Monti Cap too big. Need to frag. Advice?

[ReeferSamster]

So I've procrastinated long enough. I needed to trim the monti sooner, but I waited till now..he's shading everyone below him and ticked off my rose bubble anemone by shading her light so she packed up her stuff and moved. And she was in the perfect spot too! argh!

He's wider than my head. Any advice on how to trim him neatly? So he still looks half good after his haircut?
I can't pull the whole thing out. Its too big and fragile for 1 person. And anyway It'll be hard to attach it back. The entire structure is on the single tiny mounting point on the tip of my liverock.

What do I use? A chisel? I was thinking would giant scissors work? LIke gardening scissors? The plates are pretty gosh darn thick.

 

[santeeeyyy]

With luck.
But maybe trimmers. the gardening shears or scissors

 

[sheel be right]

ive always kinda just used my hands to break pieces off my montis in the past, but for more precise cuts for larger pieces at my work we use stainless steel coral cutters or really any cutters that do precise cuts. montis grow back fast and often will look like nothing happened in a week or two.

 

[blecki]

They are very fragile. You can break pieces off with your hand. If you don't want it to look like crap, carefully break off the lower tiers. And then sell them on facebook.

 

[ReeferSamster]

I tried breaking one with my hand but it was too thick. At least thick enough that if i added strength to it, it would topple the structure off the rock. Its at such a difficult angle and the weight plus the fragility of it. argh. I wish I never had it. lol. rocky weeds. I'm annoyed that my rose bubble moved after years of staying put.

 

[ajremington68]

No input on how to frag but very very nice looking cap, with almost perfect spiral and perfect roundness... So noiceee

 

[blecki]

I tried breaking one with my hand but it was too thick. At least thick enough that if i added strength to it, it would topple the structure off the rock. Its at such a difficult angle and the weight plus the fragility of it. argh. I wish I never had it. lol. rocky weeds. I'm annoyed that my rose bubble moved after years of staying put.

Probably just have to bite the bullet and pull the whole thing out. You can always remount a chunk and sell the rest on facebook.

Personally I would leave it be because it looks awesome.

 

[sheel be right]

I tried breaking one with my hand but it was too thick. At least thick enough that if i added strength to it, it would topple the structure off the rock. Its at such a difficult angle and the weight plus the fragility of it. argh. I wish I never had it. lol. rocky weeds. I'm annoyed that my rose bubble moved after years of staying put.

you can get certain fragging kits that come with pliers try using them to leverage the piece in the tank to break it, or as blecki said you may have to pull the whole thing out.

 

[Dburr1014]

Bone cutters, it'll be back to a nice shape in no time.

 

[santeeeyyy]

I was thinking break off with fingers but what if crumbs of it gets into the system

 

[wculver]

So I've procrastinated long enough. I needed to trim the monti sooner, but I waited till now..he's shading everyone below him and ticked off my rose bubble anemone by shading her light so she packed up her stuff and moved. And she was in the perfect spot too! argh!

He's wider than my head. Any advice on how to trim him neatly? So he still looks half good after his haircut?
I can't pull the whole thing out. Its too big and fragile for 1 person. And anyway It'll be hard to attach it back. The entire structure is on the single tiny mounting point on the tip of my liverock.

What do I use? A chisel? I was thinking would giant scissors work? LIke gardening scissors? The plates are pretty gosh darn thick.

I would use your fingers and generate some leverage in a small weak spot. With something like scissors your end up crunching them up and making awkward breaks.

 

[CBonito]

It's a piece of cake to break that. Break off all the lower whorls and be done with it.
You'll get rid of all that shade down low. Take something and tap on each piece upwards from underneath and the frags will be clean.

 

[Reefering1]

I would remove/rehome the entire thing. There are 3 other nice colonies of the same beauty... clear that prime acro real estate and let it grow from down low where there's less to shade and less light to slow growth. That thing looks so healthy that I'm betting that, if you only trim lower plates, the upper plates will just grow outwards(near the surface, blocking everything below)

 

[ReeferSamster]

I gave him a trim of his beard. Haha. I had to use a chisel and gently tap on the plates while supporting the base.
While Marty the Clownfish keeps nibbling my fingers. It hurts!

Woops. Sorry for color, not sure what happened.