Have got a frag of a branching frogspawn that has two heads about 1-1.5" in diameter (the skeleton is that diameter, not the living tissue). The heads are attached to a long piece of skeleton that makes it hard to place the coral in my display. I would like to make a cut through the skeleton perpendicular to the branches so that I can glue it to a rock where I want it.

Does anyone know how far down into the skeleton the living tissue extends? I need to know how much skeleton to leave on. I was thinking of cutting about 3 inches from the top of the head, which is about an inch below where the thin veneer of tissue on the outside of the skeleton (periosteum?) below the head ends.

Thanks!

I'd say you're safe at 3" from the head.

+1 on the 3"

Okay, thanks for the reassurance. I'll let you know how it goes.

BTW, how long can I keep the coral out of the water? Was thinking of using a hacksaw, which should be able to get though the 2" diameter part of the skeleton in less than a minute. Will the vibrations cause any major problems?

I'd be more careful about damaging the flesh around the head. Such damage is common if you lay it down on a counter.

Splitting the head through the middle as the internal matrix cracks is the real risk of cutting it below 3 inches. Hope you have a good grinder disk and a dremel for these short crops...I have taken them down to the actual flesh line before so if you can go that low and you are sure your tools won't let you down it'll take it. The flesh on any euphyllid isn't much deeper at all that the base of the septa or the corallite

So, I did it! Pictures forthcoming...

I ended up using a hacksaw and an extra pair of hands to hold the polyps over the edge of the table. The outer part of the skeleton is really tough, but once you get though the first 5 mm it's smooth sailing. It looks pretty pissed off right now, but no worse than when I first brought it home from the LFS.

Frogspawn just after cutting it off.



Glued into its new home, the next day.