How do I get a BTA to split? (1 Viewer)

[Motoristx]

Hey guys,


My tank is approx 6 months old, and its my first saltwater in about 12 Years. I Have a green BTA with purple tips that both my clowns love, but I wish I had a few more. Besides buying one, (I'm Picking up a Rose BTA from Frags and More) how can I populate my tank?

I honestly don't like the idea of Stressing it out, and I'd rather not cut it in half either.

Can I just feed it every other day? Will that cause a split?

 

[jhill9]

I tried to get my GBTA out of the tank by pointing a power head at it to get it to move. After 4 hours it didn't move and when I woke up they next day it had split. Now I have 2 GBTA that I need to get out of my tank.

 

[Lord Spice]

Hook me up with one !

 

[d2mini]

Not sure about the green, but the reds split pretty regularly with regular feeding. Try silversides.

 

[jhill9]

Hook me up with one !

If you can get the dang things out of my tank I will give you one. Ha ha. I have tried just about everything. Next step is to pull the rock it is on out of the tank but that is going to be a pain.

 

[Lord Spice]

Deal! I read ice helps

 

[d2mini]

It usually takes me a good 30 minutes of rubbing it's foot and slowing prying up an edge, then slowly getting my finger under it continuing to rub. Keep working it and you'll eventually get it off.





Wow... that sounds like instructions for something completely different!

 

[Reefkeeper]

+1 on the silverside, Feed them 3 times a week and do a large water change and they will split...
p
i use ice on the foot they release quickly ( RODI ice)

 

[jhill9]

I tried the ice to the foot and it didn't work.

If I rub something for 5mins then it better get off. That hasn't worked yet either.

 

[Lord Spice]

I literally laughed out loud

 

[Motoristx]

I'd like a GBTA also, friend on mine could use one for his nano. (the reason I want mine to split)

Thanx for the info guys, I have been feeding Silversides about 2x a week, I'll bump it up to 3x a week.


I didn't want to try the water jet on it, I thought that would stress it out.

 

[gabe_j]

lol at jhill, man that was funny! but word of warning feeding them and then they don't split and decide to just grow instead can really suck. especially when you have a 20+ inch rbta in a 40 breeder. i'd say cut it, its surefire way to get two out of one. use a new 4" razor cleaned with alcohol on a sterilized cutting surface. you gotta do it in one clean slice, with each half keeping a decent part of the mouth, and in a week or two they will be fully healed and growing again. i actually just cut 3 into 6 and didn't lose a single one. good luck.

 

[neopterygii]

This is a video of me cutting one, i didnt get it in one clean slice though. Both nems healed up nicely:

[video=youtube;XqJafccQQbI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqJafccQQbI[/video]

 

[mwilliams62]

I tried the ice to the foot and it didn't work.

If I rub something for 5mins then it better get off. That hasn't worked yet either.

Best laugh all night.

 

[mwilliams62]

But back to getting them to split. I ran out of my regular salt mix and needed to do a water change went to the store and had to get a different brand and my rbta split like five times. I think I need to do that again so it will split again. It hasn't split since then.

 

[Midwinter]

I usually feed mine shrimp 2-3times per week. If it big enough 6'' then you could aways force propagrate it. Razor blades!!!

I had about 20+ in my old setup.

 

[Clifton]

I did too!
Too funny, now back to that foot rub. . i want one.

 

[Motoristx]

Ok, now I'm tying to consolidate all this information.

First, I need to feed it. 6 inches fully inflated is the minimum?


Next I need to gather supplies:
4 inch razor... seems kinda big? Where can I find this?
Clean cutting surface. This should be easy, I'll raid the Kitchen like neopterygii did
rubbing alcohol for disinfecting the cutting surface and the razor.

Ok, so now that I have my prized RBTA cut in half, how do I take care of it while it heals? Do I put them back in the main tank? Would the refuge be better? My refuge light stays on all the time... is that ok? Do I need to dip them before putting them back in the water?

 

[gabe_j]

i made a small basket for them to stay in. then i place them back into the main area after a week or two. or sell them.

 

[Piranha]

Well I'm pretty sure I'm the friend motoristx was talking about a bta for my 30 nano. The update is that he got me a gbta and as of tonight the second one is splitting again. Now I have three small ones in my tank. I'm wondering if where the second one fell was way to much flow and that caused it to split again tonight? I have feed it regularly with silversides and I spray a little bit of the frozen food on the each time I feed the tank. The look as healthy as they could but what I'm wondering is if this is normal. That's 2 splits in 2 weeks?