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GREEN CARPET ANEMONE

reefhunter

By reefhunter,
in Propagation and Breeding

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reefhunter Grandmaster Reefer

reefhunter

(edited)

I have an enomous neon green carpet anemone (about 12"-14"). It is awesome. However, it moved a few inches towards the SPS yesterday and I wanted to know if I can split it/make it smaller.

 

So, I was thinking to have someone with experience come over, cut this thing into 4 of them, give the person who splits it one, and sell the other two.... it is securely attached to a LARGE piece of rock.

 

I never see these in stores or in peoples photos/tanks... and it is an amazing specimen.

 

So can this be done? Any volunteers?

Edited by reefhunter
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Origami Neptune Reefer

Origami

(edited)

There was a cool demo of fragging anemones at the last quarterly meeting. It looked simple enough. It was done on a clean cutting board using a scalpel. The key point was to make sure that, when you divided up the anemone that you cut through the mouth and the stomach, leaving a portion of those features on each segment. The anemone, over the course of hours, curls back on itself to re-form and initiate healing of the mouth and stomach.

 

 

 

Never done it myself but, as I said, it looked like pretty straightforward surgery.

 

 

 

Do you know the species/genus of your anemone? See here (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/carpetanemones.htm) for an identification guide.

Edited by Origami2547
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traveller7 Grandmaster Reefer

traveller7

(edited)

I have an enomous neon green carpet anemone (about 12"-14"). It is awesome. However, it moved a few inches towards the SPS yesterday and I wanted to know if I can split it/make it smaller.

 

So, I was thinking to have someone with experience come over, cut this thing into 4 of them, give the person who splits it one, and sell the other two.... it is securely attached to a LARGE piece of rock.

 

I never see these in stores or in peoples photos/tanks... and it is an amazing specimen.

 

So can this be done? Any volunteers?

Would be a good idea to post a picture of the specimen. Specifically a top down of the oral disk and a shot of the column at a minimum.

 

Some carpet species are more intolerant of manual division then others. If yours is attached to rock, it might be S. gigantea one of the most difficult to recover from damage in captivity.

 

Edit: This is an interesting read. Phil Hender has been keeping and documenting anemones since the days they were "impossible" to keep alive. Lessons learned at high cost on this thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...512#post8070512

Edited by traveller7
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traveller7 Grandmaster Reefer

traveller7

I have never seen a manually carpet divided successfully. Usually only bta's, and a few LTA's.

S. tapetum is a natural divider and has been cut successfully quite a few times. There are still issues, but success is measurable.

 

I have yet to see a documented long term success for any of the other carpet species.

 

Personal carpet experience outside of tapetum:

 

Mertensi: natural stress induced division, lost both halves within months.

 

A most telling post from a long time gigantea keeper (you can count such hobbyists on your hands):

 

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10560829#post10560829 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rod Buehler

Shortly after Mr Calfo started demonstrating the cutting of E.quads. I was having dinner with another well respected author. I asked him about cutting other species.. He said "why not? we cut shrooms ricordia etc.. They're all some sort of anemones" .. I then said OK, let me rephrase, and then asked, if he were me would he cut my old gigantea ( He is familiar with my gigantea). He paused.. "No".. . I then asked (if he were me) would he cut my 2 year purple? another pause.. "No" . I had made up my mind before hand that I would not cut my giganteas, but then I saw your thread here and it got me thinking... Now I believe I will wait and hope for sexual reproduction. Thanks for the great thread, Phil!

 

It is fine for respected folks to claim: Cut away.

There is much more to success then the initial cut.

 

In my humble opinion, so many carpets die, it is nearly irresponsible to intentially divide one without a dedicated system, process, and confirmation of species.

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dbartco Oracle Reefer

dbartco

S. tapetum is a natural divider and has been cut successfully quite a few times. There are still issues, but success is measurable.

 

I meant those carpets that are not cousins of aiptasia. :biggrin:

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dshnarw Grandmaster Reefer

dshnarw

I've cut the maxi variety of tapetum a number of times (this being the non-splitting variety READ: non-aiptasia-like ;)). My advice is, should you try cutting a carpet, only cut it in half. Let it heal, then cut in half again. Tapetum is the best candidate because it's so hardy, but even small ones still take a month to regrow a mouth, and 2 months before they're completely circular again. The larger they are, the longer they take. If you try cutting in into quarters, the risk of killing it skyrockets.

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traveller7 Grandmaster Reefer

traveller7

Wow...great thread on RC, Scott. I just finished reading the whole thing. Bummer of an ending, but very educational!

