BTA was splitting! Now its not...

[SKA]

Hello All,

About a week ago my BTA started splitting and now it appears that it has stopped and re-fused itself back together.

Is this possible?

It looks very healthy, great coloring, and is nice and puffy. It is still eating the same amount...

All H2O, CA, MG, Nitrates, Nitrites, etc., parameters are good.

What could this mean?

Thanks a lot!!

 

[monicaswizzle]

Well, 2002 and nobody ever answered.

Just for the record, the same thing recently happened to me. I have never read that this can definately happen, but I have read a few posts that imply it can.

BTA are very plastic organisms, so they certainly can LOOK like they are splitting one minute and not at all the next. Whether they can actually commence a split and then reverse it, I don't know, but I certainly believe that mine did just that.

 

[Jamie1210]

when it was splitting, was its mouth stretching too? There have been so many times that i thought mine was, only to realize that it was just shifting position. if you check out karensroseanemones.com, it has some good pics of what a splitting 'nem looks like

 

[blumarlin]

I have had two splits & had no signs b4. I just wake up in the morning & there are two a few inches apart

 

[monicaswizzle]

Well, most of the presumed splitting activity of my BTA had to do with the pedal disc. At some points it seemed to be two very distinct crescents with a sharply defined "canyon" between them. The mouth has had four or five bright white lines radiating out from it ever since I got it (not sure if that is just "normal" or not). At times the mouth is closed in a fairly small circle, at other times it is a "slit" about 1 inch long, rarely it looks to be almost two inches long. Not knowing the extent to which the mouth changes shape under normal conditions, I don't know if any of that constitutes a split or stretch or not.

Some splits seem to occur in the space of hours or even faster. Others are reported and clearly documented (Melv'sreef) to take days. I am not sure what makes the difference, but they certainly seem to vary in the time that the activity is obvious to the tank owner.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[catdoc]

I had an odd splitting event several months ago. The rbta appeared to be undergoing the usual split but then the two daughters remained attached on the oral disk. Two daughters, two completely separated pedal disks, but attached by a thin rim (an inch or two) of tissue along the mouth. I tried to just leave them alone but after several weeks of them being like this, I intervened. It took MONTHS for them to heal to where they had mouths again. It was very odd but both rbta's are now fine again. In fact, it looks like one of them is budding a baby at the base--is that possible?? It's like a little stalk about 1/2" long. I just noticed it 3 days ago but I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[monicaswizzle]

Christy--you "intervened"? What exactly did you do? Was it sort of like sugical seperation of siamese twins?

 

[catdoc]

Yep, took a scalpel blade and split the tissue bridging the two clones.