Moving an LTA

[NatureNerd]

I am in the planning stage of a tank upgrade. One big problem remains. I have had an LTA since I got my tank, 16 years ago. This was the reason I got a reef tank in the first place. It is my favorite animal in the tank. Its foot is buried in a four inch sand bed and locked onto the glass bottom of the tank. How do I remove this anemone with minimal risk to its health? I know it will deflate when I remove the rocks around it but I do not know how to pull it off the glass and out of the sand.

The foot is about 5" in diameter. I can see it by looking up at the bottom of the tank, inside my stand. Please help if you have any applicable experience or ideas.

 

[garygb]

Removing the sand around the base and gently sliding a credit card under the foot very slowly. Take your time, LTAs don't seem to heal from torn foots. Once loose, you can put it in a bowl to keep it submerged in tank water while you transfer it.

I for one would love to see a pic of your 16 yr old LTA.

 

[NatureNerd]

Thanks. When I get to my desktop computer I'll post a couple pics. It is my understanding too that a tear will prove fatal for the anemone. That is why I am concerned. This LTA can be anywhere between 6" and 12" in diameter. I only feed it a couple times per year. The clown fish bring it food every once in a while. It also catches some small shrimps that breed in my tank.

 

[NatureNerd]

Here is what it looked like in 2006, I don't have an older picture unless I scan a film based print:

And just a couple months ago:

One of the many spawns of my clowns who were also added to the tank 16 years ago. This pair and the LTA have been with me for a long time.

 

[Faffer]

Very nice pics. I wouldn't risk a credit card on it. Try using a pipette to blast jets of water at it's foot and gradually ease it off the glass whilst blasting the water. I haven't tried it on a LTA, but it works well on BTAs stuck firmly to live rock.

 

[garygb]

Beautiful anemone and clowns. Thank you for posting the pics. I suppose you could try the pipette trick, but that may not work on your LTA, and I've personally had good luck with credit cards, very gently slipping them under the edge of the foot. Because LTAs hate to have their whole column exposed, you could dig the sand away from the column and see if the anemone will move and loosen its grip on the glass bottom. If it does start to move, you could put the LTA in a tupperware container mostly filled with fine sand and let it dig in. Once you're new tank is established and ready for the anemone to be transferred, you could just hide the tupperware, or you could remove the sand, and soon the LTA would loosen its attachment and you could place it where you want it.

It's great to see such a long time success story with an anemone.

 

[NatureNerd]

Thanks for the kind words and advice. The move won't happen until my custom tank is built. I figure it may be mid-summer but, I am already stressing about this part of the upgrade. For everything else, I have a good plan. With the LTA, I have ideas of things to try but nothing that will work for sure. I'll have both a pipette and credit card ready and just see how it goes.

I will feel awful if I end up killing something that should live 100+ years. I have already told my son that when he grows up and gets his first reef tank, he may be getting this anemone.