Anenome split?? Not sure

[Coralgurl]

Well now I'm just not sure. This morning there were 2 distinct separate anenomes. One on the bottom, one just above. Both had tentacles. Now the bottom one is tight against the rock and I'm wondering if there's a hole that it squished itself through. Guess I will have to wait until the lights turn off now.....

[intarsiabox]

My GBTA split quite a number of times in it's previous tank. Only problem is that I never saw them split, the next day there would just be another one on the rocks somewhere. I'd be interested to see if anyone knows a time frame that it takes anemones to split.

[brotherd]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Last pic is the original nem. First pics are the mass, photobucket crashed during upload so can't show where the tentacles are coming out, but they are on the bottom.

That is very cool!

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Well now I'm just not sure. This morning there were 2 distinct separate anenomes. One on the bottom, one just above. Both had tentacles. Now the bottom one is tight against the rock and I'm wondering if there's a hole that it squished itself through. Guess I will have to wait until the lights turn off now.....

That's exactly what mine did, it wedged itself between two rocks so 3/4 showed on one side and 1/4 showed through a tiny opening on the other side. The rest was on the bottom of the rocks, under the middle part where you couldn't see it, making it look like there was two fully separated nems instead of one.

[mike31154]

The GBTA in my tank has split a number of times. I've also inadvertently torn one clone in half trying to get it out to pass on to another hobbyist. Unfortunately, the larger piece I gave him didn't make it, but the sorry remains of a piece that was stuck deep in a hole in my tank did! Quite amazing creatures.

I've found the time to split has varied considerably when mine has gone thru the process. Similar to what you may be experiencing, mine actually did tear itself nearly in half only to put itself back together. I swear there was only a small string still holding the two parts together & the next day it closed up on itself again. The mouth had been totally torn apart & it looked like a horseshoe. A few photos follow, not the greatest but I think you get the idea of how far it had gone before reversing the process. It then stayed normal for months before finally completing a split.

Should be able to see the foot at top left, bottom right fairly well here. It really anchors the opposite sides in order to tear itself in half.


Mrs. Maroon is wondering what's up. Have to say she was patient about the whole thing though.


Ya, not the greatest photo, but you can sort of see the horseshoe shape here. The open part of the horseshoe is what used to be the mouth.

[Coralgurl]

Mike, those are great pics!

I've checked on mine and it just moved. So what I was seeing was it pushed through a hole in the rock. So bizarre as like I posted, both sides had tentacles. I'll post pics later.

It's still attached to the rockmsomhoping it won't move any more. I must have ****ed it off, turning out lights,mtreating with chemi clean and large water change.

[mike31154]

With respect to their moving habits, it's really a crapshoot too. I thought my original BTA was anchored permanently once my clown pair were calling it home. Before that I had to re do my rockwork because it decided to hide at the back of the tank hidden from view. I let it be for a week or two until noticing that it was shrinking & losing colour. So I bit the bullet & rotated the rock with a lot of cursing & rearranging. After that it recovered & stayed put for years until the splitting episodes began. This caused some minor movement, but nothing too radical as the mother & clone(s) settled in. Following the last split, where the clone actually split again only a few days later, the mother shifted to another rock & the clones moved a bit also. Enough to start stinging & killing some of my sps as they recovered from splitting & grew.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that once you have one of these critters in your tank, ulitmately there are no guarantees that at some point for whatever reason, they will probably move. So be prepared to deal with the consequences, which may involve the loss or partial loss of coral. I'm ok with some coral loss, but I don't have anything super valuable, others stand to lose more. Either way, I enjoy having them & the Maroons in the tank. Can't imagine it without them.