penguin87 Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 how does one properly frag a xenia? i have a huge silver xenia that i would like to frag, and i think i should anyway. i have super glue gel, i hope brand doesn't matter, and scissors. are there any other tools needed to frag a xenia? and if possible, i'd like to move the xenia off of it's ugly lfs rock. your helpful help will be helpful. Link to comment
surfy Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Don't use any kind of glue. Since it is a big piece of xenia I would just put the rock you want it to grow on right next to it so that it touches the xenia. In about a day or so it should start to atatch to the rock. It takes a little while to frag this way, probably about 1 week to 2 weeks, but it is the safest way for the coral. One part will probably stay on the original rock that it came on and the other half will be on the new rock. The new frag will usually have a thin skin still atatching to the mother colony after about a week or so, then you can use a new sharp rasorblade to cut it seperateing the two. If you want to be brave you could always just use a sharp razorblade and cut the very base of the xenia to remove it from the rock. Then you have to rubberband the xenia to the new rock for a few days (maybe longer) so it dosn't blow away. I personaly wouldn't do it that way because you are risking the coral getting infected and dieing. If you decide to cut it put it in a higher flow for a little while until it heals. Oh yea I forgot DON'T use scissors to cut corals, always use a razor with as few slices as possible. I hope this makes sence. Link to comment
penguin87 Posted July 25, 2003 Author Share Posted July 25, 2003 oooooooooooooh. ok. so super glue bad for xenia? but i heard from source that if you don't frag xenia, it dies, and this procedure doesn't sound like fun. so do i have to frag the xenia? if not, i probably will anyway. thanks a million Link to comment
dickwayne Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Xenia doesn't die. At the end of time, the only things left on this planet will be Xenia and cockroaches. I tried to frag some xenia the other day, but it wasn't attatched to the rock I put next to it like I thought. So, when I cut it, it got blown away behind my rocks, out of reach. The next day when I came home from work, the little cutling was in the front of the tank, laying on its side, attached to some sand. Which allowed me to glue it down. It is impossable, however, to glue xenia. It has a slimy coating, and the glue cannot penetrate this slime. So, I would do what surfy suggested and lean a rock next to it to grow onto. Just wait a week or so, until it looks attached, and slice through with a clean razor. If you already cut a peice, you can get some bridal vale to hold it loosley to a rock, or you can spear it with a toothpick to hold it down. good luck! Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted July 27, 2003 Share Posted July 27, 2003 Super glue will not work unless the xenia is already attached to something ie substrate etc. As far your source-I wouldn't listen to them very much anymore. Xenia doesn't die if it isn't fragged. As far as methods go I have used bridal veil, toothpicks, rubber bands, fishing line, and the rock method. The rock method works the best by far. Get some clean razors or stainless steel scissors to be only used in your tank to cut the xenia. Depending on whether or not I can use the rock method I generally rip single stalks off the rock and slice stalks off of colonies (more than a few stalks) and then go with the rock method by wedging a stalk in between two rocks. This way I eventually get two stalks from the one with a single effort. Here's my 10G last week which with the exception of 2 stalks of xenia (pom pom and red sea both of which I aquired at frag meets and have since been propogated 3 times) all have come from a two stalk frag of xenia purchased on 12/26 for my 2.5G. I've had to get rid of about 15 stalks and 3 colonies last month and it's time to clean out the tank again. HTH and don't worry about the xenia dying. Your water quality will kill the xenia before old age does. Give the rock method a try. You'll notice something in a week or even over night depending. Let us know if you have any other questions. Link to comment
penguin87 Posted July 27, 2003 Author Share Posted July 27, 2003 that's alot of xenia thanks, also Link to comment
dickwayne Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Holy crap that's alot of Xenia. Link to comment
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