anemones splitting - how to hold?

ben&bobbi

New member
Well, looks like it in season. Our anemone has split into 3 also, the smallest one is @4-5". The largest one, well, check out the picture.

My question is, how to you keep them where they are easy to get for someone to stop by. A holding tank might stress them out, and any aquascaping gives them a place to hide and attach to more than 1 rock. They will be for sale shortly, but looks like several are out there now.

Mine are also clones from Rick and Terry, i have not been able to get the "bubble" tips since i brought it home.


<a href="http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s289/ben-stang/double%20stack%2029g%2039g/?action=view&current=IMG_0715.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s289/ben-stang/double%20stack%2029g%2039g/IMG_0715.jpg" border="0" alt="RBTA and PLTA"></a>
 
when mine split and i didn't have a holding tank, i built a container to hold them. i used a CD spindle container, drilled a bunch of 3/4 inch holes in it, then used a magfloat to hold the container against the glass. i put the top of the container just out of the water, so they couldn't get out.

the hardest part was keeping the plastic of the container from cracking while i was drilling the holes.

good luck!!!!!!!!
 
Target sells some pretty nifty soap/shower caddies that are plastic with suction cups. They have holes already in them. I use them to hold my frags (kenya tree started dropping branches :rolleyes: ) Might be good for a nem plus they are 3 bucks or so.
 
I think the bubble tips depend on lighting and feeding...Mine is the same and it gets the bubble tips and then they go away and yadda yadda...
 
I let mine get on the glass (place rock next to sides) and then remove them when I need to.

(sorry for the crappy pic and snail eggs all over the glass)

P4180069.jpg
 
As far as the the bubbles go, there does not seem to be a good forumla as to which when and were they will bubble up. Some of them seem to be bubblie (?) all of the time, usually the smaller ones. If they do not split often (they split under stress), they just get huge, like the one in your pic and have no bubbles. John Clemens will tell you about his BTA that lost their bubbles and never, never got them back, even after many generations. He tried everything. We have one in the main tank that did that. Bubbles gone, gargantiously huge, like 10" across and hogging all the primo space in the reef tank. Last week we took the rock out he was attached to, used a tool to scrape the rock (not the foot!) off where it was attached. We then moved it to the back room tank.
When we move one, we try to put it at the location we want it to attach. They really do have a mind of their own, but most often will stay close to where you first put it. Sometimes they even wander around a lot, to a rock, to the bottom, to the top, then back to the place where you really thought it would like!
One of the strangest things is when you have several in the same tank, if you remove one or more, the remaining one will split! Guess they like company! How do the know? (I just love this hobby).
Back to the original question, the best way to keep it available for a transplant is to hope it attaches to glass. If it does, it is yours! When they attach to a rock, you can either break away the rock or let it go with the anenome, or use a tool to to scrape the rock surface below the tool.
DO NOT think you can contain them. I have seen a huge anonome squeeze through a 1/4" hole if it wants to! We have one right now that we found in the sump, don't know how long it was down there. Funny thing is, it is a beautiful light pink color. I am guessing it is due to the lack of light for a while, but it has been in good light now for a month and stiil has the cool colors.
These guys are sooooo cool.
 
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