How Do I Get A Anemone To Vacate or Detach from A Rock

[siggy]

Hey All, Im doing some Aquascaping and my nem loves his house. The rock I suspect is a source of phosphates and I want it gone, it was a late addition I picked up from a LFS and problems soon followed.

 

[Coral Passion]

Hey All, Im doing some Aquascaping and my nem loves his house. The rock I suspect is a source of phosphates and I want it gone, it was a late addition I picked up from a LFS and problems soon followed.

It might have binded phosphates but its unlikely to be the sole cause of any phosphate issues. Personally I would leave it and eventually the phospate bond phospate will deplete aslong as your are using GFO or some other form of phospate absorber media.

 

[siggy]

Thanks. Like I mentioned I am doing some rescaping and this one is a large BLOCK that is not visually pleasing. I recently came across some Fuji and Tonga thats a lot nicer.

 

[Cment]

easiest way to do it is pull the rock out of the water, hold nem upside down so its barely touching the water and slowly rub its foot. It should detach in about 5 mins. This always works for me. If unable to get rock out, point a powerhead directly at it, the nem will move and you can then pull it out while its trying to run from the blast of water.

 

[KrisReef]

If the bottom of the foot is exposed, take the rock out of the tank and gently rub ice on the edge of the foot. Try to gently slide the ice between the rock and the foot. The cold will encourage the nem to let go.

Otherwise, sometimes a huge chuck rock can be cut smaller with a saw or hammer and chisel, but you have to avoid disrupting the rock beneath the nems foot or else you might tear the foot in the process. Ice works better.

 

[CCK_8814 Verified Sponsor]

Assuming you’re talking about a BTA I second the holding the nem upside down over a jug/container/bucket of water. Let the tips of the nem just barely touch the surface of the water and eventually come off. I however do not touch it at all, I’ve found when I do any progress made of it starting to detach is for nothing since as soon as it’s touched it sucks back in. I’ve had them come off in as quickly as a few minutes while others have taking an hour. I have also found myself chiseling this rock around where the nem is attached, placing back in tank in high flow area if chiseled portion of rock is too large and let it come off and place as I wanted. If the rock is small enough and it’s still attached just place it where you want and in my experience it typically stays pretty well put. I have several nems and have done this several times so I know it works.

 

[doughboy]

I've done it the same way. pull the rock out, hold it upside down out of water, and let gravity do the work.

 

[siggy]

:)

 

[dbl]

The holding upside down method is the only method I've ever had work. I do agree not to touch it though...just let it come off naturally - it will...eventually. :mad:

 

[siggy]

I am going to try the power head approach seeing there is one 6" away. He is in a hole right were I put him when I brought him home. I have other work to do so I will give it a hour if not INVERSION method, thanks All

 

[ThunderGoose]

Just detached a nem last weekend. The upside down over a bucket look about half an hour.

 

[siggy]

Well OK I am definitely out voted on this! Might as well cut to the chase and get the bucket:p

 

[CCK_8814 Verified Sponsor]

It works. It’s especially effective when only one nem is on the rock. The other day when I decided to add more to my display I chose a rock with 8 on it so my only real option was to chisel them off. Here’s some photos of what the rock looked like before, after, first introduced to tank and a few days later. You just have to be very careful when using the chisel method to not accidentally damage a foot (or your hand [emoji6]).

 

[Davy Jones]

For most Rock types i have found it very easy to GENTLY peel the foot up using your finger nail.. If the foot is deep inside the rock this wont work of course.

 

[cracker]

Just detached a nem last weekend. The upside down over a bucket look about half an hour.

Did You stand there & hold it? If so, laud your patience !

 

[Amoo]

if you rig a piece of PVC up larger then the nem and place it around the nem, the nem will crawl through it to get to the light.

 

[dbl]

if you rig a piece of PVC up larger then the nem and place it around the nem, the nem will crawl through it to get to the light.

I tried that with a plastic disposable flower pot, but never thought about a piece of PVC. What a great suggestion.

 

[Amoo]

I tried that with a plastic disposable flower pot, but never thought about a piece of PVC. What a great suggestion.

Not even gonna lie, sniped that idea from a poster on here over a year ago.

 

[dbl]

Not even gonna lie, sniped that idea from a poster on here over a year ago.

LOL...not gonna lie, I sniped the flower pot idea from a post here. As the saying goes...imitation is the highest form of flattery.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nice little collection.
- I've held the rock upside down allowing them to dislocate from rock. If they did not within a couple of minutes, I use a soft toothbrush and tease their footing and they do release quickly