| Difficulty | Easy (branching) / Advanced (wall) |
| Time Required | 15–30 minutes |
| Healing Time | 2–4 weeks |
| Best Method | Cut the skeleton well below the head |
| Coral Type | Branching or wall LPS |
Overview
Branching Euphyllia are some of the most rewarding LPS to frag: every head sits on its own skeletal stalk, so a colony is really a bundle of natural frags. The one rule that matters: cut skeleton, never flesh. Make your cut at least an inch below where the fleshy polyp ends and you will almost never lose a head.
Wall-type hammers and frogspawn (one continuous ridge of flesh instead of separate branches) are a different story — they must be cut through living tissue with a saw, healing is slower, and losses are real. Beginners should frag branching colonies only.
What You’ll Need
- Bone cutters (branching) or a band saw / rotary tool with diamond wheel (wall types)
- Frag plugs with a center hole, or rubble + epoxy
- Gel super glue and/or 2-part epoxy
- Iodine dip (Lugol’s or a commercial coral dip with iodine)
- Gloves — Euphyllia sting
Step-by-Step
- Pick a branch whose head has fully retracted (evening, or gently waft water at it until it pulls in).
- With bone cutters, snip the skeletal stalk 1–2 inches below the fleshy head. One firm cut.
- Dip the frag for the recommended time, then rinse in tank water.
- Seat the bare stalk into the plug’s hole with a dab of gel glue, or epoxy it upright into rubble. The head must sit clear of the plug so it can inflate.
- Return parent and frag to moderate, wavy flow — not direct blast.
Aftercare & Healing
The frag will stay retracted for a day or two, then inflate. Skeleton regrows over the cut edge within weeks. Feed small meaty foods (mysis, LPS pellets) once the head is opening normally to speed recovery. The parent will often branch again from below the cut, giving you two heads where there was one.
What Can Go Wrong
Brown jelly disease: the Euphyllia killer — a brown, jelly-like film over receding tissue, usually within days of a bad frag or a flesh nick. Immediately isolate, siphon the jelly off out of the tank, iodine dip, and move to clean moderate flow. Head detaches from skeleton (polyp bailout): severe stress response; the bailed polyp can sometimes be basket-mounted on rubble and will regrow a skeleton, but review your parameters.