Reverse anemone split

[raythepilot]

How this this for bizarre!
I've been bifurcating green BTA for years. Cutting them in half and giving away the clones when they healed.
I had a pair of clones in a ten gallon tank that I was getting ready to give away. The pair were about the same size.
They were attracted to the same side of the tank where I have an aerator and gradually (over a period of a few days) one of the anemone grew smaller and one larger. I didn't think much of this until today when I looked into the tank and the smaller one was completely gone and the other was noticeably larger!
I took out 1/4 of the water and removed and examined all the coral and live rock and could not find the second anemone. I have double screens on my water intakes; so, it is almost impossible for an anemone to get sucked into one and if it had my 10 gal tank would be a mess, which it is not.
I know anemone can fit into very small spaces; so, it may be possible that the second anemone is still in the tank and I just cannot find it (although that is remote).
However, unless I come back and say I found the other anemone you can list this as a report that two separate anemone clones recombined into a single entity.
Has anyone else ever experienced this?

 

[raythepilot]

bump

bump

I guess this is a first?

 

[clorox]

Maybe the big one ate the smaller one

 

[OrionN]

I guess this is a first?

I do not think your interpretation of what may happened is actually what happened.

 

[snorvich]

I do not think your interpretation of what may happened is actually what happened.

I agree.

 

[raythepilot]

I do not think your interpretation of what may happened is actually what happened.

OK what do you think happened?

 

[clorox]

Realistically, it's hard to say for certain. But one thing is sure though, if you didn't observe it happening and document it, unfortunately what you have now is just conjecture.

 

[raythepilot]

Realistically, it's hard to say for certain. But one thing is sure though, if you didn't observe it happening and document it, unfortunately what you have now is just conjecture.

Well I agree, I didn't see one nem merge with the other. It was not something I was expecting. But one nem did get smaller and smaller and one got bigger and bigger and eventually there was only one nem. This is an "observed fact" and is not conjecture.

I posited some possible answers but non of them fit the observed facts. So what other realistic answers are possible.

In science you can never be 100% sure of anything since science relies on deduction. IE you list the possible solutions and rule out all but one answer.
If there is more than one possible answer, you do an experiment to rule out all but one solution.

I am open to other answers to this observation. That is why I posted it here.

 

[OrionN]

It is not as if one anemone just absorb part of the other at multiple times. If it happened at all, it is all or nothing event.
One getting bigger and one getting smaller, a much more resonable conclusion is that one died and ther one just grew.
If you have two that both doing well and growing, then overnight you go from having two healthy anemones to one huge one, that have the same mass as the two combine. If you can document this then you may have something. As it is, you best explaination is that you have two anemones, one did well and the other atrophied and died.

 

[clorox]

I wasn't trying to undermine your deduction, however, as you are aware, if you think that the anemones merged to form one, (something that I believe is undocumented), the observation should be validated by induction, deduction and testing in a controlled environment/experiment.

That's why I said it is unfortunately just conjecture or speculation unless you saw it with your own eyes and documented it.
If the small nem was so tiny as you described, the most logical explanation for its disappearance is probably another one.

Since you excluded death by wavemaker or overflow and also checked your LR, it is hard for us to say what happened without seeing your tank.

Maybe we should invite Giorgio Tsoukalos to the forum, cause lately I have seen lots of threads of disappearing anemones

Well I agree, I didn't see one nem merge with the other. It was not something I was expecting. But one nem did get smaller and smaller and one got bigger and bigger and eventually there was only one nem. This is an "observed fact" and is not conjecture.

I posited some possible answers but non of them fit the observed facts. So what other realistic answers are possible.

In science you can never be 100% sure of anything since science relies on deduction. IE you list the possible solutions and rule out all but one answer.
If there is more than one possible answer, you do an experiment to rule out all but one solution.

I am open to other answers to this observation. That is why I posted it here.

 

[raythepilot]

It is not as if one anemone just absorb part of the other at multiple times. If it happened at all, it is all or nothing event.
One getting bigger and one getting smaller, a much more resonable conclusion is that one died and ther one just grew.
If you have two that both doing well and growing, then overnight you go from having two healthy anemones to one huge one, that have the same mass as the two combine. If you can document this then you may have something. As it is, you best explaination is that you have two anemones, one did well and the other atrophied and died.

It is not as if one anemone just absorb part of the other at multiple times. If it happened at all, it is all or nothing event.

I am confused by this statement. How could you know this is true unless you know that anemone do combine?

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures but my assistant, my wife and I would agree that both nems were healthy and doing well. One simply grew smaller and disappeared and the other grew bigger.

Maybe I'll put another in the tank and see what happens but the one in there is now ready to be divided (again).

 

[OrionN]

Ray,
If you think that your anemone is healthy but it is getting smaller every day, then I certainly question your ability to accurately determine the health of your anemone.

Furthermore, if you believe that your anemone is healthy, and that he got a bit smaller every day because a portion of his mass get transfer to the other anemone in the tank, then I really question your ability to logically deduce anything.

I guess this is my last post on this thread.

 

[shanesreef]

I once had a beautiful bta that weakened getting smaller and smaller. While, other btas in the same tank flourished. It got so small I could barely see it in the rock it was attached to when I bought it. The original size was 7 inches in diameter shrinking to less than 1 inch.... and finally disappeared into the rock.

I concluded that it finally died. But, after reading your post maybe it fused with one of the other btas while I was not watching.

raythepilot you say the smaller of the two btas "grew smaller". Uh, perhaps it "detoriated" and has either secluded into the rock/coral in the tank or died.

I rarely post on RC, but enjoy reading the INFORMATIVE post in this forum. raythepilot you have no scientific basis for your conclusion in this thread, nor some of your other recent post in other threads. But, then do not understand while others don't agree.

 

[clorox]

 

[raythepilot]

My stupid!

I came back from vacation and what to my wondering eyes should appear! Yes it was back still as healthy as ever.

Even I'm not stupid enough to believe that a nem can split and un-split at will but becoming invisible... maybe.

Sorry people.