phender
Active member
My merten's carpet has gotten to a beast, over 24" across. I have been thinking of trying to cut it in half all Summer. Speaking with Anthony Calfo at the SoCal Reefapalooza gave me a little more confidence. Well, yesterday the anemone started to move a little out of its crevice, so I figured it was now or never.
I put it in an empty 5gal bucket to see if it would release a little water and then transfered it to another to "de-water" a little more. I should have used a contained with more surface area because the anemone didn't have to emit much water to cover itself in the bucket.
Here it is on the cutting board. The towels around the edges came in reeeeally handy.
I used a very sharp filet knife to do the cut. I'm glad I didn't try a razor blade. There was just too much tissue to get through on an animal this size. The first cut was non eventful. The second cut released about a gallon of water. (thank goodness for the towels)
He it is after the cut and then the two halves rinsing in their own buckets.
The red you see is the anemones foot.
It let the halves sit in their buckets for about 15 min.(Not long enough as it turns out)
I then placed them back in their tank, one on the substate and the other in a basket.
Here they are about 20min after the cut
Yes, that is a white cap clown.
Here's the bad news. They both still had a lot of slime left to produce. Although the clowns showed no affect at all, within a half hour all my other fish were dead. Most I have had 5-10 years. My Flame-fin and purple tangs I was able to pull out and put them into another aquarium but I couldn't same them. The royal gramma, flame hawk and azure damsel went into the rocks and couldn't be recovered until after it was too late.
This is something to consider in the future when fragging large anemones.
Here are some pictures after 17 hours. Both animals are firmly attached to either rocks or the basket. The are reactive to the touch. In fact, I had to move the one in the aquarium a little and when I began to get him off the rock, he balled up like him was perfectly healthy.
They are both still in a bit of a horse shoe shape and I don't know if an anemone this big will join up the cut sides or just fill in the missing tissue with new growth. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and started to plan my new tank inhabitants
Most of the damaged part is tucked underneath. He isn't really in as much of a horse shoe shape as it looks.
This is a recent pic of the merten's before the cut. The orange skunk is about a 3.5" fish.
I put it in an empty 5gal bucket to see if it would release a little water and then transfered it to another to "de-water" a little more. I should have used a contained with more surface area because the anemone didn't have to emit much water to cover itself in the bucket.
Here it is on the cutting board. The towels around the edges came in reeeeally handy.
I used a very sharp filet knife to do the cut. I'm glad I didn't try a razor blade. There was just too much tissue to get through on an animal this size. The first cut was non eventful. The second cut released about a gallon of water. (thank goodness for the towels)
He it is after the cut and then the two halves rinsing in their own buckets.
The red you see is the anemones foot.
It let the halves sit in their buckets for about 15 min.(Not long enough as it turns out)
I then placed them back in their tank, one on the substate and the other in a basket.
Here they are about 20min after the cut
Yes, that is a white cap clown.
Here's the bad news. They both still had a lot of slime left to produce. Although the clowns showed no affect at all, within a half hour all my other fish were dead. Most I have had 5-10 years. My Flame-fin and purple tangs I was able to pull out and put them into another aquarium but I couldn't same them. The royal gramma, flame hawk and azure damsel went into the rocks and couldn't be recovered until after it was too late.
This is something to consider in the future when fragging large anemones.
Here are some pictures after 17 hours. Both animals are firmly attached to either rocks or the basket. The are reactive to the touch. In fact, I had to move the one in the aquarium a little and when I began to get him off the rock, he balled up like him was perfectly healthy.
They are both still in a bit of a horse shoe shape and I don't know if an anemone this big will join up the cut sides or just fill in the missing tissue with new growth. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and started to plan my new tank inhabitants
Most of the damaged part is tucked underneath. He isn't really in as much of a horse shoe shape as it looks.
This is a recent pic of the merten's before the cut. The orange skunk is about a 3.5" fish.
)
:lol: 
