Moving Recently-budded Anemones

[Donya]

My strange little Aiptasiidae nem has produced some offspring this week, but the problem is that every time this particular nem buds, the offspring get gobbled up a certain starfish in the tank. The budding isn't like what my Aiptasia do from the foot tissue...the offspring in this case are fully formed little nems that leave a conical hole of sorts in the parent's stalk when they leave. I don't want to take the starfish out though, because it sometimes snacks on small pest nems. The adult nem has no problems with the starfish and has a powerful sting, but the newly-budded offspring seem to have no defenses against this starfish even with fully-formed tentacles. I'd like to try to save at least one offspring and raise it in an isolated environment where I can observe the growth cycle again (still trying to identify the species with no luck), but I don't know how to do this without injurying them. Can new nems (as in a coupld days off the parent) regenerate if injured during moving?

 

[SkiFletch]

Good question. Since those nems are generally hardy, I'd be inclined to say yeah it probably could handle moving right after being born/grown. can it really hurt to try?

 

[sianeds]

I would be inclined to protect the mother and baby nems with something like a bell jar you'd use in the garden. You could clean up a big clear plastic drinks bottle, cut the bottom off and make plenty of holes for water flow , then sit it over the nem. Hopefully it would give the babies a few days at least to grow before you move them

 

[Donya]

I would be inclined to protect the mother and baby nems with something like a bell jar you'd use in the garden.

This is a great idea! Why did I think of that... I dont' know if I'll be able to come up with something suitable before the starfish finds the babies, but I will definetly start looking. The parent is right at the water's surface which would make placing some sort of barrier around it and the babies easy. The two I saw left this morning hadn't left the relative safety of the edge of the parent's foot yet, so hopefully the sweepers will keep them safe for a bit longer until I get something set up.

can it really hurt to try?

Well, I guess it's no worse than leaving them to face the starfish If I can't find a quick way to protect the group as suggested by sianeds and the little ones start to disperse, I'll give it a go and hope for the best.

 

[sianeds]

Take some pics of what you come up with!

 

[Donya]

So far my first attempt at some sort of a protective wall around the nems has failed...all I succeeded in doing was annoying the adult nem by accident and making send out its sweepers for a while (those things have quite the zap). At least one baby is still doing ok. The adult's sweeper response will also make it difficult to move the babies since the sweepers can extend for a few inches. I'm going to have to put some better planning into having something that will fit onto the side efffectively and not pop off unexpectedly.