Green Carpet Anemone

serpentine5

serpentine5

Member
A buddy of mine has a very large green carpet Anemone. He is wanting to trim it down and give me the cuttings. How do we cut an Anemone. And how do we get those cuttings to take in a different tank?
 
barracuda

barracuda

Active Member
Cutting an anemone:eek: :confused:
You will kill the animal! Anemones are not corals. You cannot frag it if this is what you call "cutting".
 
serpentine5

serpentine5

Member
we were told that you could. If you cannot cut it to keep the growth down, what can he do to keep it from growing? Like I said, it is very large, probably at least 12-14 inch in diameter.
 
barracuda

barracuda

Active Member
How often and how much do you feed it?
Eventually it will continue to grow. If it's too big to fit your system, you can trade it with LFS or someone else to a smaller one.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
if you cut it it will die..
pretty much what was said above on trade in or find someone else that has a tank nig enough for it is about all you can do .
Mike
 
spsfreak100

spsfreak100

Active Member
I can't agree more with the above advice.
Anemones cannot be fragged! If you do attempt cutting it in any way, you will seriously kill it. I say leave it in the tank. Eventually, if the conditions are met, it might split on its own, making a new 'clone' of itself, in a smaller form. Other than that, there's no way to frag anemones.
Graham
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
actually, I have not done it, but anemones can be influenced to split or cut. I do know of someone who ahs the know how, BUT, I would never attempt it, personally
 
serpentine5

serpentine5

Member

Originally posted by SPSfreak100
I can't agree more with the above advice.
Anemones cannot be fragged! If you do attempt cutting it in any way, you will seriously kill it. I say leave it in the tank. Eventually, if the conditions are met, it might split on its own, making a new 'clone' of itself, in a smaller form. Other than that, there's no way to frag anemones.
Graham
This is interesting, they are single cell and will split? Some one at a pet store tole us we could cut off the excess and it would be ok. I am so glad I posted here. I did a web search and could not find any info on fragging one. You folks (guys and gals) have prevented a great catastrophe. I am trying to get him one the phone now to tell him.
SPSfreak. what are the optimal conditions?
Barracuda, I cannot answer you question about it being fed. It is not mine, I do know he does feed it shrimp.
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
another thing, do not advise him to cut back on feeding it, to stunt growth. They will seek food, and if it is not readily available, it will find it swimming around inthe tank, GUARENTEED. Had a carpet, and I can say it will find fish to suppliment it's feeding schedule, even when not being starved.
 
serpentine5

serpentine5

Member
yeah, this one is not swimming, but it is mocing around in the tank. It was on the top of all of the LR, then it recently moved to the back and bottom of the tank. I guess it knew we were thingking about cutting it..........
 
spsfreak100

spsfreak100

Active Member

Originally posted by serpentine5
SPSfreak. what are the optimal conditions?

If the anemone is thriving in the aquarium, and getting enough food, it might eventually split. They start by slowely growing 2 central mouths, and slowely (over a period of weeks or months), will move away from eachother, and eventually form a new anemone. I wouldn't do anything different than you are now. I cannot assure you that it will indeed split, but i'm just putting it out there.
Now, can you answer a few questions for me? How long has this anemone been in his aquarium? Has it grown? If he recently got this anemone, and recently put it into his aquarium, than likely there isn't any chance of having the anemone split. I noticed you said the anemone started moving. Anemones move when conditions do not meet their needs. Maybe inaccurate water conditions, too much flow, too little flow, not enough food, too much lighting, not enough lighting, etc. They will hopefully find a spot where they can settle down and live. If not, they are sure to die.
Graham
 
serpentine5

serpentine5

Member
Thats rough, I really hope that it does not die. As for how long he has had the anemone in the tank: He had the tank set up as a fresh water tank for quite some time, then he wanted to convert it to salt water. He found a woman locally who was moving out of state and wanted to sell her marine aquarium minus the actual tank. He got the LR, LS, skimmer, pumps, fish, invertebre, and the anemone. It was all transfered from a (I think) 120g to a 55g tank, and set up with new lighting. She kept the lights she had and he went and baught a 4X55 PC with 2 day and 2 actinic lights. I dont know how often he feeds the anemone, but I trust that he does feed it on a regular basis. There was a weird type of clown with it, but since the anemone moved to the back and bottom of the tank, he has not seen the clown. (Which to him is a good thing hoping the anemone has eaten the clown, because he was wanting to get rid of it and get a mated pair of a different breed. He could not catch that clown to save his life.) It has been in the tank now for about (me guessing) at least six months.
 
spsfreak100

spsfreak100

Active Member
Carpet Anemones are naturally found with their foot burried in the substrate. They will require ample amounts of substrate to burry their foot in. In the aquarium, this is about 4-5" of a fine substrate. They will usually burry their foot in the sand, and attach their foot to the bottom of the aquarium. They are not found on rocks.
Graham
 
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