Fragging a Warpaint Scoly (Progress pics)

[JonoH]

Update Pics for 17th October 2025

 

[BryanM]

That is looking great.

I don't thing I could ever frag one of those myself.

 

[JonoH]

That is looking great.

I don't thing I could ever frag one of those myself.

Monsoon Aquatics here in Australia do it all the time - they split them 4 ways generally.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

That is looking great.

I don't thing I could ever frag one of those myself.

It would terrify me... Glad others can do it though

 

[JonoH]

Update 30.11.25
My main Scoly Frag has had BABIES....!!!
Its looking fully healed, has an extra Scoly off to the side, but then on closer inspection there is a further 2 on the edge.
I've heard of this happening from the base of a skeleton, so can only assume this is what has happened!

Main Scoly with extra to the side (on the top)


Babies on the side


Zoom up of the Babies


Scoly Frag mostly healed up also



The question is now...do I try and seperate them all onto their own plugs?

 

[JonoH]

So apparently this is called 'Extratenticular Budding' which can happen when there is trauma.

Can by cut and isolated to their own plug (which I may do when they are a little larger).

 

[JonoH]

Fragged off the Budding Scoly's last night from the main skeleton.

Was a pretty delicate operation, so only time will tell if its successful!



It will be interesting to see if the main Scoly bud's some more now, as this is what can happen...

 

[JonoH]

Will take some more pics this evening - but both heads have healed up now - plus the original has budded more baby scoly's.

The one's i removed are doing ok, but tiny!

At this stage, my single scoly has turned into 6 in the tank.

 

[StartingATank]

Wow that is incredible. I could never personally frag a Scoly, as they are just too precious to me. I usually only like them to split naturally.

 

[JonoH]

Been a bit slow updating this - but here is the Late January update (about 6 months roughly since starting)

Original Scoly is fully healed - (in fact the colours on this are actually better than they were originally)


And still continuing to Bud more Babies (another 2 on it currently), its amazing the colours vary also from green to stark orange on these.


Cut head is mostly healed, albiet still growing into its shape -


3 Babies I have previously removed from the skeleton are tiny, but alive and feeding.

 

[JonoH]

Wow that is incredible. I could never personally frag a Scoly, as they are just too precious to me. I usually only like them to split naturally.

Absolutely understand, especially considering the cost of some of these!

Unfortunately they do not split naturally, only reproducing either through spawning, or from budding extratenticular after being damaged which is what mine is doing now. The one's you see sold that look like one splitting into 2 are generally from this (having a second grown out from the original skeleton).

Monsoon Aquatics in Australia who are one of the exporters of these to the rest of the world actually cut them and propogate them in a similar way to this.

 

[StartingATank]

Wow that is incredible. I could never personally frag a Scoly, as they are just too precious to me. I usually only like them to split naturally.

Absolutely understand, especially considering the cost of some of these!

Unfortunately they do not split naturally, only reproducing either through spawning, or from budding extratenticular after being damaged which is what mine is doing now. The one's you see sold that look like one splitting into 2 are generally from this (having a second grown out from the original skeleton).

Monsoon Aquatics in Australia who are one of the exporters of these to the rest of the world actually cut them and propogate them in a similar way to this.

What if a scoly has 2 heads but is connected? My scoly is like this

 

[JonoH]

What if a scoly has 2 heads but is connected? My scoly is like this

The 2 heads grew from the same skeleton, so it budded a second head which was left to fully grow .
They can actually be cut apart and left to heal, you would end up with 2 seperate Scoly's, but it would then also have a high chance of growing more out of the cut area, especially given it has done this previously!

 

[StartingATank]

What if a scoly has 2 heads but is connected? My scoly is like this

The 2 heads grew from the same skeleton, so it budded a second head which was left to fully grow .
They can actually be cut apart and left to heal, you would end up with 2 seperate Scoly's, but it would then also have a high chance of growing more out of the cut area, especially given it has done this previously!

I will probably do this once it grows more. Right now it is about the size of a button scoly when you buy it.

 

[JonoH]

I will probably do this once it grows more. Right now it is about the size of a button scoly when you buy it.

Awesome!
That was the point of this thread...to inspire others to do the same. Would love to see you document it also - so much of this is done by commercial guys and not shared with the everyday hobbyist.

 

[StartingATank]

I will probably do this once it grows more. Right now it is about the size of a button scoly when you buy it.

Awesome!
That was the point of this thread...to inspire others to do the same. Would love to see you document it also - so much of this is done by commercial guys and not shared with the everyday hobbyist.

I will try to. I have seen it hard for myself to keep up with build and document threads.

 

[t5Nitro]

Very cool. Thanks for the documentation. What was the tissue consistency when you cut into the main coral? I'm wondering if you can place a running suture along the cut edge to approxiamte the tissue and expedite that early healing process / increase likelihood of success. Yours did very well in the end. Good work!

 

[toygrr]

Beautiful!

 

[JonoH]

Very cool. Thanks for the documentation. What was the tissue consistency when you cut into the main coral? I'm wondering if you can place a running suture along the cut edge to approxiamte the tissue and expedite that early healing process / increase likelihood of success. Yours did very well in the end. Good work!

It actually cut a lot cleaner than I thought it would, there is a lot more tissue than skeleton.

I would definately recommend dipping after cutting, I used CIES for this, but you could probably just dip in an iodine based one to help steralize the cut.
Never really considered using some sort of suture, what would you use for this?

 

[t5Nitro]

If you have access to it, I would consider 3-0 or 4-0 prolene. I might consider Vicryl as a synthetic absorbable suture although I would imagine being submerged in water that it wouldn’t last nearly as long as it does in skin (4-6 weeks typically). Prolene would need to be cut and removed after the wound healed.

*you’ve demonstrated that a nice result can be had without any extra measures. Seems like a lot of hesitation in cutting these across the board though. Wondering if it’s poor outcomes or people generally don’t try.