Anemone split into 3 - is this "normal"?

[Greg Hewitt-Long]

I had an anemone - I bought it as a ritteri, but it might be another
species. Anyway - it split last night, which I understand is
something that can be used as a reproductive method by anemones - my
questions is:

If an anemone splits, and splits into 3 - is this "normal"?

Here is a picture of "before"

http://test.webyourbusiness.com/anemone/before_split.jpg

the anemone is right of picture, perched at 2:30 from the orange
sponge (right of screen). At that time, it was 5.5 inches across, or
about 18 inches around.


Here is the "after" picture:

http://test.webyourbusiness.com/anemone/after_split.jpg

Last night he was walking over the edge of the rock - this morning
he's in 3 pieces! On first inspection, 2 of these pieces are kind of
round - small anemone looking pieces, while the one on the back of the
rock is long and thin - I'm not not sure how to describe it. Anyway,
I touched each piece individually, and they appear to be "alive" - ie,
they shrink when touched. Next, I tooks some small pieces of raw
shrimp, and attempted to "feed" them - you can see the shrimp which
was put to two pieces of the anemone, but the top piece ate his shrimp
in about 1 minute flat - ie, it ingested it VERY quickly!

Now to my tank details - it's a 100 gallon 6 foot tank, I do NOT have
VHO lighting, but I did have the anemone only 6 inches or so below the
surface.... I'm not sure if I have ENOUGH light, but for about a month
the anemone has appeared to do well, and our sole percula hosted with
it after about 12 days - only to leave it about a week ago - does this
sound normal - do anemones get "hostile" or change chemistry, or is it
a sign that things might not be well with the anemone?

The percula does appear to WANT to be hosted still, but isn't nuzzling
like it used to.

Any advice will be GLADLY accepted!

thanks

Greg

[Don Geddis]

(Greg Hewitt-Long) wrote on 16 Apr 2004 08:0:
> I had an anemone - I bought it as a ritteri, but it might be another
> species. Anyway - it split last night, which I understand is
> something that can be used as a reproductive method by anemones - my
> questions is:
> If an anemone splits, and splits into 3 - is this "normal"?

I had a rose bubble-tip that split into three. I captured much of the
split on camera:
http://reef.geddis.org/life.html#rose

Some theories suggest that stress in the environment (e.g. poor water quality)
may spur anemones to split. Or, they may do it if they get fed a lot and
get big. Nobody really knows what determines whether they spawn (sexual
reproduction) or split (asexual).

I wouldn't take an anemone split, just by itself, as a sign of trouble.

> Anyway, I touched each piece individually, and they appear to be "alive" -
> ie, they shrink when touched. Next, I tooks some small pieces of raw
> shrimp, and attempted to "feed" them - you can see the shrimp which was put
> to two pieces of the anemone, but the top piece ate his shrimp in about 1
> minute flat - ie, it ingested it VERY quickly!

If they're stick, and they eat, then they're probably ok.

> Now to my tank details - it's a 100 gallon 6 foot tank, I do NOT have
> VHO lighting, but I did have the anemone only 6 inches or so below the
> surface.... I'm not sure if I have ENOUGH light

You didn't say what light you do have. What kind of watts per gallon?

Most likely you don't have enough light to let an anemone thrive (especially
if it really is a ritteri, which is one of the most light demanding species).
However, you photos show that they are nice and dark (brown). Generally they
start bleaching light and white if they're kept in a tank without enough
light. So the dark brown appearance of yours is a good sign.

> but for about a month the anemone has appeared to do well

A month isn't very long. Their shape (size) changes a lot hour by hour, so
it's hard to tell if they're doing well. Unfortunately, as they starve, they
start to eat themselves. They'll just slowly shrink away over months, and
eventually die. A good size anemone can probably easily cannibalize itself
for a month to stay alive, but that doesn't mean it's doing well.

> and our sole percula hosted with
> it after about 12 days - only to leave it about a week ago - does this
> sound normal - do anemones get "hostile" or change chemistry, or is it
> a sign that things might not be well with the anemone?

Never heard of a clown that was hosting, suddenly stop. But it might be
related to the split. If so, the clown ought to host again very quickly.

> Any advice will be GLADLY accepted!

Good luck!

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
If the car industry behaved like the computer industry over the last 30 years,
a Rolls-Royce would cost $5, get 300 miles per gallon, and blow up once a year
killing all passengers inside.

[Marc Levenson]

Don, that is a very nice webpage!

Btw, that Firefish sure wasn't the brightest, was he? <shaking head>

My BTA split about a month ago, and about a week ago another piece finally broke
free. So I have a largish one and two babies.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0304/bta_split.html

Marc


Don Geddis wrote:

> I had a rose bubble-tip that split into three. I captured much of the
> split on camera:
> http://reef.geddis.org/life.html#rose
>

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[CapFusion]

"Don Geddis" > wrote in message
...
> (Greg Hewitt-Long) wrote on 16 Apr
2004 08:0:
>
> I had a rose bubble-tip that split into three. I captured much of the
> split on camera:
> http://reef.geddis.org/life.html#rose
>

You have very nice photos. Thank for sharing.

