Montipora Fragging- Practical Observation

[TX_REEF]

A few weeks ago I fragged an encrusting montipora by using a razor blade to slice off pieces from a plastic egg crate frag rack. I’ve found, as pictured below, cuttings from the parent frag (photo 1) are coloring up more readily when they were cut thicker (photo 2) than cuttings that are thinner (photo 3), regardless of the total “size” of the cutting. There is polyp extension in both cases, but color development is obviously better in one case. Cut those encrusted frags thick by getting as close to the surface they are encrusted to as possible with your blade!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thank you for sharing! What are you using to cut your montis?

 

[TX_REEF]

Thank you for sharing! What are you using to cut your montis?

I use an xacto knife / scalpel for the initial cuts, and then a razor blade for finely scraping the cutting off the rack.

xacto knife: https://amzn.to/3DlZUQ8
razor blades (I always have these on hand because they're great for cleaning glass too, but rust easily and are cheap: https://amzn.to/3DxwXR4