I took a knife and cut a RTBA in half!

[Bill S]

Well, I did it. I took a knife to one of my RTBAs. I tried to do 2 of them, but the second just wouldn't let go. I'll give it a week and then try it again. I put the 2 pieces back in the tank at around midnight, right next to each other. Here's a photo of them 11 hours later - actinic only, sorry, the MH aren't on yet.

And, no, I'm not selling them. I've promised several MAASTards any I get, and my rule is this: PAID MAAST members only, I only trade, and I have a right to one of their "kids" in the event some catastrophic event kills all of mine off.

[RNall]

Wow, that's great! The look very happy...congrats on the new "kid". I would be nervous hacking an anemone in half. I hope to find a rbta in a few months... hmmmmm. Maybe you could put a face to my smart as* comments!
:lol

[Bill S]

Ron, I had 4 plus a green - now 5. I figured I'd try it after folks told me about A. Calfo's presentation on it. BTW, Richard tells me you MUST cut them in half the right way - with the long portion of the mouth horizontal, cut in half from the top.

[RNall]

That's interesting. I wonder how crazy everyone thought the first person that tried it was? How did they look shortly after the slicing?

[Marlin]

Congratulations Bill!! Looks good. I don't remember Anthony saying anything about cutting a certain way thru the mouth, he just said try to cut thru the middle of the mouth. He even said you could cut it into 3 or 4 pieces, but the survival rate goes down a little.
I working up the courage to cut mine.

Thanks for the update.

Rick

[caferacermike]

I'm in the middle of a project with a friend to split a Magnificent anemone in half. We are letting it acclimate to his tank for 2 months before we begin. We are about 2 weeks into it. He was told at MACNA to use a scalpel and begin in the center of the mouth cutting all the way out one side and then doing it again the other way. This was to prevent tearing the mouth as you drag the blade through it. We will then let it heal for 2-4 weeks before I take mine home.

Will update how it turns out.

On another note I had a neon green bubble slide through a powerhead. About 8 pieces came out. All of them lived on and have been traded away.

[JimD]

Why not just use a paper cutter? lol

[Bill S]

Well, here's the process I used - good or bad. I put the rock 2 of them were on in a bucket, with just a bit of water - about 1/4". Finally, one dropped off. I took it to a clean cutting board, with the mouth up. It was most of the way deflated at that point. I took a large knife - VERY sharp - and put the tip down on one side of the anemone, and then just pressed down on the knife blade. No sawing. Just a quick chop. Then I took the 2 pieces and placed them in some fresh-from-the-tank water for a couple of minutes. Then placed them into the tank! They still look good 18 hours later, and have moved slightly apart.

[caferacermike]

Were you nervous? Did you feel like you were taking a knife to a family member? Did you just keep the mantra from the books you've read that say they don't have a central nervous sytem so they can't feel a thing? LOL... I'm always a bit worried when I attempt a frag. Somehow I feel terrible doing it.

[Bill S]

Nervous? A bit. I've done mushrooms before too.

As for how they "feel"? What the heck, I eat live lobsters & crabs. I also remember from college that mollusks don't have brains - just a group of ganglia.

[Marlin]

Bill:
Did you hear the anenome scream when you cut it in half??

[Bill S]

No, but my wife said "Yuck..." when I used her best carving knife and cutting board!

[caferacermike]

How could it scream? He went straight through the mouth....

Keep us posted how it does int he next few days. I'm glued to this because my new anemone was not cheap. It is to beautiful to die from a mistake I make trying to make it reproduce. What do you think about hte idea of a quick iodine dip to help stave off an infection?

[jroescher]

I'm calling PETA.

[Bill S]

I thought about a dip AFTER I put them into the tank...

PETA: People for Eating Tasty Animals?

[JeremyGlen]

I don't think I want to try a peanut butter and anemone sandwich.

[jroescher]

What does one look like inside? Is it just an open cavity, or is it all tissue?

[brewercm]

I had one accidentally get pulled apart when it got stuck to the inlet of my closed loop screen once. I saw where part of it made it through the pump (little rose tips all over the sand), thought I had lost the whole thing until one day I eventually saw two small anemones in different areas of the tank.
Probably not the best method of splitting one but it seemed to work.

[Marlin]

What do you think about hte idea of a quick iodine dip to help stave off an infection?

Calfo said to just rinse it well in a bowl of water from the aquarium that you are going to put them in. He said he never uses medicated dips.

[Richard]

I'm in the middle of a project with a friend to split a Magnificent anemone in half. We are letting it acclimate to his tank for 2 months before we begin.


Do you know for sure that this will work on a magnificent anemone? Not all anemone species are capable of cloning. I really don't know if the Magnificent can or not.

[caferacermike]

Nope but we are going to try. Pioneers. We'll update as it happens. Can't go through life being scared.

[Bill S]

48 hours later, both still doing well. Neither has moved more than an inch or 2.

[caferacermike]

Would you if you were cut in half??? :sick Just kidding.

[Wryknow]

Thanks for sharing this great info! Anemone propogation is a good thing. :)

[kkutac001]

Bill -- curious: did you prep the anemone for a few weeks beforehand, like extra feedings, to build up its size as much as possible prior to the cutting?
caferacermike -- is this what you are doing at this time, getting its energy reserves as high as may be?
..Karl

[Bill S]

Really didn't do anything special. Mine get fed a couple of times a week.

[caferacermike]

Karl we are just letting it acclimate and get comfortable. It came into the LFS about 2 weeks ago and we decided to buy it the day it came in. We wanted to give it 2 months to "settle". After that it will get about one month to heal before being intrudced to my tank. Who knows? It could split from the agitation a second time.

[Fin-Addict]

rc's thread of the month: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=921143

[Bill S]

Well, it's been a week, and they look GREAT. They are starting to look "hungry", I'll try feeding them today and see how they handle it. I'm thinking about trying another one...

[seamonkey2]

hey Bill, you want to think around my way, meaning want to try another (meaning mine) anemone cutting?

this time we(meaning me) can take pics for others to look at, what do you say eh?

Jose

[Bill S]

Jose,

Give me a call on my cell: 663.8079. I'm up in Schertz every couple of days - don't know what your work/home schedule is. It's REALLY no big deal to do, EXCEPT getting the dang thing off of the rocks. The rest is easy.

[seamonkey2]

great I'll call to set up date and time

thanks

Jose

[Bill S]

Oh now this is funny. After lunch (I work out of the house), I went in to my 215 to pull out the rock with the other RTBA that wouldn't fall off last week, to try and get it to drop off so I can frag it, and I looked at the rock and thought, "oh, man... one of the other anemones is on it now..." NOPE. It must have read my mind, it split on it's own! So, now I have 7 - 6 RTBA, 4 of which are in the recently-split stage.

And, last night, both of the week old splits ate. They are small, but look REALLY good.