***Fragged my Heteractis Magnifica***

[AD87]

That top mag looks really really good. It's got that hourglass thing happening. It's holding itself up. It's tentacles appear nice and full. I would never guess that anemone had recently been cut. Great job! :thumbsup:

Thanks! props to Jeff for keeping them in his system till I get a tank. I work 80 hrs a week so its impossible right now.I have been getting on Jeff about feeding MY nems and not starving them!!! JK.




You guys need to check out his thread and his setup!

 

[AD87]

Its interetimg to me that you guys are stating one should not frag an H.crispa, since Anthony Calfo has stated they are a prime candidate for it. I know Phender knows his stuff regarding anemones, no disrepect is intended.

Nick

I want to try to cut a crispa in the near future. Anyone want to donate :beer:

 

[phender]

Its interetimg to me that you guys are stating one should not frag an H.crispa, since Anthony Calfo has stated they are a prime candidate for it. I know Phender knows his stuff regarding anemones, no disrepect is intended.

Nick

I will start a little bit. He has been saying this for a least 6 years. I see lots of BTA clones and a few mag clones. Where are all the purple crispa clones? Hmmm..

BTW, the top anemone biologist in the country says that anemones that don't naturally split don't have the biological mechanisms to consistently survive being fragged.

 

[tiff393]

Great Job so far guys hopefully this time around they both will make it. I'm rooting for you!!

 

[maxxII]

Phil, I finally replied to your PM. Apologies for taking so long to do so.

As I said in my PM my experiances in keeping anemones and as a scuba diver do NOT support Calfo's statements. Maybe he's got some sort of anemone growth hormone/steriod? BTW, I'm not someone who is inexperianced with anemones. I've been keeping one H.magnifica for 5 years now, and have been nursing another back to health for the last three months. I also have an H.crispa that I've kept for a bit over 3 years(no,I'm not donating it to anyone for fragging attempts!)

What makes you guys feel that H.magnifica is more closely related to E.quadricolor instead of H.crispa?

Nick

I will start a little bit. He has been saying this for a least 6 years. I see lots of BTA clones and a few mag clones. Where are all the purple crispa clones? Hmmm..

BTW, the top anemone biologist in the country says that anemones that don't naturally split don't have the biological mechanisms to consistently survive being fragged.

 

[Thepopo]

What was the diameter of the anemone the 1st and 2nd time you split them?

 

[OrionN]

...

What makes you guys feel that H.magnifica is more closely related to E.quadricolor instead of H.crispa?

Nick

No one said anything about how "closely related" these anemones are. I am, and many anemone keepers here know that Magnifica and BTA reproduced asexually by division in the wild, thus they are much more able to heal themselves when they are cut in half. None of the other clownfish-hosting anemones do this in the wild thus it is much harder for them to be propagate by cutting.

 

[Boiler Reef]

This has been a great source of info thanks to all that contributed, I for one would love to see the video footage!!!!!!!

 

[maxxII]

I also would not suggest splitting a crispa. As Phender mentioned, our taxonomic system is a human invention. I, and some others, have observed that H. magnifica and E. quadricolor seem to have a lot more in common with one another, both morphologically and behaviorally, than H. magnifica does with other species in the genus Heteractis. I am confident that the outdated taxonomic system for Cnidaria that we currently use will eventually remove magnifica from that genus.

Sorry Minh, I took the above post and read it to mean that garygb was strongly implying that he felt H.magnifica and E.quadricolor were more closely related than H.magnifica and other Heteractis species.

I'm aware that both H.mag and E.quad reproduce asexually by "splitting" in the wild but have also read reports of S.gigantea reproducing asexually, (The Reef Aquarium Vol 2).

I'm not advocating that people run amok hacking anemone's apart all willy nilly, I'm just curious about the viewpoints of several people here on this thread, (you among them) who I recognize as competant, capable, knowledgable, and experianced anemone keepers.

Hope that makes sense....

Nick

 

[phender]

..............

