Fragging a branching hammer coral

[Ashr]

Any one have some tips on fragging a branching hammer coral?

Mine is getting pretty big and I have a lot of new heads/arms coming out on top towards the top of the tank. maybe time to frag?

any ideas?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

They are pretty fragile, by mistake I have fragged mine twice, the branches snap off real easy.

 

[tnwillia]

+1, I've done the same on mine, I mounted the frag on a tall piece of rock rubble and hes grown well. Have fun!

 

[Mischko]

Well, never done it myself yet, but I saw how it was done on e. g. Acans and Catalaphylia's. They used a diamond saw to cut the block of Acans apart into smaller frags. Most important is to keep the polyps complete so that each has a mouth. I guess the same goes for the hammer coral. Since they grow in branches it should be easy to cut or carefully break a branch off and place it on a frag stone. But as mentioned, be very careful since their coraline skeleton is very fragile, very thin and breaks very easily. Also, be careful not to damage any body tissue. Some LPS are able to regenerate tissue, but most can't or very hard. Guess best would be to tease it until it retracts almost completly and then frag it. This way you should be able to see where you can break/cut off a branch best, too.

 

[Ashr]

Great, Thanks all! I dont think I need to do it right away but will have to sooner then later..

 

[Reefmack]

Might be helpful:

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/aquarium-corals/46030-how-do-you-frag-hammer-coral.html

Video (frogspawn but these and hammers, torches are all Euphyllia) types:

YouTube - Fragging corals frog spawn