I Fragged My Carpet Last Night

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8176806#post8176806 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by keefsama2003
hopefully things are going so great he got busy with something else

Well you are half right. I'm very busy for a couple more days so I will make this brief.
The larger half is doing great. It ate half a large silverside the other day and it continues to eat mysis when I feed that. Its not that excited about other foods I feed the fish at this time. It looks like a perfectly healthy anemone. You don't usually even notice the gap.

The problemed half develped a couple dead spots near one of the cut edges. I suspect they were caused by the trapped air, but I have no proof. The area around the dead spots was very limp, so I decided to do a little more surgery. I took the anemone out and used a razor blade to cut off the part that was limp from mouth to edge. I have some pics but that will have to wait.
The anemone now looks a lot better. I know that has put the anemone under additional stress, but the alternative was to let the dead tissue infect the whole rest of the anemone. If I had done nothing, I'm sure I would have lost it. At least now it has a chance.

Thanks for the interest.

 

[OrionN]

Great. Goodluck.

 

[dantodd]

Thanks for the update Phil. Best of luck. I hope this turns into the first merten's propogation farm. I know I'd like a captive bred mertens one day!

 

[55semireef]

Good luck and keep updating.

 

[Mahlhavoc]

Very curious, hows everything looking?

 

[OrionN]

I am s=certainly very interested also. The longer the tread the better to keep us updated. Hope he wil do very well.

 

[phender]

Well, the smaller piece didn't make it. It was just starting to decompose when I got home this evening. I don't think I gave it enough foot and column when I cut it the first time, but I think it still would have made it had I not let the pump run a little dry and pump it full of air when it was in the basket.
If I ever attempt anything like this again I will try to find a way to make sure that when the mouth is evenly divided, the foot is evenly divided as well. I think the size of the anemone worked a little against me in this case.
The good news is I am very confident that the other piece is going to be just fine. I will get some pic tomorrow when the tank clears a little and I can clean the glass. BTW: this is day 19
He are the pics of the surgery on the smaller piece.
The two dying spots are at the bottom. You can tell where the tissue around the spots is pretty lifeless.

Here is the cut.

 

[OrionN]

I am sorry to hear about the smaller anemone. Good luck with the larger one. I am sure you will have to try again in the future.
Minh

 

[dantodd]

Thanks for trying this Phil. I'm sorry that you lost one of the clones. Hopefully this and other experiments will lead to enough propogation that we won't have to take anemones out of the sea!

 

[delphinus]

Disappointing, you must feel very discouraged. Hang in there!!!

Best of luck with the larger one!!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Oh, too bad, especially since things looked so promising at the start. I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

[boyooso]

Sorry to hear it :-l

I

 

[graveyardworm]

I would still consider it a success, one half survived, the other half died more than likely from extenuating circumstances, not the actuall cutting., and everybody following this thread learned a whole lot of stuff.

 

[MDP]

Well said Graveyardworm.

We were in sight of 2 Merstensii from 1. A success, and an inspiration. Many thansk to Phender for doing this and keeping us updated.

Matt

 

[OrionN]

I know it was a heart ache for Phil, lost all his fish in the tank and only end up with one Merstensii, but I learned alot from this and I am sure many other people also. Best of luck Phil. Because of your experiences, many fish and anemone will be safer in the future. I also think you likely will attemp this again in the future if and when your anemone again getting to be too big.
Thanks.
Minh

 

[phender]

Hey guys, you don't need to feel bad for me. I took a calculated risk. Loosing the fish was unexpected, and though I don't take the loss of any life lightly, its not like they can't be replaced.
The remaining half ate a piece of shrimp just a little smaller than my little finger today, so I think it is going to be fine. If I try this again sometime, I will at least know what I am up against and try to avoid the mistakes I made this time.
I will continue to update pics as time goes on.

 

[dantodd]

Thanks Phil. Be sure to post when it grows to the point that you have to frag him again too! I'm sure you will get it figured out and you seem to have one of the best specimens to experiment with!

 

[RedSonja]

Ouch, Phil, so sorry to hear this (haven't read RC for a few days, just got home from MACNA late last night). I'm glad the other clone is eating well and looks like it will be fine. Keep us posted on how it goes and thanks again for letting us all follow along.

-Sonja

 

[Zoos]

What an amazing thread. Hipe it gets thread of the month. it has my vote.

 

[Zoos]

vote*

I think it is a great accomplishment.