Propagating

[davidandliz]

I am interested in proagating alot of things in my tank.. such as mushrooms, xenia, kenya tree, finger leather and button polyps can anyone give me some tips if they know anything regarding propping these things.. i have never done it before.

Thank you
Liz

[ronert]

throw the mushrooms into a blender with some tank water ... frappe till you get chunks ... pour back into a prop tankn with no mech filtration ... start filtering about 1 - 2 days later ... wait for bushels of mushrooms to grow from the pieces ... i've also heard you want to NOT ue a blender you'll ever use for food again

xenia ... just let it grow ... snip pieces off ... attach to rock(s) as needed (super glue)

not sure about leather, but you should be able to do the same as with zenia

heck ... just look at garf.org

[icy1155]

Ok, well where to start.

Mushrooms - Depending on how many mushrooms you want you can chop them up into almost any size pieces you want and they will eventually grow back, but you may have some more mortality. The best way that I have found is to cut the cap of the mushroom off of the rock with the mouth still attached and perhaps cut that in half if you choose. Then put a cup or small container of rubble in a low flow area and put the pieces in. In a couple weeks they will be healthy new mushrooms.

Xenia - Before you start go to Wal-Mart and buy a square yard of bridal veil and a bag of rubber bands for about 3$. Snip off a stalk or a branch of a stalk of the xenia. Put the stalk on a small piece of rubble, loosely put the bridal veil over it, and rubber band the veil to the rock. As long as the veil isnt pressing onto the tissue the frag should be nice and healthy in about a week or so and you can blow a little water on the polyps (which will be outside of the veil) to make them retract and slowly wiggle the veil off the polyps.

Kenya Tree - Snip off a small branch of the kenya tree, and either put a toothpic through the base of the stalk or thread a needle with some fishing line and thread that through the stalk. Then either tie the thread to the frag plug/rubble, or glue the toothpick down with a touch of super glue. The frag shoudl attach in about 2 weeks, and once it does you can remove whatever is securing it to the rock/plug.

Finger Leather - Same thing as kenya tree.

Button Polyps - Using a small hobby knife with changeable blades, first use a sharp blade and cut the tissue around the bottom of the polyps in the area you want to frag off. Then use a dull rounded blade to gently wiggle between the mat of polyps and the rock. The mat should come up once you get the hang of it and can then be attached to rubble/frag plug with a small dab of super glue, or if left on a piece of rubble or plug the matt will attach in a little bit.

There are many other ways of doing these, these are just the ones that I have had expierence with and have worked for me.

[davidandliz]

Wow thanks you guys gave me great suggestions... im going to try them tomorrow when i get glue and the mesh fabric.

[Gordonious]

WOAH! Missing one huge important detail. SAFETY FIRST. Great advice and every bit of it is just about exactly what I would have said, but be careful. The Button Polyps are capable of spitting neurotoxins in your eye and could land you in the hospital. Once you arrive at the hospital it is likely know one will know what to do for you.

[kaptken]

That is true . Gordo, Of most corals. . softies can spit fluids in your ey when handling or cutting and its bad. so goggles or eye glasses first.

then for the kenya tree, mine just drop dozens of branches off on the sand bed. where they root a little, then i super glue them and the gravel they attach to, to a rock. where they eventually grow over.

finger leathers can be cut below a notch branching segment. then tie down to a rock with bridal vail/ and rubber band/.

[davidandliz]

thanks Gordonious for the help... happy with the tank we got last night... waiting for the water place to open up at 10 so i can fill it up...probably gonna go over to pacific after that to get some loose ends.


i cut some pulsating xenia last night i just kept them under water the whole time.. is that better than taking them out and doing the cuttings??? The colony look good .. doesnt seem to have affected them at all. some of the cuttings are already pulsing again i guess that it a good sign. i think im going to get a 20 started today too so i can use it as a small prop tank.

[davidandliz]

i mean premium... sorry too many names that sound similar.

[icy1155]

Yes, definatly the more you can keep the corals in the water the better it will be for them. The only real exception is zoanthids/button polyps, which can be exposed to air for hours at a time in the wild, so taking them out of the water for 10min or so doesnt really affect them all that much.

[kaptken]

they all slime , some more or less, and that protects them. for xenia, lop off the top with half the stem and then tie down to a rubble rock with the bridal vail net just tight enough to hold it in place without cutting. it will open up thru the net and attact to the rock in a few days to a week. then remove the net carefully so as not to pull the frag from the rock. or if the net is grown over with the xenia, just snip it loose. a little net left inside is no problem. its inert plastic.

[davidandliz]

the button polyps that i cut are doing really well... i put a few of them in some large empty snail shells and they look great. im probably going to cut some more xenia in a few days..once i see how well the others do.....

[Gordonious]

If it helps my xenia usually attach in 3-4 days and look like healthy miniatures of the mother colony. Glad to hear your trying your hand at it, I wish more club members were actively propagating.

[icy1155]

Originally posted by Gordonious
If it helps my xenia usually attach in 3-4 days and look like healthy miniatures of the mother colony. Glad to hear your trying your hand at it, I wish more club members were actively propagating.

If I only had more to frag...

[davidandliz]

icy - maybe after i get the hang of it ill pass some on....the btter half things they are taking over the tank so im just trying to get some to migrate off my large rocks so i can take some full stalks out of the tank.

[icy1155]

Well when you do get some ready to go I have a nice pink ricordea yuma that just healed up from fragging and attached to a piece of rubble that I could trade. Now that the one that I just cut is all healed im going to chop 2 more tomorrow I think.

[davidandliz]

That would be GREAT!.. i love yumas.. ill see what i can get done.

[davidandliz]

BUMP