Maxi Mini Frag

Decided to
split 3 of my maxi minis - I have held off because I really like their color
(from divers den liveaquaria) but I guess the time was right to give it a try.










I split
each one into quarters, 1st using meat shears, 2nd using a scalpel and the
final one using a sushi knife. I removed two from the rocks they were on and
left the last one on his rock. The sushi knife was easily the best, making a
clean cut quickly. The shears worked well, but you have to hold the little guy
well to get a nice cut through the mouth. I used the scalpel on the rock, it is
a good choice for this as the other items wouldn’t work, the downside is you
have to start in the middle and go outwards.










The
results? In only a few days at least 3 of each sections look great. I think all
12 will make it, but I will only cut in halves from here on out as I can see
they would heal much faster and less prone to infection because they wrap
around the wound. I can’t believe how tough these little guys are and how well
it worked. Even just overnight the sections stuck to the holding tub they were
in and you could see them healing up already. I am a huge fan, as many people
here are, of captive propagation. Hopefully these tough little colorful
critters can be sustained indefinitely in captivity with no wild harvest
–eventually.

 

I hadn’t thought too much about what I was going to do with them besides nervously see how they made it through! I would love to trade for other colors eventually though. I did not take pictures during the process, was far too anxious about it, but the next time I sure will.
My pictures of them are just terrible… I don’t know how something can be so pretty in the tank and look so bad on my camera! I have a few ugly photos of them, I will dig through my camera and see if any turned out better.
The liveaquaria ones: There is an almost solid olive green one, a bright green-blue with pink center (my fav), a solid red one and a red with green borders. Although not maxi mini I just picked up two rock flowers from there and they are amazing – neon green and olive green with white tips and irredentist middle.