........I'm aware that both H.mag and E.quad reproduce asexually by "splitting" in the wild but have also read reports of S.gigantea reproducing asexually, (The Reef Aquarium Vol 2).
..............
Nick

If I remember right (I can't find by copy of RA Vol. 2) he based that on finding a gigantea at a wholesalers with two separate oral disks on one foot. I found a mertens at a wholesalers in the same condition. There is someone on this board who posted a progression in his haddoni from what started as a small bud and turned into two oral disks on one foot. I don't think that he ever posted whether or not it ever completely separated.
The difference is, the asexual budding process that seems to take place in carpets takes several months. In the case of the haddoni I think it was 6 months and it still hadn't completely divided.
I had a haddoni bud from what seemed to be a small injury on the oral disk. It lasted for a month or so before one my clowns decided that it needed to force its way through the bud and tore the anemone. Unfortunately it didn't recover. Maybe we can induce budding in carpets by creating small injuries.

Here's a composite pic. The first two are how is started and then it flipped itself inside out and came out of the column.

 

[Thepopo]

Two oral disc on one foot, damn. Does the bud open up and feed?

 

[elegance coral]

IMHO. These "buds" are not evidence of reproduction. Neither is having two oral disks, or two pedal disks. These are deformities. Often caused by injuries that don't heal properly. I've seen this in elegance corals as well. There are anemones that are known to reproduce by budding, but none of the host species are. To be a form of reproduction, these buds would have to form a pedal disk of their own and detach from the parent. I have seen many deformed anemones over the years, but I have never seen, or heard of, this leading to reproduction. We have cows with legs growing out the side of their neck, but they never grow into little cows. We have two headed snakes, but they never divide into two snakes. Until we have documented evidence of this taking place, we have no reason to believe that a two pedal disked anemone is going to divide into two anemones. These are simple deformities, not unlike any other.

 

[serpentman]

What was the diameter of the anemone the 1st and 2nd time you split them?

The first time it was ~8" and the second time around it was ~6".

 

[phender]

IMHO. These "buds" are not evidence of reproduction. Neither is having two oral disks, or two pedal disks. These are deformities. Often caused by injuries that don't heal properly. I've seen this in elegance corals as well. There are anemones that are known to reproduce by budding, but none of the host species are. To be a form of reproduction, these buds would have to form a pedal disk of their own and detach from the parent. I have seen many deformed anemones over the years, but I have never seen, or heard of, this leading to reproduction. We have cows with legs growing out the side of their neck, but they never grow into little cows. We have two headed snakes, but they never divide into two snakes. Until we have documented evidence of this taking place, we have no reason to believe that a two pedal disked anemone is going to divide into two anemones. These are simple deformities, not unlike any other.

I do not disagree. You can't take a snapshot in time and assume what happened before or after. However, with the haddoni I was referring to the owner took pictures of the progression. It started as a small bud and ended as two evenly sized oral disks. Did it eventually split? I don't know. Was the bud initiated by an injury? I don't know that either. My point was that even when budding might seem to be taking place, it takes many months and is very different from the process of fission in BTAs and mags that takes place in a matter of days.

p.s. Thanks for the pics of the "Siamese" anemones.

 

[AD87]

Not to be rude but can we bring this thread back on topic?

 

[maxxII]

Its still on topic. The discussion is about your fragged anemones, and an offshoot of that discussion is about what anemones are suitable for fragging, and why (despite what some published authors have stated to the contrary).

Nick

 

[elegance coral]

Not to be rude but can we bring this thread back on topic?

Sorry Tony. Now back to your regularly scheduled programing.

 

[AD87]

Its all good guys I just want to stay on topic of fragging Mags . We can start another thread about manual division of any anemones if we want.

 

[AD87]

EC have you ever dabbled in cutting any Mags I know you have some nice ones from the videos I have seen and pics?

 

[elegance coral]

Thanks, but no. I haven't cut a mag yet. Right now I'm living vicariously through you. :lmao:. Maybe some day I'll get up the nerve, but for now, I'm happy just being able to keep them alive.

I do have one that has, or had, three mouths. It started splitting on its own, and a small piece broke free while I was at work. The wife said it went behind the rocks, and I haven't seen it. This left a chunk missing, kinda like a slice or two missing out of a pizza. The anemone keeps stretching out, as if it's trying to pull itself apart, but it seems to give up and comes back together. Its done this multiple times over the past two weeks or so. I've been thinking about helping the process by cutting it in two. I'm still undecided though.