Kenyan Tree Propogation question

[Jawbone]

OK I have to ask here because the Propogation forum is gone.

Has anyone had luck with these. According to the propogation book by Calfo they should propogate naturally by fission budding and branch dropping and goes on to say that Fragmentation of Neptheids is through constrictive procedures rather than lacerating.

OK now we propogated our open brain this way and were able to then cut once it seperated into two but how do I do this to the Kenyan tree

The books dont really say once it is separted how to attach it to a piece of rock and at what point do I put the rubber bands ( do I try and seperate the individual branches or try and cut the whole thing in half) and how tight do I need to make the rubber bands.



I need to do something soon I think because it has gotten so big it is standing about 12 inches tall now and when it is fully open it is swaying in the current to the point of almost toppling over. The base rock it is on can be secured I suppose but I would rather not glue the coral down to my base rock in case I want to change things around.

Anyhow any help would be appreciated as this has been a fast grower and I am guessing it will take at least two months for proper seperation and healing and in that time the parent is still growing

 

[tetra]

I am not sure this is the right way, but it worked for me before. I just use a sharp razor blade and sliced down the middle (y-intersection). Let that healed for a couple weeks and then I splitted the based rock that it was on.

 

[Anonymous]

I just lop a branch off and use some bridal veil to attach it to a frag plug and it attaches in a week or so.

 

[Jawbone]

So two votes for just cutting with a knife

Man I cant bring myself to cutting this. I like the rubber band Idea because if the coral starts reacting terribly I can correct it... But if this is the only way then I guess I'll have to cut it.

 

[Anonymous]

LOL, just cut it. You'll be relieved to see that it does just fine. Leave the mother colony in some good flow to make sure the cut part doesn't get infected and I bet your tree will be back up to full glory by the end of the day.

Yes the rubberband does sound like a good idea, but I find that having a cut area exposed on the frag allows for a better attachment point by the frag.

 

[liquid]

FWIW, mine used to bud every month and drop about 1 dozen 2" frags all over my tank. It seemed to coincide with me pushing my kalkwasser additions. Apparently the budding seemed to be driven by pH and/or alk. Ever since I quit dosing kalk my coral quit budding. Interesting...

Shane