Fragging/Attaching Zoanthids

[seahorsejl]

I have zoanthids that I would like to frag down the road, so I thought I would throw out some questions.

 

As far as fragging, I assume it is as easy as taking a sharp knife, cutting the desired amount of poylps from the mother colony and peeling the frag from the rock work.

 

The attaching is where I was looking for the experts to chime in So how do you do it? I think I read somewhere super glue will "melt" zoa's. I used a little bit of super glue gel yesterday to re-attach some zoa's I got in the mail back to some rocks. The multi-polyp colony seemed to attach OK. The tiny single polyp attached, but I noticed some brown ooze right after I glued it to a rock. But as of this morning it was looking fine in the tank.

 

Here are the two candidates I am thinking about fragging.

 

The first has started spreading from it's own rock on to the live rock:

 

I will probably wait longer on the second until the red's spread more on to the live rock:

 

Thanks in advance for th tips/advice.

 

-James

[kevxross]

I'm no expert, but I've done it a few times and it really is that simple. Cut in between the polyps around the polyps you want to remove. Then take your razor blade and at like a 45 degree angle scrape under the mat. You should be able to scrape a thin layer of rock that the mat is attached to. Then just apply super glue to the rock and glue it to whatever you want. This keeps the zoas attached as they were and prevents super glue from getting on them.

[proraptor2]

kevxross pretty much summed it up...try not to cut through polyps but the actual matted flesh when doing it...

 

Also make sure you wear gloves and eye protection as zoas will squirt!

[seahorsejl]

Awesome... never thought about scraping a thin layer of rock off.

 

Thanks!

 

-James

[The Propagator]

Superglue gel will not melt them as long as you place them into the water imediatly after the glue has been applied.

[seahorsejl]

Good to know. Thanks!

[Daemonfly]

I usually try to just remove a thin layer of the rock they're mounted to, then just glue that to my frag plugs. Sometimes just plain polyps can loosen or fall off, so having a bit of rock still on there makes it more permanent. Depends on the hardness of the rock though.

[The Propagator]

I agree Daemonfly. That is the easier method.

[NaughtyCashew]

Keep everything clean too! Zoanthids carry one hell of a toxin.