And then there were THREE!

[Stuart McCowan]

One day last week...I had 2 bubble tip anemone's...and then...a boo boo...a freak powerhead accident

(ok it wasn't so freak...I didn't have the foam covering the intakes, that is now rememdied.) caused one of my anemones to have an injury...pretty severe injury actually...I thought he was a goner, but I left him in the tank and hoped and prayed that he would recover. Well the next day he was all plumped up and looked ok, even with the obvious injury that was plainly visible. 2 days later...I noticed something wierd...he seemed to have 2 heads, or rather 2 disks growing out of one foot...(sounds like some 50's horror flick right?)...the next day...I looked and there were 2 anemones growing next to each other...a little smaller but obviously the the injured bubble tip had split into 2!!!! Now I have 3...which works out well...it really adds nice movement to my tank...and now my clowns have 3 places to hang out! Really neat to observe. I will post pics as soon as my digital camera decides to work right...

 

[ReefStar]

Mine split into two about 3 months ago. I had just my lights off for two days to control a algae issue. Once the lights were back on, I had two anemones. I heard drastic changes in lighting cause them to believe it is a specific time of year when they spawn.

See ya,

 

[Anonymous]

wow! that's really cool.

congratulations, stuart - glad your anemone is doing well.

 

[guppychao]

does anyone know when the bubble tip split or is it just a freak accident, mine split also, after i increased my salinity a little.

 

[Anonymous]

By accident I found out that BTAs tend to split if you raise your S.G. from a 1.025 to a 1.027(8) over a week. I found this out when I went on vacation and everytime I returned the BTAs split. I either did not drip enough water or i did not prepare enough and when I returned they were two...then three and now seven.

Good Luck

 

[Dan81]

What type of clowns do you hav in your tank? Not on the subject but just curious.

 

[Stuart McCowan]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Dan81:
<strong>What type of clowns do you hav in your tank? Not on the subject but just curious.</strong><hr></blockquote>

2 Clarkii and 2 Ocellaris...and THEY GET ALONG FINE...of course the tank is 125 gallons and they don't really get near each other much...when they do they leave each other alone...
The Clarkii's own the bubble tips...the ocellaris clowns don't eve go near the one on their side of the tank...oh well...their loss! LOL

[ March 09, 2002: Message edited by: Stuart McCowan ]</p>

 

[Leslie]

My anemone split after I inflicted severe abuse on it. The anemone, after spending a couple of months in my tank, decided to hole up in one of the "caves" in one of my rocks. It stayed there for at least two weeks, shrunken, grey, shriveled and in my ignorance (profound ignorance), I took out the rock and shook it up and down to get the "dead" anemone out of the cave. (I was afraid it would disintegrate and foul the water). I shook it vigorously, and I mean *vigorously*, over the kitchen sink. When that didn't work, I dug it out with my fingers. When it finally came out, I noticed that the column was still pink. "Hm. Maybe it isn't dead.", so I popped it back into the water. Two days later, I had two anemones, both pink and flowing fully and gracefully. My opinion? It split because it thought it was going to die (I'm surprised it didn't after the torture I inflicted) and its only chance for survival was to split.

A question for those who know - Do they split as a function of their survival instinct, as well as for just good ol' reproduction?

 

[Anonymous]

No it was probably splitting on it's own. And you are right that you are lucky you didn't kill it. You just explained exactly how BTAs reproduce. They retreat into a crevace(probably for protection) and split after a period of time(which is different for each anemone. Which is probably determined by the water parameters).

I have 1 tomato and 1 clarkes anemonefish.

Good luck