Removing da Anemones!!

[Wolfmann81]

Alright everybody, I need some good ideas. As you can see (if you choose to see my pictures), I have about 50-60 fully-happy brown BTA's. They thrive in my tank. They are a nightmare to get off the jagged rocks. I have tried a lot of ways to get rid of them. (powerhead blasting, scraping the base of the foot, etc.) The only thing(s) that works to any extent is scraping them off the glass and sand (when they go there) and giving them a nice helping of JOE'S JUICE!! (I definitely don't prefer the later, due to consequential dying!!). I am not sure if you have ever witnessed it, but 60 mature BTA's in a 75G tank, is a bit overwhelming!! Not to mention that the exponential increase of them is fairly overwhelming also.

SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!!

[Slakker]

Sell some of the BTA's...rock and all?

[bigdaddyadam]

what pictures?

are you sure they are BTA's?

and are you nuts? even the most plain BTA goes for $20, sell them rock and all and get some more rock...hell I will take em send em to me.....

FWIW, if you want to get them loose from the rock, use ice in a ziplock bag right on the foot, they will get annoyed and let go of the rock

[Wolfmann81]

Sorry guys, a picture of my tank is in my gallery now. Forgot that I took some pictures off there. Sorry if it is pretty small, it is hard to get a 10 megapixel camera to take a picture that needs to be shrunk below 50kb's! As you can see, plenty of anemones. I have never moved a picture to a post, so I am not sure if this is going to work!

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/60966The_Mighty_Reef.JPG

[Wolfmann81]

It is definitely too small, although you can see a lot fo anemones (brown) if you look hard. My camera has a dead battery, so I will have to take some lower MP pics to get a larger picture that people can see. I will post some, so people can see them....

[dc]

Have you tried the ice cubes on the foot yet? I've never done this, but I've read that some people have success with it.

[Wolfmann81]

That will definitely be something that I will try. Something I have never heard of. Any plan is a good one to me!

[ATX aquarist]

a goood way to show pics is create an account at photobucket.com (it's free) and upload your pics on it and then paste the html code in your post, and the pics are large and clear. just if you're interested. But for the BTA's, that could be a great way to make some extra cash!!! You can sell some on frags.org using the ice cube method.

[bigdaddyadam]

I still don't see what you are complaining about...I woul love to have a tank full of BTA's, you could make it an all BTA tank...I would buy a few of different color morphs and see if they split too, then get a bunch of clowns and have the coolest tank ever

[Wolfmann81]

Here is the pictures. I registed through photobucket (Thanks ATX Aquarist). Let's hope these pictures work. To answer some of your questions; I do not want a tank full of anemones. I would rather be able to bring in other corals as well. They might look pretty cool, but you can't put much else in the tank, without having to do some serious thinking about placement. I have to be careful of my pulsing xenia, he hates the anemones. Here's the pics.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u242/Wolfmann81/TheMightyReef.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u242/Wolfmann81/LookingDownonTank.jpg
Let's hope these work!

[bigdaddyadam]

I if you just have the colonial species of anemones that split all the time or if something in your tank makes them do it

personally I think that is too cool, looks like the shots over the reef where there are tons of BTA's in one place.

did you try getting any off the rocks with the ice in a ziplock method? just to let you know, when I tried it, I found that you need to use a fairly large ice cube b/c othewise the cube melts before you get the anemone off :)

[seaduck]

They r all pretty small....something is causing them to split prematurely and prevents them from growing to normal dinner plate size....imagine a tank full of dinner plates.

[55semireef]

I bet your tank looks much better in person than what those pictures do. ;)

[sarai826]

Personally, the *only* anemone removal trick that works for me is to cut your fingernails very short, then begin gently rubbing around the base to find where the base is attached to the rock. After a few minutes of this, you should be able to locate a good place to get a finger under where the anemone is attached. Then slowly. SLOWLY. VERY SLOWLY. begin to move your finger under the anemone, causing it to release around the edges and so on until the anemone is completely removed from the rock. Then, bag it up and sell it! :-P

[GSMguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9797129#post9797129 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sarai826
Personally, the *only* anemone removal trick that works for me is to cut your fingernails very short, then begin gently rubbing around the base to find where the base is attached to the rock. After a few minutes of this, you should be able to locate a good place to get a finger under where the anemone is attached. Then slowly. SLOWLY. VERY SLOWLY. begin to move your finger under the anemone, causing it to release around the edges and so on until the anemone is completely removed from the rock. Then, bag it up and sell it! :-P

yes, finger it :)

[iamkellogg]

I can understand your frustration. How quickly do they spread? The pictures and your tank are very nice.

Kelly

[55semireef]

What is the biggest size BTA you have in there Wolfmann81?

[Beng]

Man, if these were RBTA, you would make some serious dough

Beng

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9802378#post9802378 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Beng
Man, if these were RBTA, you would make some serious dough

Beng

There would be a line of people at the front door step with cash in one hand and an empy bag of water in the other hand if they were RBTA clones. What a bummer they are not. :D

jk

[RightWinger210]

Hey, you can still make some money, even selling them at wholesale price to a fish store, which would give you the least profit, but a good outlet to get rid of them

[Wolfmann81]

The biggest one is probably 9" in diameter. My LFS will give me $10-15 apiece when he needs them, but he only needs 5 or so once per month. I am sure that I am probably reproducing at least 5 per month. Yes, good cash flow, but a pain in the butt to get them off. Still haven't tried the ice-cube trick, I am interested to try that.

A few people have offered, that they might be splitting because of actinic lighting. I don't know if there is truth to this. I used to have Coralife PC's (biggest crap light in the world). I switched over to a 4-54W Teklight T5 hood, and that is when they really started splitting. I run two aquasuns and two blue-plus lamps in there.

I tell you what, there are no complaints from my two clowns in there.

btw, Thanks for the tank compliments iamkellogg.

[55semireef]

Lighting probably plays a role in how frequent they split but I don't think thats the primary factor of what causes them to split.

[Slakker]

Heck...I'd take one off your hands if I had the tank for it.

[OrionN]

Wolfmann81,
Do you feed them at all? Do you feed them individually or just feed the tank and they get what ever they can get? You must do something right because you got so many and most keep the bubble too.

[Wolfmann81]

I don't feed them individually, that would be a pretty impossible job. I feed blood worms, mysis, and squid mainly. They get what they get. The clowns do a good job of taking food to them too. I would like to know some additional suggestions (other than my assumptions about light) as to why they might split at such a high rate.

[55semireef]

Its most likely in their genetics to go into binary fission that often.

[xxseawolf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9797297#post9797297 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
yes, finger it :) lol-last night i tried that finger method with my wife and got slapped.