Anemone Propagation

[shadofax]

Hey Anthony,

WEll I am taking your advice and am setting up a amenone prop tank. I have access to ~6 40 gallon breeder tanks and will be starting with one of the tanks to see how it goes. I have a few quiestions and then want to see if I have everything that I need.

Questions:
1. For a 40 gallon breeder would you still suggest the largest air pump?
2. Do I need a skimmer ( I am going to do 2 - 3 50% water changes a week since I have access to free RO-DI water at work.)
3. Will 4 x 20 watt 90 CRI? lightbulbs work that have color of 5000K? (Lowes bulbs)
4. Do I need to protect the heater so it does not burn the BTA's?
5. After filling the tank and getting the air lifts running how long should I wait to add the amenones?

I will be using the outside carpet to line the tank and then be using air lift tubes for water movement. I plan on feedinf the anemones 3x/week for 3 - 4 months before I begin fragmenting them. I will mount the heater in the tank and then sit the lights right on top of the tank. I will also use a sponge filter to build up a healthy biological for the tank.

Does this seem like it would be a decent setup and lead to good growth and health of the anemones.

Thanks,
Levi

 

[NaH2O]

Hi Levi! Anthony had posted earlier that he will be out for awhile (early Dec) finishing up his 2nd edition to the Coral Propagation book. In the meantime, see if any of these threads help with your questions:

Anemone Threads

Be sure to keep us updated on the steps you've taken, and how things progress!!

 

[shadofax]

Hi Nikki,

I have read a lot of information on those forums but I could not find anything reguarding the heater issue and wait time. I just wanted to clarify those before I began my venture. Also do you know anywhere locally where I can get 3 - 4 BTA clones to use for propagation. It is very important that they are clones so they do not fight when "fraged". Do you know how to post on the Marine Depot forums. I signed up but I could not post my questions there. Hmmm??? Anyway I post pictures as I set up my tank.

Please comment if you have experience with anemone propagation.

 

[brianblack]

Just tagging along - saw Anthony and Julian frag an anenome. Anthony split his right away and Julian let his out of water for a while to force the anenome to expell some of the water before division.

 

["Umm fish?"]

You could always drill a bunch of holes in a large piece of pvc and mount the heater in there. Just be sure that water's flowing through there really well so you don't get a weird microclimate where the pvc water's warm and the rest of the tank is freezing.

 

[NaH2O]

Levi - I think Andy's ("Umm, fish?") solution sounds like a good one with the PVC, or make an eggcrate box around it. The only issue would be if the anemone decided it wanted to be inside the eggcrate box. It might be something to play by ear and see. If you used more than one heater, then you could go with a smaller wattage. The heaters wouldn't be "on" all the time. Also, I'm not even sure if an anemone would want to attach itself to a heater? I know their wandering can cause issues when they meet up with an intake, but they may touch the heater and move on. Not sure though.

As far as a local source, you may want to check with Jeremy and see if he has anyone local bringing in BTAs on a regular basis where there may be a few clones available.

I haven't signed up at Marine Depot, yet, but I think you click on "Add Topic" at the top of the forum you wish to post in.

 

[bobt2]

fyi, my bta has cloned 8x. all are still in the main tank, but! all the clones are missing the bubble tips.

 

[shadofax]

Ok I have chenged my lighting from 4 x 20W NO 5000K bulbs to 2 x 55W PC 10,000K since I already have them and they are brand new. Do you think I would get better growth from the 4 x 20W 5000K bulbs or the 10,000K bulbs.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Regarding the heater cage, I would extend it up out of the water. That should keep the anemone out of the cage.

 

[MCSInc]

???

I have been propagating my roses for about 3 years and have sold lots of clones but I go on my own rules. My first question is how much live rock do you have in the tank and what are the sizes. My rose tank has no rocks larger than my two fists together so that when someone picks an anemone I can unstack the rocks to get to their choice. My big rule is the rock goes with the anemone. I will not peal it off of its rock (thus the small size of the rocks). I feel that they are unhappy if they are not firmly rooted. Most of mine just clone on their own. I have cut some in half and I have accidentally torn some pieces off while moving rocks. I tore off a part of a foot one time and laid it up front so I could watch it. The next morning it was gone. It took me about 3 weeks to find it again and it was on the back side of a rock happily growing a new "face". I also feed my anemones well (silversides, flakes, pellets) they eat just about anything. I need to post a picture.

 

[shadofax]

I do not plan on having any rock in my culturing tank. I will line the tank with indoor/outdoor carpet (the green stuff). I will then use lift tubes for water movement, a sponge filter for biological filtration, and 2 x 55W 10,000K PC's for light. I will feed the anemones every other day and their diet will consist of small foods like mysid, brine, and finely chopped meaty foods. I will also keep a residual amount of NO3 in the water since "fragged" anemones will need to feed by absorption to speed up the recovery time. To keep nitrates around 5ppm I will spot "feed" NaNO3 to the "injured" anemones when I feed the "healthy" anemones and then do water changes the next day to keep nitrates "low". I think as long as I keep up on water changes (3 x 25%-50%changes a week) going the system should do quite well. I plan on conditioning my anemones for ~3 months to get them to optimal health before I start cutting them up. Then for the first few frags I plan on giving them a heal time of 1 month even if they are compleatly healed before then. As the anemones recovery time gets shorter I will up the frequency of fraging them untill I can frag them every 2 weeks. I think I should have my opperation at that stage in the next 12 -18 months and will be able to supply ~50 anemones a month out of my 40 gallon breeder tank.

 

[btuck]

As far as the heater problem couldn't you take a couple of pieces of 2" PVC pipe and cut them in 1" lengths. Then wrap the two pieces in fiberglass screen over the length of the heater. I'm sure some superglue gel will hold the screen to the PVC. Basically just forming a tube around the heater. This would be less likely to hold heat within the tube.

 

[shadofax]

Good idea Brian. Also I know you had a huge rose at one time. Any chance it has cloned and I can get one from you . If you do have one that you are willing to sell please let me know.

 

[btuck]

sorry Levi, I don't think that it will ever clone. It is perfectly happy taking up the left third of my tank.

 

[shadofax]

Well I received my frist BTA today and is seems to be doing great. I aclimated it very slowly and the anemone looks great. I floated the bag for ~1.5 hours while I did a few things and then I drip aclimated it for ~45 minutes. When I put it in the tank withing 10 minutes it attached to the bottom, is fully expanded, and has nice bubbles on its tips. I think it likes the natural sunlight it is getting from the window. I decded to go withj 2 x 20W NO lights for now and see how that works. I will post some pictures of the anemone as soon as I can.