My Mushroom Fragging Extravasganza with Pictures!

[bb0029]

Well here it is. After a bunch of research I decided to give it a shot! I harvested 3 mushrooms and ended up with 12 little pieces when it was all said and done. I was nervous as all get out to do it but it was really easy and if you have not done it yet you should give it a shot.

Here is the rubble I started with. People use different things but after talking to many people I have come to the conclusion you can use what ever you want.


Here is the colony I started with. I chose the biggest ones to frag just for the fact they are bigger and would be easier to work with.


Here is what I used pretty much to do the job. I used these rounded wedding veil pads.(A pack of 20 for $1.89) 1 razor blade, 2 rubber bands and the bottom 1/3 of a water bottle with ridges.


I removed the colony from the tank and put them in a piece of Tupperware with tank water in it.


I prepared the holding containers by placing the rubble in the bottle and adding tank water.


Here is a shot on where you should cut. Gravity helps a ton. The weight of the mushroom pulls the head down enough for you to get to the stem where it attaches to the rock.



I simply cut them into 4 pieces making sure I got a piece of the mouth in every cut. You honestly just have to cut it like a pizza. No big deal at all. When I was done I ended up with 12 frags.


I then placed 6 frags into each container. You can try placing them but it does not work. They are going to go wherever they want, especially when you add them into the tank.



I placed the veil pieces on top of the bottle and used rubber bands to secure it. The ridges in the bottle make a valley for the rubber bands to rest in which keep them in place.

I then trimmed the rest off just to make it look clean and neat.


After all that I added them to the tank in a place up front where I can keep tabs on them. Word on the street is they will take about 3 days to attach to something. The snail was pretty upset I set the container on him lol.


Well that is it. I hope you found this useful. Overall it took about 1 hour and that included everything from prep to fragging to clean up. i will keep you posted on how it all goes. If you got any questions let me know and I will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. I pretty much owe all of this to these forums. The vast database of knowledge is tremendous and I could of not done it without you,

Thanks, Brad

[gbmortie]

Make sure they are right side up. If they're not, it's not a big deal - when you go in and remove the ones that attached you can just flip them over. They will live without being attached to a rock but in my experience they won't attach if they're upside down. Also, some will probably fall through down to the bottom of your container where they might attach to the container itself. I hate it when they do that, so in my conatiners, there is no exposed bottom. After a couple of rounds of doing it the way you did it, I started to mesh 3 pieces to one piece of rock to make a nice rock with multiple heads on it right off the bat. This is a great way to start out though, I hope they come out because I want one!

[bb0029]

Originally Posted by gbmortie

..... After a couple of rounds of doing it the way you did it, I started to mesh 3 pieces to one piece of rock to make a nice rock with multiple heads on it right off the bat. This is a great way to start out though, I hope they come out because I want one!

Thanks for the info. I honestly want them all separate cause I have a few people that want some and I was just going to hook them up in a week or so after I see how they do. I want to keep a few for myself too.

I was also thinking about them attaching to the container as well but in all honesty I think they would be pretty easy to move off the plastic surface. This is my first attempt and thanks for your input.

If this is successful I am going to frag the Kenya Tree which has tripled in size over the last 3 months.

[colby339110]

Very nice cant wait to Start up my new Aquapod prolly next month

[Loverotties]

Great job!

[gbmortie]

mine stick pretty good to the plastic container but you can always cut them off with a razor knife. I think it just depends on what you want to do wtih them, as you said. The main thing I do with mine is trade them in to the LFS and I find that rocks with multiple heads on them get me more store credit

[zero186]

3 days seem short could take up to a week at least

[shaggy52282]

Awesome thread.

Just to clarify, are all mushrooms created equal when it comes to fragging? I have a rock covered in hairy mushrooms (Rhodactis indosinensis iirc)...and I think it is about time to start moving/fragging stuff so the tank provides a small source of income.

[gbmortie]

Originally Posted by shaggy52282

Awesome thread.

Just to clarify, are all mushrooms created equal when it comes to fragging? I have a rock covered in hairy mushrooms (Rhodactis indosinensis iirc)...and I think it is about time to start moving/fragging stuff so the tank provides a small source of income.

I was wondering the saaaaame thing, actually. I have sold some of my mushroom rocks that I've made but it's slow going and it involves bringing strangers into my house which I don't like. I could trade them into my LFS but the way she does it is she gives store credit but only for live goods, you can't trade in, mushrooms for salt or food or anything, so really I would be stuck with selling them. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I've got 5 mushroom rocks cooking in my frag tank and I'm just letting them grow for now.

[gbmortie]

Oh, and I agree that it will take longer than 3 days.

[SoK]

Originally Posted by gbmortie

I was wondering the saaaaame thing, actually. I have sold some of my mushroom rocks that I've made but it's slow going and it involves bringing strangers into my house which I don't like. I could trade them into my LFS but the way she does it is she gives store credit but only for live goods, you can't trade in, mushrooms for salt or food or anything, so really I would be stuck with selling them. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I've got 5 mushroom rocks cooking in my frag tank and I'm just letting them grow for now.

Belong to any local reef clubs? Selling to paid members is pretty sure fire. If you can speak with one of the owners or officers they can tell you who to trust on there for sure.

I've dealt with several people through that channel and they've all been extremely generous with frags, time and knowledge.

[bb0029]

Today the frags look a ton better. The little pieces opened up a great deal. I spent a few minutes flipping some of them over and one of them was already attached. I had to move the the whole frag and when I did he did not come off. Could be the "slime balls" accumulating around the bases but 1 for sure is not mobile anymore.

They all look good like I said and none are melting so I think that might be a good sign.

I wanted to get some more opinions on the juice they produce when you cut them. The brownish slime stuff. I read on another site that you should put that stuff back into the tank as well because if that stuff makes it to the bottom of the tank or in a crack in the rock it produce more mushrooms.

[fihsboy]

The brown slime COULD produce more shrooms......but may also contain toxins that will harm other corals. Thats up to you. If I did.......I would run carbon for a day or two to get those toxins out.

[mara600]

great job, looks awesome, i have a bunch of mushrooms, I think I will remove a few and try this.

[bb0029]

Well this evening I went and moved some of my rubble around in my little containers and everything survived and is looking good. Every single one of them grabbed onto a piece of rubble so I am really excited. I swear that even some of them have grown in size. These creatures are amazing.

now I have to figure out what to do with my 12 new frags. I was thinking about just laying them on the bottom of the tank for now or either attaching all of them to another rock.

Also the pieces I made the cuts from recovered as well and both places are still attached to the rock and have a green center to them as well as a bit of purple so I guess they are coming back.