CapFusion,...

[Greg Hewitt-Long]

Don Geddis > wrote in message >...
> (Greg Hewitt-Long) wrote on 16 Apr 2004 08:0:
> > I had an anemone - I bought it as a ritteri, but it might be another
> > species. Anyway - it split last night, which I understand is
> > something that can be used as a reproductive method by anemones - my
> > questions is:
> > If an anemone splits, and splits into 3 - is this "normal"?
>
> I had a rose bubble-tip that split into three. I captured much of the
> split on camera:
> http://reef.geddis.org/life.html#rose
>
> Some theories suggest that stress in the environment (e.g. poor water quality)
> may spur anemones to split. Or, they may do it if they get fed a lot and
> get big. Nobody really knows what determines whether they spawn (sexual
> reproduction) or split (asexual).
>
> I wouldn't take an anemone split, just by itself, as a sign of trouble.

It's been 3 weeks since the split, and I have to report that all three
anemone's appear to be doing very well! They are all eating, and each
has moved to a new spot, although the clown has got very territorial
about the general area around all three anemone, it appears that she
has not re-hosted with any of the smaller anemones.

>
> > Anyway, I touched each piece individually, and they appear to be "alive" -
> > ie, they shrink when touched. Next, I tooks some small pieces of raw
> > shrimp, and attempted to "feed" them - you can see the shrimp which was put
> > to two pieces of the anemone, but the top piece ate his shrimp in about 1
> > minute flat - ie, it ingested it VERY quickly!
>
> If they're stick, and they eat, then they're probably ok.

It would appear that when they split, one anemone had a fully
functional mouth almost immediately, one took about 2-3 days to form a
mouth, while the third (the long thin strand of anemone that
originally split) took about 7-8 days to form it's mouth!

>
> > Now to my tank details - it's a 100 gallon 6 foot tank, I do NOT have
> > VHO lighting, but I did have the anemone only 6 inches or so below the
> > surface.... I'm not sure if I have ENOUGH light
>
> You didn't say what light you do have. What kind of watts per gallon?

The watts per gallon are low - we have about 1 watt per gallon in a 12
inch deep tank. 2 of the three pieces have moved to within an inch of
the surface, the third has remained at about 8 inches, and it seems to
be doing as well as the others, in fact, it is the larger of the three
anemones now!

>
> Most likely you don't have enough light to let an anemone thrive (especially
> if it really is a ritteri, which is one of the most light demanding species).

It was billed as a ritteri, but I'm having a hard time determining
their real type!

> However, you photos show that they are nice and dark (brown). Generally they
> start bleaching light and white if they're kept in a tank without enough
> light. So the dark brown appearance of yours is a good sign.
>

3 weeks later, a three new anemones have appeared to keep, or deepen
their color - I'm taking this as a good sign as opposed to a bad one!


> > but for about a month the anemone has appeared to do well
>
> A month isn't very long. Their shape (size) changes a lot hour by hour, so
> it's hard to tell if they're doing well. Unfortunately, as they starve, they
> start to eat themselves. They'll just slowly shrink away over months, and
> eventually die. A good size anemone can probably easily cannibalize itself
> for a month to stay alive, but that doesn't mean it's doing well.

How many months - I'd love to put more lights on the tank, but money
is a deciding factor - I'm sure I'll get more lights, or at least a
smaller tank with 4-5 watts per gallon in the coming months - I don't
want my anemones to die in the mean time though!@


>
> > and our sole percula hosted with
> > it after about 12 days - only to leave it about a week ago - does this
> > sound normal - do anemones get "hostile" or change chemistry, or is it
> > a sign that things might not be well with the anemone?
>
> Never heard of a clown that was hosting, suddenly stop. But it might be
> related to the split. If so, the clown ought to host again very quickly.

She didn't, but I think she would if she wasn't twice the size of the
new anemones!

>
> > Any advice will be GLADLY accepted!
>
> Good luck!
>
> -- Don

[Don Geddis]

I asked:
>> You didn't say what light you do have. What kind of watts per gallon?

(Greg Hewitt-Long) wrote on 5 May 2004 16:11:
> The watts per gallon are low - we have about 1 watt per gallon in a 12
> inch deep tank. 2 of the three pieces have moved to within an inch of
> the surface, the third has remained at about 8 inches, and it seems to
> be doing as well as the others, in fact, it is the larger of the three
> anemones now!

That's very low light, especially to keep anemones.

> How many months - I'd love to put more lights on the tank, but money
> is a deciding factor - I'm sure I'll get more lights, or at least a
> smaller tank with 4-5 watts per gallon in the coming months - I don't
> want my anemones to die in the mean time though!

Luckily, anemones eat solid food as well. If you feed them every couple of
days, they should be able to get along just fine despite your poor lighting.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because
it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive,
but I only have photographs of her.