Anemone fraggin? - What will happen if....

A

A_Sig

[What would happen if i decide to cut an anemone at it's base??? Would the anemene quickly grow a new "foot" and attatch it's self to another rock? My anemene is getting big, TOO big for a 55 i think. It is attached to a rock that is low in the tank. And he reaches more than half way up the tank for light? i dunno why either because i have MH. I want to get rid of it. I tried slowly peeling it off the rock on more than one occation, but i cannot even get under neather it. His "foot" is in a whole and there is no way i can get to it. I tried putting rocks on top of the rock at night, thinking that he would move to a smaller rock, but he just extends and makes his way through all the rocks. I don't want to sell the rock with the anemone because it has a small one that has spawned from it and i would like to keep it, as it just stays near the bottom. What do i Do????]
 
[What kind of anemone do you have? Most anemones move around to find a place they like and just settle in. To get it to move I woul think you would have to annoy it in such a way that it no longer want to be in that spot. You might try aiming a small powerhead at its foot to try and aggravate it. Once the foot pillows up it should be easy to remove from the rock.]
 
[I would not cut it at all. I would how ever put a small power head (PH) right at it and see if it will get mad and move on its own. If it doesn’t I would increase the size of the PH until it dose. It should move sooner or latter to a new spot without stressing it to much. I would watch it closely if you have a lot of other corals in the tank so it doesn’t sting them when it moves. What kind of an anemone is it? I might be able to buy it from you when I come through the DFW area at the end of the month. :cool grin:

Well as I see David and I agree as we posted at the same time. He was just a little quicker on the draw than me. (Trying to watch the race).]



Edited By vman181 on 1088910514
 
[No, you cannot cut the foot. If you do, it will die. You will probably have to resort to just selling the rock with the anemone on it and buy a smaller anemone. Or, find someone with a larger tank that wants a larger anemone and will trade you a rock with a smaller anemone that they have. An anemone is a whole animal. Almost like asking if you can chop a tree down close to the ground and then trying to replant it elsewhere. The tree will die...no doubt.]
 
[Try pointing a powerhead toward it. It should annoy the anemone so it will move, and at that point you can probably extract it more easily.

Another option is to put some ice near the base, which I've never tried. It should irritate it far enough that it will start to retract. I would use a rubber spatula (also called a bowl scraper) to gently work your way under the anemone until it is completely released.

Anemones are not nearly as hardy as people indicate, and I would never suggest cutting one in hopes that it will heal itself.]
 
[I wouldn't do it either, but some people have cut anemones to make them split. I don't know the details as far as what parts have to be on each side or anything.

I've seen a few posts about it on RC in the past. Most reading I've done recommends NOT doing it because you can very easily kill it unless you really know what you are doing. Also pristine water conditions would be needed to keep it from getting infected.

If you really want it out (and don't want it to die), I think the powerhead suggestion is great. You can also do things like flip the rock so it has to move to get more light.]
 
[I'v tried the power head thing and it doesn't work, the anemone (BT by the way) just extends it's head to a different part of the tank. The PH (aquaclear 402) is aimed right at it's base. And it's been there for about 3 weeks now. I'v been having to turn off the PH at night because the BTA pulls it's self back under the rock at night, and it easily gets sucked up into the head. I thought it was dead one night, but after i pulled it out and the lights came back on it was right up there again. I can't do the whole ice thing because it's "foot" is inside a whole in the live rock and there is no way of getting to it. I'm not sure i want to sell the rock, because it has two of my anemones on there. I'll post a pic but i must warn you, my camera isn't that good.]
 
[Have you tried the powerhead deal on the other anemone in the attempts of getting it to move to another rock so you will only have the larger anemone on that rock? I'd try that next. Being that anemones are slippery, slimy, I would consider it almost impossible to even cut it at the base since it would retract when you tried.]
 
[well i want to keep the rock where it is at because it is at the bottom of my aquascape. i want to keep the small one but do not want the big one. My pair of false percs don't even go to the big one, they stay by the smaller one. One time i tried holding the rock out of the water thinking that the anemone would detach but it still wouldn't. If i were to sell off the anemone, would anemone can i get that would stay in the sandbed???]
 
[This guy really wants to stay in your tank. :p

It is impossible to predict an anemones behavior, but as I understand it, carpet anemones stay near the sand. However, they get quite large and IIRC you wanted to remove a large one. So that isn't a solution either.

I think David is right. If you really want it out, you'll have to remove the rock and break it up so you can access the foot. Since you've already pulled the rock out once before hoping it would detach, you should have access to pull it out once more.]
 
[Thanks to a good friend of mine, i was able to get the anemone off. He told me to put the rock into the refugium hoping that due to the change in light, the anemone would move. But before i had the paitience to wait for the anemone to move, i saw that it has moved out of the whole it was in. I slowly pried it off of the rock, took about an hour. The anemone does not look too happy though. He's on the glass in the refugium. I am going to wait and see if he responds normally, and to make sure he's healthy before i try and sell him. Wouldn't want to do that. It's a good thing i didn't cut him off.]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top