.......and then there were 2

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Premium Member
After much debate, I decided to try to split my Sebae......

Hard as it was to decide, the sucker is getting WAY too big and even in its own tank, stretches from side to side as of late. Up to 24".

I cut it down the middle of the foot while in the tank so it would be an even cut and pulled it out to cut across the mouth. Though difficult to tell at the time, I got each piece a portion of the mouth so hopefull they will heal and form two anenome. But as always, one side looks a bit better than the others.......so hopefully both will make a full recovery.

I did this reluctanly, but decided because this sucker ain't getting any smaller and I don't want to get rid of it.......Hopefully, I can learn a little about this propogation technique I have read about and bring you all in for the ride........

one thing is for certain, I have a smaller sebae now!!!! Hopefully both will recover and I can sell the other to one of you, because this has been a great anenome and hopefull the traits will pass between the two.......

I have seen this done with BTAs alot, but not Sebae.....so I believe that I am in a little bit of uncharted water......

man these things stink!!!!

Front.jpg
 
didn't move
responded well to rock changes
ate anything
no bleaching problems


but no moving was the key
 
"was" is the key word.....in that pic, it was a "small" day.....I fed it the other day just to see if it would shrink a little......nope one end to the other......If the two pieces survive, I imagine each to be a bout 8" dia
 
man, you know i had to get rid of my RBTA since he was taking over the show. I loved him but just didn't like the fact that he was stinging the rest of my stuff. Im not sure if he was stinging them or not but i know that my spiderman and dragons started to look different becuase he was always up by them. good luck and yea that sucker is pretty!
 
I had no idea you could actually cut an anemone does the center like that. I was always under the impression they had to split on their own to do well. Wow, if this works, please outline the details. Very interested in the outcome...
 
Wow. How did it react to the spit? I would think you need to keep it (them) in a separate tank with carbon running? They do smell like a wet dog.
 
They havn't taken to it very well, but a few hours later they are still moving around, in fact one had already latched onto a rock....time will tell.....my only real concern is keeping the clown away from them......when she was younger, she rubbed a few too much and I think that is what caused thier ultimate death.....

I am probably going to relocate her to the sump of the 75g until this "operation" is over.....as mentioned I have had quite a few anenome in the past, and had one BTA split on me, so caring for sick anenome or newly split ones isn't exactly new territory for me.

The fact that the anenome was so big to begin with and that I have been feeding it more lately to store up energy is the key....since they won't be able to eat for quite some time, they will need to live off the MH light energy solely and will use tons of energy to heal themselves......Thats why I figure I will have two around 8 inches when done.

Thats why if this does work I would only say to do it on larger healthy ones.....smaller ones just won't have enough to live off of before they heal.

Another trait, I remembered is that this anenome got caught in a powerhead a couple of months ago and healed VERY fast without complications.....infact grew bulbs on the bottom of it where it healed.

However, I won't consider this a success unless I get TWO healthy anenome rather than just one, which I am sure of at least that.......

I was examining them both a minute ago and noticed that each got half of the oral disc nearly perfectly, each with that corner mouth looking thing on each, which I think is the key......

To be quite honest the girl is a little mad with me and I am starting to feel pretty lousy about the whole thing.....especially with Alexs thread about the lobsters.........but I am sure the first person who fragged an Acro the first time felt the same way, and look how that has changed the hobby.......who knows......????
 
Update:

They survived the night and I managed to fish out the clown.

I turned on the light early and they are responding to that.

Once the clown was removed I placed the two pieces in little crevices that help pin the cut edge together so the anenome doesn't have to work to pull them together.

Overall seems to be responding well to light and sticking to the rock, when I put the two ends togther, I felt both resistance during and a desire to stay in the position.

With the clown out, I think the odds have doubled.

Man, my hands stink!!!! The smell DOESN'T wash off either!!! I don't know why clowns like this smell.....they should be called dog fish....cuz dogs love rolling around in smelly things!!!!
 
Not a lot to show right now, they just look like two very unhappy anenome.....and most of us have seen that........as soon as I see a good pic opportunity I will do so.
 
Yeah I think it will be great Calfo talked about this back at WMC.
HE told us to take our prized anen's and dice them in half.
Then care for them well and they should do fine..

You are on the right track.
~Steve~
 
Unfortunatly the anenome pieces did not make it and started to decompose heavily in the tank.:sad1:

I assumed that there would a period of decline, and that after the initial shock, they would begin healing....

at first they seemed to be on the mend and responding to light.....but never recovered.

To be honest, I am perplexed why they didn't last longer.....but perhaps it was just bad luck.

I believe that because of the water volume of the nanocube that it simply could not absorb the decaying material and polluted the water shutting them down. Even after changing nearly 30 gallons in the past couple of days to combat this. I finally gave up, because it is close to crashing the whole tank and don't want to risk the other stuff in the tank.

Or perhaps that even though I do have a 150w MH light over the tank, it simply was STILL not enough light to sustain them after such a drastic procedure.

Still, there may be a limit on the maximum or minimum size an anenome should be manually split in this fashion.....either end of the spectrum, the ratio of the size of the anenome and the amount of stored energy may not be great enough to offset the wound surface area to heal once again.

Though, a gamble that I lost in and regret doing at this time obviously....I did learn that this technique is not 100% effective all the time and that quite possibly the Sebae does not react positively to it.

Call me stubborn or stupid.....but I would like to try it again to perfect it.....obviously this is a tragedy and I feel terrible about cutting up a magnificent show anenome......As horrible as a sacrifice this is, I do hope that if we perfect this method, it will ease the burden on the oceans and possibly save the 1000's that are lost in transit every year........

Up until this point this anenome has been an astounding success and attribute the use of Metal Halide lighting 100% to that success.

R.I.P. Mongo.......
Dec051.jpg

feb06.jpg

July065.jpg

side2.jpg
 
My sincere condolences. I know that you had the best intentions in mind and were doing the right thing and I am real sorry this did not work out. A lost sea life is a terrible thing, but I commend your spirit to at least have some good come from your loss.
 
Yeah, I feel like an idiot...but I am more about pushing the hobby forward than anything....thats why I like SPS so much.....hard to figure out, and a challenge. For instance my GARF bonsai I have never seen its real color...had it for maybe four months and just now turning from brown to yellow.
I think one of the coolest things of this hobby is that there is little set in stone and people need to experiment to push it forward. I just don't want to be all talk and pushed my chips all in on this one.........lost......lost big.
 
sorry Doug....

that's what's this hobby is about, we always make wrong decision that may lead to really bad consequences... I had my fair share, anyways, go get another one and start again, I am sure you can keep another as good as the first one. good luck
 
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