even beginners can do it [mostly] right the first time and prevent big errors IF they will accept help from experienced hobbyists. It shows maturity when any person, no matter their age, listens to the opinions and uses the knowledge of others. Sometimes it is the zeal of newcomers that causes an old timer to re-evaluate and improve. Recently a comment from a good friend caused me to re-evaluate and accept that my knowledge of the hobby is falling behind the times in some areas. Growing old is a  in more ways than one.  Please forgive my ramblings.------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: tfmreefs
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 8:55pm
I'm not taking it personal and by me putting the FYI I wasn't saying I'm more experienced cause I guess I'm not. My apologies every one ------------- "The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese." |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 08 2012 at 9:11pm
It's all good, no worries mate. 
------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Akira
Date Posted: June 13 2012 at 12:27am
| Tanner as I recall it had 2 nice heads with like 3 heads that had none on them . Where the the 2 heads meet at the base split it there and you will be fine . Just take this as a good comment I'm still a rookie and inexperienced and will always be until my phone rings and I answer and its a reefer with 5+ years of experience asking me for advice , then I will know i have a bit to offer but will always continue to learn. And i learn more from people with less than a few months of experience because they ask alot of questions that the old reefers answer !!! Yes mark bob etc ur all old ....Wait i just lost my train of thought 42 is making me senile ! lol |