Acans?

[buttons buster]

Does anyone have any tips on fragging them?

[reefwizz]

You have to make them recede, then cut the skeleton with a dremel in between the polyps. You have to most likely cut through the rock as well. Thats the only way I know. Takes a lot of time and effort. Good luck

[buttons buster]

alright thanks man I'll see if I'm up to it

[dendronepthya]

I cut then with stainless steel clippers. You don't have to be particularly careful. Often times, I cut right through the middle of a big polyp because it is convenient and when they heal, you immediately get two full polyps.

[rduong89]

flip it over and cut with a dremel

[nikon187]

I use a wet tile saw, just go slow

[Reefer07]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14039844#post14039844 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dendronepthya
I cut then with stainless steel clippers. You don't have to be particularly careful. Often times, I cut right through the middle of a big polyp because it is convenient and when they heal, you immediately get two full polyps.

I second this.
This is a pick of the first acan I ever got. It came off a huge colony and the guy just ripped the tile saw right through it.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/bloodhound0320/Reef/Actinic.jpg

This is what it looked like for the first few weeks.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/bloodhound0320/Reef/MultipleFrags.jpg

(same thing w the duncan)

And this is the most recent one. I think this one has grown real slow because I went through a few months where it was getting attacked by something and I was doing multiple dips.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/bloodhound0320/Reef/Acan-1.jpg

[buttons buster]

i cut through it but I think I may have messed up.

I didn't get a full polyp is there still a chance for recovery?

I know that above it said that you could cut it down the middle, but how much exactly do you need of the polyp for it to recover and survive?

[soyadrink]

Screwdriver and hammer :o

[Kigs]

Here's a pretty good tutorial by Fliger.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1331080

[iamwrasseman]

tile saw works best ,doesnt really matter if you cut through the polyps they grow back pretty fast no problem .

[sutec13]

Nice tutorial link Kigs.

[Tremont]

>i cut through it but I think I may have messed up.

If it makes you feel any better, I lost a piece of an acan about 3 mm across while doing some fragging. The piece was just a little chunk of the flesh on the outer ring. It had been drifting around in my tank for months, kept it's color and slooowly grew. Occasionally I would see it when I was moving the sand around. The last time I saw it (last week), it was a full mouth with tentacles and all about 7 mm across. Many of my acans started out as butcher jobs, some of them less than half a head, but they all have regrown into full heads.

-Tre

[buttons buster]

hey thanks all.

I fragged it about a couple of days ago with a dremel.

it was a really sloppy job, but everything is still alive so I'm happy :)

[VikeBron]

I cut the backside with the dremel not all the way through. Take a small screwdriver and insert in the cut. Turn drive sideways and it will snap. The flesh will not come apart. Take a clean razor blade and cut flesh from the backside. It seems to put the least amount of stress on them. I have only lost 1 after fragging 100s.

[dendronepthya]

It is somewhat difficult to kill established acan colonies by fragging unless you are cutting super tiny frags that are not whole polyps. Generally I get about 2 deaths for every 50-100 I do, but those were "low likelihood" cuttings that were hanging off of a larger frag and I decided to cut them and glue them separately. Having said that, more often than not, even those cuttings survive.

[buttons buster]

do acan frags need any special care?

by which I mean any special care apart from the colony

[iamwrasseman]

i use a tile saw with saltwater in it to cut then . try to cut between the polyps and cut from the backside while watching from the top so you can see the path of the blade ' cut cut and finally it will kinda snap and onlt flesh will be holding the two pieces , then cut with a razor blade .rinse in saltwater and iodine then return to the tank ! piece of cake "coral"