Reef nutrition

Anemone Propagation

Afropenguin

Afropenguin

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So I understand that its possible to cut anemones in half to propagate them and I would like to try to do that. My main problem is that I have no clue how to get any of them off of the rock. The anemones that I have really haven't moved much in the last 12 months.

Does anyone have tips on how to convince one of these guys to move so I can rip them off of the rock and cut them in half?
 
Approaches I've seen:

  • Pointing a powerhead at the anemone to induce it to walk.
  • Rubbing an ice cube against their foot.
  • 'Tickling' their foot/blowing against it with a turkey baster to get them to lift it up.
  • Taking out the live rock they're on and hanging them upside down over a container of water.
  • Chiseling away the live rock they're on and removing the chunk of rubble they're attached to.
  • Putting an expensive piece of coral in the tank that you definitely *do not want* to have the nem make friends with. This usually causes them to beeline straight for it. (Kidding; don't do this!)
  • I believe @svreef had a thread where he developed a device that was reasonably successful.
I would, however, be *very* careful that you do not "rip" them off the rock. This can easily damage the anemone's foot, which can harm (or even kill) the anemone. Additionally, if you're not able to get it off the rock, keep an eye on it for the next few days since stress can cause anemones to split, and the new splits usually walk away (making them easier to capture). I was trying to move my oversized nem in my 20 gallon, couldn't get it to move since its foot was lodged in the rock, and it got pissed and split three times in about 48 hours.
 
in my experience with nems I would just wait. Once mine started splitting they wouldn’t stop and they quickly multiplied.

If you’re patient they will eventually take over. Anecdotally I believe mine would split with alk increases, I had mine in a low demand tank and would only occasionally add all for reef if I saw alk getting low. They would often split after that dosing which leads me to believe alk increasing could cause a split. But I haven’t verified that in any scientific way
 
That said, cutting nems do carry some risk so be prepared.

Have a bottle of 250mg ciprofloxacin on hand. It's an antibiotic that generally used to treat infected nems. Treatment protocol is 250mg per 10G water (adjust accordingly... can get away with 3G with quarter tab). 100% water change daily. New dose at lights out.

If you miss the mouth, that part without the mouth will 100% die. So aim and cut with care...
 
max_nano said:
in my experience with nems I would just wait. Once mine started splitting they wouldn’t stop and they quickly multiplied.

If you’re patient they will eventually take over. Anecdotally I believe mine would split with alk increases, I had mine in a low demand tank and would only occasionally add all for reef if I saw alk getting low. They would often split after that dosing which leads me to believe alk increasing could cause a split. But I haven’t verified that in any scientific way
Click to expand...
Stress causes splitting, actually. Some nems take forever to split naturally like CSBs, Chicagos, etc. Hence I get like 10"+ monstrosities... happy nems get big... typically.
 
NanoCrazed said:
Stress causes splitting, actually. Some nems take forever to split naturally like CSBs, Chicagos, etc. Hence I get like 10"+ monstrosities... happy nems get big... typically.
Click to expand...

That's been my experience, too. I had two different RBTAs in my 20g that got HUGE, to the point they were crowding out other corals. They only split after I tried to remove them to avoid them killing corals.
 
IOnceWasLegend said:
Approaches I've seen:

  • Pointing a powerhead at the anemone to induce it to walk.
  • Rubbing an ice cube against their foot.
  • 'Tickling' their foot/blowing against it with a turkey baster to get them to lift it up.
  • Taking out the live rock they're on and hanging them upside down over a container of water.
  • Chiseling away the live rock they're on and removing the chunk of rubble they're attached to.
  • Putting an expensive piece of coral in the tank that you definitely *do not want* to have the nem make friends with. This usually causes them to beeline straight for it. (Kidding; don't do this!)
  • I believe @svreef had a thread where he developed a device that was reasonably successful.
I would, however, be *very* careful that you do not "rip" them off the rock. This can easily damage the anemone's foot, which can harm (or even kill) the anemone. Additionally, if you're not able to get it off the rock, keep an eye on it for the next few days since stress can cause anemones to split, and the new splits usually walk away (making them easier to capture). I was trying to move my oversized nem in my 20 gallon, couldn't get it to move since its foot was lodged in the rock, and it got pissed and split three times in about 48 hours.
Click to expand...
There are several methods to safely remove an anemone, such as using flow, cold, or gentle stimulation to encourage it to release its foot. However, you should never forcefully pull it off, as damaging the foot can seriously harm or kill the anemone, and stress may even cause it to split.
 
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