 

Tracy

It sure is one heck of a thread :)

 

I have thought about documenting a few events, but I fear encouraging folks to cut specimens that really should not ever see a knife.

 

We as hobbyists make too many excuses for why our critters die now, I would prefer to see us all focus on long term natural reproduction first. The captive data concerning anemone reproduction is scarce and what does exist is held more secure then gold at Ft. Knox :(

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traveller7 Grandmaster Reefer

traveller7

pic - I would post a picture but apparantly I cant... ? can I email someone a pic and they can post it?

Sure, but let's see if we can fix the problem.

 

Were you trying to use the WAMAS Gallery and then link it to this thread?

or were you trying to load the picture directly to the thread?

or do you already have the picture hosted on another web site?

 

WAMAS Members Gallery to host pictures is here:

http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?auto...md=sc&cat=1

 

Middle of the page, right side, click on new image button and follow along like a new post.

 

Worst case we'll work it out :>)

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Origami Neptune Reefer

Origami

Wow...great thread on RC, Scott. I just finished reading the whole thing. Bummer of an ending, but very educational!

 

 

 

Yeah, I found the link also and read it through. Odd how the one half lived so long (months!) before fading.

 

 

 

I'll tell you, though, it was really something watching Doug cut that RBTA this past weekend. The evolution of this thread got me searching for more information today so now I'm learning that what I saw this weekend seems to be limited to just a few types and doesn't apply to all.

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traveller7 Grandmaster Reefer

traveller7

Yeah, I found the link also and read it through. Odd how the one half lived so long (months!) before fading.

In my opinion, it was fading from day 1, it just takes quite some time for a large anemone to decline to a point of obvious note. H. magnifica is famous for such performances, been there and done that myself. Quite a disappointment actually.

 

fwiw: Here is another thread on division, S. helianthus (Atlantic Carpet/Sun Anemone), please note the time frames vs a natural BTA division.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...95#post10935395

 

Some carpets obviously divide naturally, but I have found few successful/repeated examples outside S. tapetum and S. helianthus.

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traveller7 Grandmaster Reefer

traveller7

(edited)

http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?act=...si&img=2999

 

Wow what a great resource you guys are.... I am pretty sure this anemone is staying in one piece in my tank.... it only takes up 1 out of my 7 feet of reef.......

Looking very S. haddoni from the two pictures provided, but it would take pictures of the column(back side of the green part) to be more certain. Most haddoni prefer a deep sand bed with the base attached to a hard substrate. I am a bit surprised it is on top of the rock.

 

Have you changed the bulbs lately, changed flow, etc.?

Has it eaten any of your fish in the past?

 

Either way, I don't believe you have a low risk candidate for "fragging." Pretty sure odds of success could be increased in a species/dedicated system, but that is just my opinion.

 

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post some pictures :>)

 

med_gallery_1725_7_40875.jpg

Edited by traveller7
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reefhunter Grandmaster Reefer

reefhunter

  • Author

I bought this tank in Feb from someone. It has not moved at all since I got the tank. It has never bothered anything. It has gone through alot as this 220 reef is actually my first saltwater tank.

 

Since I got the tank I have replaced the bulbs and added tunze's. It sits directly under a 175 14k Metal Halide and seems to be happy... I think he moved an inch or two to the right the other day... first time ever... I did replace the two center bulbs to 250 10k MH so it appears to be moving closer to the stronger light??

 

http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?act=...si&img=3001

 

bottom view

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zotzer Grandmaster Reefer

zotzer

RH,

 

When you have uploaded a pic to this site and want to post it in your message, look up at the little toolbar. Next to the picture of the tree, there is an aquablue square. If you click on that, it will pull up a window of all your uploaded WAMAS pics. Just click on the pic you want to add, then post. It's like magic. :)

 

Tracy

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traveller7 Grandmaster Reefer

traveller7

I bought this tank in Feb from someone. It has not moved at all since I got the tank. It has never bothered anything. It has gone through alot as this 220 reef is actually my first saltwater tank.

 

Since I got the tank I have replaced the bulbs and added tunze's. It sits directly under a 175 14k Metal Halide and seems to be happy... I think he moved an inch or two to the right the other day... first time ever... I did replace the two center bulbs to 250 10k MH so it appears to be moving closer to the stronger light??

That column shot makes me think S. haddoni even more, a good looking specimen too :>)

 

It might be migrating to greater light, flow changes, etc.

 

Keep and eye on it, they can move quicker then folks think :)

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reefhunter Grandmaster Reefer

reefhunter

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(edited)

Thanks Zotzer and Traveller7!

 

So this anemone can be split if I want, but needs to go into a separate recovery system and only in half?

Edited by reefhunter
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