Fragging Question

[sianeds]

I have a gorgeous neon green mushroom which looks like ricordea. It was on the substrate at the LFS when I bought it and is not attached to anything except a few grains of crushed coral. I tried placing it in a low flow area of my tank and on a rock but it blew away and disappeared for a week.

Now I have found it I am trying to get it to attach to a spare shell I had lying round in the tank. I have loosely tied it onto the shell with some netting. I used the net part of a brand new bag that comes with washing tablets and it is secured with a rubber band at the back.

I did this 2 days ago. The mushroom is now opening up and appears to have grown through the netting in one place, the net cannot be seen at all on top of it. I have tried to get a picture with no luck.

I'm wondering will it grow through the netting? if so will it divide into lots of little mushies as it passes through? Also how long do I need to keep the net on it?

 

[callell]

If it is ricordea then sucessfull fragging can only be done if there is a part of the 'Mouth' on each of the frags, so the answer would be no

I have fragged loads of Ric's in my time some sucessful some not but it is easily done, given a shaarp pair of scissors, Glue Gel & some netting (Think of cutting a pie in to seqments & you cant go wrong )

Personally I would give it a week to completely adhere then remove the netting as careful as poss

 

[sianeds]

I have fragged rics before but I only ever cut them in half making sure I had a potion of mouth and foot on each piece then I just laid them onto a little rock and put them in a quiet spot and let them attach. I've never had to use netting before. This one is not a frag it is just a single mushie I spied in the LFS. It does seem to be growing through the netting though. As long as it's not going to get damaged then I'm happy

It would be cool to frag it in the future as it's an amazing colour but I think I'd be too scared to try it.

 

[Mr Miagi]

NA. it wont grow through the netting, except perhaps over a long period of time, and even then I dought it. They will expand/shrink daily, and this might give the appearance of growth through the netting, but its unlikely IMO. Leave the netting on for a few days to a few weeks, depending on how fast it takes to attach.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=180491&hl=

Ohh yeah! Go morphs! (We so need a dancing smilie)

 

[sianeds]

Once it is attached safely I'm going to put it in a higher flow area to see if it frags itself. I had great results using this method with my other ricordeas

 

[wflash3]

while were on this topic i got a question on this ricordia?

my ricordia is attached its foot onto reall small rubble rock, and so it wont stay anywhere i put it in the tank....can i possibly try to remove these small rocks? and if not is there a way to propagate them with the rocks there?

thanks

 

[sianeds]

If you take the mushy off the rock you might damage it's foot. If you just want a bigger base on it, put some epoxy putty onto the rock to enlarge it and let it cure.

Also...I removed the netting and my funky mushroom has stuck!! Only took a few days

 

[wflash3]

its way to hard to put the puddy on the mushys rock and then onto another rock because i have nothing to push on to make sure it sticks, i cant squeez the mushroom can i?

 

[callell]

Take the muchie from the tank & Glue (Superglue Gel) somes lightly larger rubble to the foot

or

poke the peice of rubble already attached to the Ric into a hole in your LR, the Ric's foot will soon attach to the main rock

or

Or sew (yes Sew) the muchie to a ball of Deltec Epoxy (milliput) (DO NOT SEW THROUGHT THE MOUTH)

Or

Place a small ball of Milliput on to a 1" sq peice of LR (outside the tank), place the muchie on to the milliput & wrap the whole lot with small hole netting

I have used a 4 methods sucsessfully in the past

 

[Mr Miagi]

my ricordia is attached its foot onto reall small rubble rock, and so it wont stay anywhere i put it in the tank....can i possibly try to remove these small rocks? and if not is there a way to propagate them with the rocks there?

I wouldnt remove the smalll pieces of rock. They can ease your time getting it onto something more substantially larger. Either Glue the smaller pieces of rock to a larger rock, or use onion bag netting to wrap the Ric and a chosen piece of rubble. See below.

If you take the mushy off the rock you might damage it's foot.

It doesnt matter if you damage its foot. A piece of foot is more beneficial than mouth. Ive propagated Mushrooms from JUST foot. Slicing and dicing just foot.

Take the muchie from the tank & Glue (Superglue Gel) somes lightly larger rubble to the foot

Dont try and glue its flesh to a rock. Its going to slime, and it aint gonna work. It will just slide off. Try gluing the smaller piece of rock to another larger piece of rubble.

poke the peice of rubble already attached to the Ric into a hole in your LR, the Ric's foot will soon attach to the main rock

Or sew (yes Sew) the muchie to a ball of Deltec Epoxy (milliput) (DO NOT SEW THROUGHT THE MOUTH)

I dont see the point in sewing them. Just cover them in onion bag netting, with the rock, or the sugested ball of milliput/epoxy/aquaneedit.

Place a small ball of Milliput on to a 1" sq peice of LR (outside the tank), place the muchie on to the milliput & wrap the whole lot with small hole netting

This is my most successful method, and its dead simple and quick. You can use cable ties or fishing wire to secure the netting on the other side of your rubble.

See the step by step guide I wrote on this exact topic, linked too in my above post in this thread.

 

[wflash3]

thanks miagi.

-flash