Leather newbie

[aquarius77]

I got a couple leather frags in the mail today and they are clippings from a large toadstool. How do you go about attaching something like that to rock?
Right now i have them netted down to rubble but im worried that they need more room to expand than the netting might allow. I dont know, i have never kept them and they came as a bonus with some frags i bought.

[sir_dudeguy]

One way (the way i do it) is to just put them in between a few pieces of rock rubble. It might not be as fast, but its always worked for me. Put it in low flow areas and in between rubble.

Another way is to take a tooth pick, stab it through the base, and then rubber band that toothpick down to the rock so that it forces the base to touch the rock. Never done it that way though :)

[aquarius77]

Ouch! toothpick seems violent! Will the netting work ya think? I dont have low flow, i dont belive in it.

[sir_dudeguy]

I dont have low flow, i dont belive in it.

:lol: nor do i! That just always works for me. I'll shade it w/a larger rock/put it behind my rockwork/whatever till i can cover it a bit from the full flow just so it wont blow away from the pile of rubble i put it in.

The toothpick...dont worry about it. Now that i think about it, i DID have one that way...my neon green toadstool was already fragged when i got it and the guy had done this. Once it started attaching, i took the rubber band off and gently pulled the toothpick out so that it didnt pull it off the piece of rubble it had been attached to. Then i took that piece of rubble and used the underwater epoxy putty and stuck the rock to my main rockwork..

For netting...i personally dont like that idea for a toad. They get really irritated by things, and if they cant open up...that doesnt make anything better for them. For shrooms it works great, but i dont know about toadies...

[Puffdragon]

The tooth pick method is the only way I can frag colt corals.

[aquarius77]

I have decided to stick with my netting attempt. The leather frags have shot out their polyps and dont seem to mind the net at all.

My question is:
How long before these guys take hold to the rock?

The frags were clipped from a large toadstool and i put the freshly cut side against the rocks.

[drummereef]

Just loosly rubberband the foot to the rock. It will attach itself in 1-2 weeks. No harm done to the coral what so ever. The toothpick trick works as well. I've done this in the past too. Again, won't hurt the coral at all. ;)

[aquarius77]

There is no foot drummer, its a slice off of a big toad's cap. I have polyp area and cut area.

[aquarius77]

I just thought i would update this thread.

The netting worked like a charm, it has been off for about 3 days now and both frags are attached and doing well.
If anyone tries this i would say just keep the netting loose, one of mine was loose and one was tight and the loose netted frag took hold better, faster.

[gh0st]

A little Super Glue Gel and a snug but not over tight zip tie work well.

Once it's attached, clip the zip tie.

[aquarius77]

I have glued leathers in the past, it never worked out too well for me at all. They slime up and slip right out. The netting worked fantastic.

[gh0st]

Glue on it's own works for some leathers, I've never had problems with it on toadstools, but having some zip tie, rubber band, etc to hold it snug in place, plus the super glue usually does the trick.

Sometimes, depending on the netting, the frags will either attach to it rather than your substrate, or it can impede flow and allow mucus build up around the frag, increaseing the odds of infection.

But, hey, what ever works for you! :)