Rose BTA tried to split 2 months ago, hasn't finished . . .

[Enkidu]

I have a rose anemone that has split several times for me. One of them, however, seems to want to split but just . . . won't. It looks to have split from one side up to the mouth, so there are two large "lobes" with the mouth very close to the edge. The whole thing is hearth shaped, and when its fully expanded its HUGE. Something like 12+ inches from edge to edge. Its been like this for atleast 8 weeks, and is very healthy looking except for the fact that its mouth isn't in the center.

Is there anything I can do to try to coaxe it to finish the job? Extra feeding? Large water changes? Serrated knife?

 

[wade1]

Use a very sharp/new razor blade and finish the job. I've coached others to do this with great success. There has even been talk of forcing anemones to split. But, make a clean cut of the thinnest portion of the anemone where its still attached together. It will eventually starve to death if not allowed to split and reform its mouths properly.

Wade

 

[Enkidu]

Hmmmm . . .

Cutting it would be quite an operation. Its rooted very deep in the tank, for one thing. I'm also not possitive that the mouth is in anyway unformed. Its *very* close to the edge of the anemone, but it seems to be fully formed. I'll try to take a picture today after work, it might coax more ideas out of people.

 

[wade1]

If its been able to reform a mouth, all the better (for it) as it'll likely survive. If it looks to have the mouth, then I'd suggest just nipping the edge of the foot with a razor blade or very sharp scissors where it grasps the rock... no need to do the whole cut as it will finish the job itself. Make a 1/2" incision and that should be plenty.

Good luck with it.

Wade