Couple questions for you experts

[shaggy420]

First off, i want to try and frag my polyp colonies. I've been reading on how to do it, but want to double check before i possibly mess up. All I do is cut the top of one of the polyps off, cut the piece into 3 or 4 others, and super glue to whatever i wish to grow the new colony on?

Second, I have a bubble tip anenome that has been acting funny. a few times i was tempted to throw him away because he looked dead. I refrained, hoping it would look better, and eventually he opens up again. He almost got sucked into one of the filters about a week after i got him because he kept moving around. I thought for sure he was dead but like i said earlier, he opened back up later. How much light do these anenomes need? Ive noticed that he keeps moving underneath some of my live rock, wedging himself between the rock and the sand. Is this normal?

Lastly, my orange anthias has been pretty active since getting used to the tank, but ive never seen her eat. I feed frozen brine in the morning and at night, with a dose of flake in the afternoon. she has swam up to the food before like she was going to eat, but then just turns and swims somewhere else. I did put some ghost shrimp in the tank, but there is no telling who ate them. Thanks for any help.

[Doug1]

bump. I have no experience with BTA or anthias, tho anthias as a rule are mid water feeders on planktons, I would suggest a variety of foods fortified with Selcon,, you might want to search Blender Mush
What kind of light do you have your E quad anemone under and what if anything are you feeding it?

as to fragging polyps, exactly what kind are you wanting to frag?

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by shaggy420

Second, I have a bubble tip anenome that has been acting funny. a few times i was tempted to throw him away because he looked dead. I refrained, hoping it would look better, and eventually he opens up again. He almost got sucked into one of the filters about a week after i got him because he kept moving around. I thought for sure he was dead but like i said earlier, he opened back up later. How much light do these anenomes need? Ive noticed that he keeps moving underneath some of my live rock, wedging himself between the rock and the sand. Is this normal?

The anemone I have for my maroon clowns moves. When I first put it in there, he moved to the bottom of the rock. I turned it over, it went back under the rock. I turned it over again thinking it was an errant rock slide or something, he moved back again. Now, it is in a spot that he seems to like and stays there. Flow patterns and light patterns are but two things that will cause an anemone to move.

Let the anem pick where it wants to be.

[shaggy420]

i have some yellow polyps, and some button polyps. as for fragging them, i guess i dont have to do it myself anymore. i just hooked up my koralia 4 and that thing is getting after it. it blew 3 or 4 of my yellow polyps off before i got it aimed where i wanted it. so im just going to use those for the yellow frags. the other are button polyps. they need to be fragged because they are almost completely coverinf the top and sides of the rock they came on..
as for the BTA lighting needs, right now im working with 160 watts, 80 6500k and 80 18000k. im waiting on a 250 mh at 20000k. he seems to not like the light though, as he keeps hiding fromit.

[Twitterbait]

the easiest way to frag polyps is to put a rock next to them and let them move on over time... I guess i am lazy...

anenome is protecting itself that's all

anthias are normally hard to acclimate and feed, just keep trying different things.

[Scruffys Catch]

The way we frag our polyps is by detaching some of them from the rock they are on and super glueing them to another rock or frag plug.
Mushrooms you can cut up like you said but I don't think you can with polyps but I don't know.

[theplatypus]

With Zoanthids you want to cut the mat between the polyps, not the actual polyp.

[shaggy420]

cool cool, im gonna pull a couple more polyps off tonight and glue them to some lr. ill take some pics of the colonies and the frags after. i might have some for trade eventually. theyre nothing special, but someone might want to wheel and deal with me.lol thanks guys for the responses

[luvmylo]

when nems move under a rock like that they are looking for a place to plant their foot. once they find a suitable spot to plant their foot they will come out in the open. They need to have a tight spot that they can retreat too for danger I think. This is just speculation tho.

[shaggy420]

well, by the time i got home last night i didnt feel like fragging. i did go by walmart and pick up the superglue to do it with though.
I caught the BTA out this morning looking better than ever. i hadnt turned on my lights yet and he was facing kinda towards my window soaking up the few rays of sunshine coming through. once i turned on my lights he slowly closed up and retreated back to the bottom of his rock.
the anthias also passed away this morning =(
i saw her poke her head out of a barnacle and was waiting for her to come out and swim. then i noticed the hermit crab that was using her like a puppet. she now has a new grave under the barnacle she died in.
my mandarin was also fairly active this morning. usually it is at the top of the tank, swimming near one of the filters. but today it was at the bottom swimming near a LR looking for pods i guess. when i added some frozen brine shrimp to the tank i got to watch the mandarin hunt the lil shrimp floating near it. somehow, despite the mandarin being the most difficult to take care of out of all my creatures in the tank, it has ended up doing very well. Props to live aquaria for sending me one already accustomed to the occasional snack of brine AND flake food.
Last, i finally got rid of the filters (except one) that kept eating my fish. so far ive only lost 3 fish, a firefish that got stuck in a hole in my holy rock, a purple pseudo that got eaten by the filter, and my anthias that just refused to eat. ive had 2 other fish get sucked up in the filter before, but i noticed in time to save them and they are doing well now. ill keep you all updated when i finally get around to fragging, hopefully tonight.

[shaggy420]

well, last night i changed about 25g of water and while i was at it i decided to grow some balls and frag my polyps. was worried at first because they turned into a mush-like substance as soon as i cut them. so i quickly superglued them to a new home and returned them. they looked pissed when i left for work but now the new frags are open and looking good. i did put two different polyps on the same rock. is that safe or will they try and kill each other? I spaced them out a couple inches from each other. i was just trying to get a cool little rock going that i can frag in the future. They are button polyps and yellow polyps.

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by shaggy420

well, last night i changed about 25g of water and while i was at it i decided to grow some balls and frag my polyps. was worried at first because they turned into a mush-like substance as soon as i cut them. so i quickly superglued them to a new home and returned them. they looked pissed when i left for work but now the new frags are open and looking good. i did put two different polyps on the same rock. is that safe or will they try and kill each other? I spaced them out a couple inches from each other. i was just trying to get a cool little rock going that i can frag in the future. They are button polyps and yellow polyps.

If they are button/yellow polyps, then they won't hurt each other. A lot of my button polyps (different kinds) were on the same rock together.

[shaggy420]

Originally Posted by OneDummHikk

If they are button/yellow polyps, then they won't hurt each other. A lot of my button polyps (different kinds) were on the same rock together.

Yeah, I've seen pics of people's tanks with multiple species of polyps on the same rock and it looks cool having a variety together. Since I had success on the first frags last night, I did a few more a few minutes ago. Hopefully they'll take as well. How long do they take to spread? I've read about corals that only grow an inch or two a year. I know these grow much much quicker, but what should I expect(I know it depends on your tank,lights,and parameters) but on average.

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by shaggy420

I know these grow much much quicker, but what should I expect(I know it depends on your tank,lights,and parameters) but on average.

You can't even give an average on them. How long did it take to get to the point where you wanted to frag it? Or, did you get them as a colony? Not only will tank, lights and water parameters effect it, so will placement of them. A colony can only spread out. The more ways it has to go out then the faster it can spread. Meaning, if you had 100 polyps and it was in a circle, and you split it into 4 25 poly circles, you will get faster spreading because it has more places to spread to. That doesn't hold quite as true when you have 2-3 polyps though.