red carpet frag

[fugupuff]

I have an old red carpet that I've kept for over 4 years now, its growing fine and eating as much as I'd feed it. Its about 15" across when fully opened.

My question is that if I want to frag it, how should I do it? Blender? cut from the mouth? or just cut a small piece off it? or leave it alone?

its has never split on its own, yet.

 

[traveller7]

Haddoni is not known for divisions. Some reports of budding.

Have yet to see long term evidence of a successful manual division. Blender is definitely out as an option.

Given the value of the specimen and the risk past documented attempts indicate, you would be wiser to sell the specimen for top dollar.

If you must roll the dice, you'll need to divide it in half. Lay it flat like a pizza, and cut the pizza in half. Try to make sure half of the oral cavity, column, oral disk, etc, go with each piece.

Then you'll need to let it slime up, rinse it with tank water, and put it back in a fishless environment to heal up. Many fish tend to expire when presented with freshly injured anemones.

Best of luck, and again, I would recommend a top dollar sale.

 

[fugupuff]

Hey Scott,

Thank for the advise. In the "Coral" magazine, there was an article on blues being split by knife, and babies budding from adults.

when you say that fish die when anemone are sliming, do you think it'll affect my other corals, all of which are lps, acans and such. I don' thave any fish in the system at all fortunately.

I don't want to sell it at all I just wanted to have a bunch of little ones in the tank, it'd be real cool. I'm trying to feed him daily and see if that will trigger him to splits

Wes

 

[traveller7]

Wes,

Corals do not seem to be immediately impacted, but long term is a guess on the interaction between the two when they meet the knife.

Bunches of little ones would be cool, but if you must try it, try a healthy green or brown first ;>)

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13348705#post13348705 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fugupuff
In the "Coral" magazine, there was an article on blues being split by knife, and babies budding from adults.

what month 'Coral' magazine was this in?

 

[fugupuff]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13348895#post13348895 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
what month 'Coral' magazine was this in?

one of the first few issues from the first year....

 

[fugupuff]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13348884#post13348884 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by traveller7
Wes,

Corals do not seem to be immediately impacted, but long term is a guess on the interaction between the two when they meet the knife.

Bunches of little ones would be cool, but if you must try it, try a healthy green or brown first ;>)

you're right about trying it on a cheaper one first however, I've tried introducing other colored haddoni in the past, and everytime, when a new one is introduced, there is a chemical warfare by midday, and my original one would shrink up and the new ones usually don't make it or I end up taking them up afraid that it would kill mine.

i don't have another tank to set up for this. maybe someone else can or have done similar experiments, that's what I was hoping to find on reef central. :rollface:

 

[phender]

Like Scott said, very few people have had long term success with splitting carpets. When they bud on their own the process takes months. They are not like BTAs or H. magnifica that split over the course of a few hours.

Because they take so long to asexually reproduce on their own, they just aren't a great candidate for manual splitting. They just don't heal all that well.

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13349356#post13349356 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fugupuff
you're right about trying it on a cheaper one first however, I've tried introducing other colored haddoni in the past, and everytime, when a new one is introduced, there is a chemical warfare by midday, and my original one would shrink up and the new ones usually don't make it or I end up taking them up afraid that it would kill mine.

i don't have another tank to set up for this. maybe someone else can or have done similar experiments, that's what I was hoping to find on reef central. :rollface:

I am really surprised ( without doubting you ) that you have had issues introducing another haddoni into that tank. For about 4 months I had my blue one with my tan one ( the tan one being 9+ years old ). When I introduced the blue one I noticed no difference with the tan one. For other reasons I moved my blue one to another tank, about 2 months later I introduced a green one to that tank, no issues. They have now been together for 6 months, without issue.

 

[elegance coral]

I doubt very seriously that the problem was chemical warfare. The new anemone may have had an infection that affected the resident haddoni. It has been well documented that two haddoni's can live together, even touch each other, without harm.

 

[fugupuff]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13350639#post13350639 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by elegance coral
I doubt very seriously that the problem was chemical warfare. The new anemone may have had an infection that affected the resident haddoni. It has been well documented that two haddoni's can live together, even touch each other, without harm.

I should try it again, someday soon. I've always wanted to keep a blue, green, red, and purple one together in a same tank, side by side, i think that would just be incredible looking. I'll make that my goal.

My tank was only 72 gallons at the time, once I removed the new anemone, and did a good water change, my original one slowly came back to life. I suppose it could be infectious in nature I guess. they were on opposite sides of the tank, never touched.

I wonder if corals over time in captivity develope different toxins in the nematocytes. example.

I had a red goniopora for over 2 years, it was huge, and would constantly brush up against my acans, and everything was fine..

one time i introduced a new one, smaller piece, and plced it near by, once it opened fully, the tenticles that touched a piece of acan burned all of the acan polyps over night.

also people say that elegance corals have very stron sting, however, I've seen them touching lobophyllias, next to each other with no issues at all.

also, sometimes my carpet will travel across my tank, crossing over all of my acans and micros, but will not do any damage to them., which i'm surprised, since he is one sticky carpet, always accidently almost taking my hand in its mouth.

thanks for all the replies.

 

[flasher1]

It has also been well documented that haddoni's can live in an aquarium and not eat one single fish. When I had mine it ate just about everything in the tank.

I believe it is possible.

 

[Dan]

Hmmm. I once had a BTA get torn at the base (my bad). The small piece that remained on the rock healed and grew into another anemone. I realize BTA is BTA, however, thinking out loud, I wonder if instead of a complete slice in half, maybe just cut a piece at the base. More like "artifical budding". I have also torn many a mushroom off of rocks, leaving some of the base behind with the same results. Not sure I'd risk it with a beautiful, well established red haddoni. Still....................

Dan

 

[fugupuff]

I did cut a few pieces from the disc several months ago, but the pieces were small, and they never established. however, the parent healed and grew back within a couple of weeks., now its even bigger than before!

I'm just afraid to cut towards the center. I know the rose can take a blender and will still grow back. someone want to try a green carpet for experiment?

 

[MrManz1691]

are you sriously considering cutting a RED haddoni carpet in half?

 

[MrManz1691]

ill pay you 500$ plus shipping for it if you are really going to cut it.

 

[fugupuff]

here i had 3 of them 2 years ago, sold the 2, and still have this one left...

 

[traveller7]

This is a discussion forum.

Selling and trading takes place elsewhere on Reef Central.

We take it seriously.

Thanks,

 

[Gig 'em]

I think it's a good idea, but I would test out your method with a different, more common color morph, first to insure you don't loose such a rare carpet specimen.

 

[puter]

Healthy, well conditioned S. haddoni anemones can be manually propagated via a bilateral cut through the mouth just as Scott described. They are difficult to cut and they take a long time to heal. You should expect it to take 3-5 months for the mouth and column to fully heal. At that point the mouth will be way off-center. It will take another 3-5 months for the rest of the oral disc to regrow and for the anemone to look "normal" again.

As always, I recommend that people considering propagating anemones do so only on well conditioned specimens, in dedicated tanks so as to minimize the risks to the anemone and other inhabitants.