Norman T. Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Hi all! I have had an anemone in my tank for close to three years now. About a year ago, it retracted into itself, and as I later found out, split into two anemones. I now have two small "stubs" of anemones which move around my tank, but the tentacles have not come out of either of these little guys for more than a year. I tried feeding them, but they wont open up to eat. Is this normal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 No, its not normal. They can split when they are unhappy or to help species survive. What are your water parameters? Have you had any alk swings or salinity changes? I have one that is in same state. It has been like that for a year. Since mine has been like that to, I dont know if it can pull through. Mine was hurt when a heater exploded and dumped the interior products in tank. Everything else in tank has recovered but nem. Not sure what to tell you or do for mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman T. Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 What are your water parameters? Have you had any alk swings or salinity changes? All of the water parameters have been pretty stable... I have a service that comes out once every other week to check up on it/change water/clean filters... I also spot check levels myself between visits. :-/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+etannert Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Can you post your exact numbers? Stable can still be out of range. Also your tank size, lighting system, and other tank inhabitants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmthree Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 My anenome was retracted for a few days and I just dosed my iodine and shortly afterwards he opened back up. So I don't know if it was a coincidence or if he needed it. Maybe give that a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I was under the impression they split when they are happy, not mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I was under the impression they split when they are happy, not mad. Splitting can be due to stress or due to "happiness". It's a survival mechanism. I've had GBTAs split when tank conditions are atrocious and split/spread like weeds when conditions were optimal (lots of light, regularly being target fed). In all cases an anemone that does not extend its tentacles is stressed. If it is not extending it could be due to bad water conditions, lack of sufficient light, or lack of nutrition. If it is because of light you can sometimes nurse it by target feeding small pieces of silverside or mysis. Mysis is preferable as a stressed nem can have a hard time digesting the larger, more solid silversides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 (edited) Ok. I bought a GBTA (no green? who knew) on here 2 weeks ago. Put it in the tank and it moved maybe 6 inches or so to the underside of a rock, then extended its column enough for the head to reach the light and then bubbled up nicely. I came home friday after work and found this. Been feeding it little bit less than half a silverside every couple days or so. Guess mine is the case of happiness Edited July 18, 2011 by DerrickH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 (edited) Norman, Here's an experience I've had with brown BTA in one of my tanks. BBTA in donor tank had split several times so there were five. Took one from donor tank and placed in 2nd tank, it grew some and split after about 3 months, promptly both bleached out (2-3 weeks) and began to shrink and could not be found after 6 months after introduction. A second BBTA from the donor tank (which had a couple more splits so now there were 7) and placed it in the 2nd tank. Within just a couple of weeks it split and agian the "twins" bleached out and shrank to considerably smaller size with in a short time, we'll name them 2A and 2B. After about 3-4 months 2B (bear in mind they are next to each other) colored up and started to grow. After a couple of months of growth 2B split - 2B1 & 2B2, the other, 2A, still had not colored up or grown. After a 2-3 months 2B1 split - 2B1A & 2B1B. Now 2A has finally started to grow and color up. At this point one of them split again so there is 2A and four descendents of it's sibling 2B and here's where I lost track of who was who as they all were still clumped together between two rocks. Now after a year since 2A has colored up and is indistingusable from the others they have continued to slit and at last count there were 8. That twice in the same tank anemonies from the same family line bleached after splitting suggests something in the tank caused it, especially as the anemonies in the donor tank never had that issue and anemonies from that family line placed in other tanks did not do it either. What complicates this assumption is it doesn't explain why the anemonies initially grew before splitting and the other corals, clam and polyps all showed normal expansion and growth, it was only the BBTA's that were affected. At no time were any of the anemonies fed. pH, Alk and calcium were checked and showed no significant changes (the 2nd tank did have a drop in alk this winter but it did not appear to affect any of the animals just had some red slime associated with the drop). The donor tank recieved weekly 10% water changes the 2nd tank received weekly 7% water changes. Edited July 18, 2011 by Timfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 (edited) Ok, here is a question then. Since the nem was to be a GBTA, but is pink (both 1A and 1B), what are the chances of it just being pink and no just missing their pigment? I wanted a Green BTA. It has a super slight shade of green in it under actinics but its hard to see. Mainly pink and bubbly... Edited July 18, 2011 by DerrickH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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