what is the best way to get an anemone to split?

[mdefo25]

I am looking to see what works best. Please share your ideas.

 

[steelhead77]

If it is a BTA, remove it from the tank, take a scalpel or xacto knife and cut it like a pizza into four pieces. Right thru the middle. Within a day or three, all four pieces will have healed up and you'll have 3 more anemones than you started with.

Otherwise, you just need to be patient. 3 years in a row mine have split right around March Madness time. I'm expecting them to do it again.

 

[kmu]

Could you do the cutting inside the tank while its attached to a rock?

 

[steelhead77]

Could you do the cutting inside the tank while its attached to a rock?

No. You need to detach it from the rock and take it out and do it on a cutting board.

 

[mobert]

For BTAs, I would first get some size on the anemone by feeding it more often with a good varied diet, then doing a major water change can induce splitting.

 

[henndogg70]

I did a couple off big water changes trying to get nitrates down and once I did that my rose nem split within a week

 

[mhades]

how big do the RBTA need to be before they will split on their own? I have one that is about 4" and just got it. Would like to talk to it and convince it to split. Chopping it is something I would not want to do to my first one.

 

[Capt56]

I had a bulb tipped anemone that got split in the tank by accident. I was moving something when one of my rocks tumbled over and fell on it. At first, I thought I killed it, but then it healed and became two separates entities.

 

[ssavader]

Nems will split if they are well fed, fat, and happy. If your nem has remained in the same spot and expands daily, then I would go for every-other-day feedings for 2 weeks or until it splits, which ever comes first. I give this advice based on my BTA splitting 8-10 times in 5 years. Each time it splits, the "baby" is as big as the mother in 1-2 weeks, and stays right next to her as opposed to moving away (a sign of an unhappy nem). My nem, by the way, captures PE mysis daily that go into the tank for feeding the fish. So the feedings are not heavy, but very routine.

 

[chinx rican]

For BTAs, I would first get some size on the anemone by feeding it more often with a good varied diet, then doing a major water change can induce splitting.

I always thought when nems split during a large water change, it was cause by stress due to rapid changes in parameters.

 

[elegance coral]

I just want to clarify something. The advice given above is true of E. quadracolor/BTA. The vast majority of species do not split and should not be cut in half.

 

[thefurrywarrior]

Well, I was trying to move mine the other week and accidentally tore a very small hole in its foot. 4 days later it split and the baby is as happy as I have ever seen one. Some people do say not to do it though. I didn't plan on doing it but hey I can't complain now! lol

 

[jeffreylesser]

I always thought when nems split during a large water change, it was cause by stress due to rapid changes in parameters.

I would agree with this statement. Instead of splitting you may also cause sexual reproduction. I have seen both happen to BTAs, and for me in both cases I believe it was due to a change in salinity with a water change. You may find this "technique" to have bad consequences for the rest of your livestock depending on what you keep.

 

[Blackhawk007]

I agree with the feeding. I have only had my RBTA for a bit over a month or so. With my clowns hosting in it I would normally feed them near the nem. I noticed the RBTA would multiply once a week until I stopped feeding near it.

 

[steelhead77]

I just want to clarify something. The advice given above is true of E. quadracolor/BTA. The vast majority of species do not split and should not be cut in half.

Yeah, I think that was made clear in my first post where I said "If it is a BTA...."