Fragged My Magenta Magnifica

[Ron Popeil]

i just reread the thread and i guess not. justjoe was who i was thinking of. theres a good chance ill be getting a healthy mag from a friend in trade here shortly. if it does well in my system for a few weeks, ill try out my scalpel on it as well.

great job guys!

 

[Justjoe]

Instead of scissors maybe a very sharp fillet knife will do the trick, but agreed a razor blade would not be a good choice with these larger anemones.
I'll probably stick with very sharp scissors though.
Not selling these anemones, but hopefully the industry will have some available in the coming years.

 

[garygb]

First of all, let me say I'm too chicken to cut one of my mags. But, I am curious, how do you get the anemone off the rock. They seem so stationary.

 

[Flighty]

I coax mine into moving onto a glass vase or glazed ceramic bowl over a few days for a smooth cutting surface. I try to not have them detach during the cut if possible. They contract enough that the two pieces are not touching after the cut. I have had trouble getting them to reattach occasionally particularly with this magenta morph. It took almost two weeks to attach completely when I first got it and attaching has always been problematic with this guy for some reason.

They are pretty easy to get off of a rock if you need to though. I use the same method the clowns do to get them to move while nesting. They tap and bite the edge of the foot and it eventually contracts and moves for them. If I need to get one off of a rock I irritate the edge and it will detach on its own. It just takes patience to work it all the way off.

The other method of cutting I thought about would be using a thin wire to wrap around and pull tight the way you cut clay or cheese. It would be similar to the flexible wire saw that some people use to get at hard to reach sps. I'm not sure how well that would work though.

 

[garygb]

Thank you Flighty, I wasn't sure how you did that. I can see the advantage to having the anemone securely attached to a smooth, glass surface to facilitate the cutting. I have seen my clowns bite at the base of the anemone when they have a batch of eggs, as though they are afraid it's going to stamp out their spawn. lol

The wire method you mentioned seems like might cause more of the "crushing" damage that the doctor mentioned earlier. The suggestion to use a really sharp, filet knife sounds like a good option to me. But again, I'm too chicken to try it. Plus, I have two tanks devoted to mags now, so I don't have any more room anyway.

 

[Flighty]

My thinking is with the reaction of the anemone, what you really need is a cutting method that holds the anemone in place. The scissors on the glass make a triangle that gets smaller so the anemone can't squish out, a wire loop might work if the thin metal cuts the anemone easily. A knife alone would be hard without extra hands.

I think the sting of the anemone damages the eggs for the first few hours after laying. just based on what the clowns do keeping the tentacles away. Later they can be seen spitting them a the eggs, so it probably has some good effect on them later.

 

[Justjoe]

I removed mine completely from the rock and cut it with scissors, then placed each half into large "critter cages" suspsended in a holding tank with good flow, with some rock in the critter cage for the aneimone to attach to. Once it had a decent hold on the rock, the rock w/ anemone was removed to the holding tank.
You need good flow in the tank, so you have enough flow in the critter cage. If not enough flow, I think you may have some bacterial/ infection problems at the open "wounds" of the fresh cuts.

 

[garygb]

I see what you mean Flighty about the scissors helping to keep the anemone in position. Since both you and Joe were successful with scissors, that might be the best route to take. I could also imagine using a large cleaver and just going straight down--ala guillotine. I can see Julia Childs demonstrating now;-)

 

[OrionN]

Update please. I would love to know how the two halves are doing almost 1 year after the cut.

 

[OrionN]

Update please. I would love to know how the two halves are doing almost 1 year after the cut.

 

[Justjoe]

One is doing great and is huge, I lost the other to a rookie mistake (damn, over 20 years and I still make them), otherwise I'm sure it would be doing fine as well.
I'll probably be cutting the one in half soon as its getting too big and will update if I do.

 

[OrionN]

I am sorry that one of the frag did not make it. I luck into this anemone last week. Got from a LFS here in Corpus Christi. So far she is doing well. Ate some today and have not deflated for the last 1 week. Almost look as nice as Flighty's anemone

 

[AD87]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15518872#post15518872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justjoe
One is doing great and is huge, I lost the other to a rookie mistake (damn, over 20 years and I still make them), otherwise I'm sure it would be doing fine as well.
I'll probably be cutting the one in half soon as its getting too big and will update if I do.

What was the rookie mistake if you dont mind sharing?

 

[Flighty]

Well, I have had another kid (including 3 months of strict bedrest) since my last update here, so reefing has been a little on the back burner.

On the magenta anemone front, one half was unfortunately lost in the aftermath of a week long power outage this year. I think it got into a jury rigged powerhead and got damaged, but so much was going on trying to keep things alive I lost track of it and never found it again. The fact that I still have the other half alive and well goes to prove my original point about propagating these anemones though.

The other has done well but is growing extremely slowly. It is still a similar size to when I cut it and I have no idea why. Other magnificas which I have cut seem to get back to normal growth rate in a month or two. It is strange to see it not growing like normal, but it looks by all other measures to be doing as well as before the cut. I would think it was some stress from the system suffering some neglect the last 6 months, but the other magnificas seem to be growing at normal rates.

If I ever clean my glass up nice (anyone care to babysit four kids for a couple of hours? ) I'll post some pics.

 

[OrionN]

Congratulation on the fourth kid. Hope both mom and babe are doing great after you got him out.
Too bad that with everything went on you lost the Mag. you should pat yourself in the back for saving everything else. I hope mine get to a point when I can devide him like you did. Of course I have to keep her alive first.

 

[DarkStar76]

Flighty... do you mind sharing how you made the cut?? Did you cut straight through the middle and through the mouth? Or did you cut a section off leaving the full mouth intact?

 

[brunv]

Do you have any experience on cutting long tentacle anemones?

 

[Flighty]

When I cut anemones I cut straight through the mouth like cutting a pizza in half. I do this because that is how anemones seem to split on their own. I have always wanted to try also cut a thin slice ( again imagine a pizza with two almost halves and one tiny slice) just to see what it does, but the cut is always messier than I think it will be and I can't get a thin slice.

I have never kept a LTA, so I can't speak to cutting them although the anemones which readily divide on their own seem to take the cutting better.

 

[JPMagyar]

Food for thought.

Food for thought.

Wow, I just posted a thread asking about H. Mags splitting and then came across this thread and all I can say is "WoW". To be honest I'm not prepared to try such a big step on my anemones, but you have definitely given me food for thought.


Did you have any concern about "pain"? What made you try it?


Thanks a bunch,


Joe

 

[ReefWreak]

Flighty, great thread, thanks for sharing your experience and I share your dream of an aquaculture-dominated hobby to relieve the reefs of the current collection stress we put on it.

JPMagyar, your magnifica, and the rest of your SPS, look fantastic! thanks for the pics!