I have a mini maxi that has great color, bright yellow and green, but it is huge! I have it in my nano but it is stinging other corals. How do i either get it off the rock to move it to another tank, or frag it? I have heard you cut it in half but I'm not skilled enough to do it and keep it alive. Thoughts?
Mini maxi, not so mini
- Thread starter MattL
- Start date
Good luck. I have had a number of maxi mini's and they are very stubborn. Getting it off the rock is nearly impossible. You can frag them by cutting them in half through the middle of their mouth, but it needs to be off of the rock before you can do it. Also, you must use a very sharp knife, scissors, or preferably a razor blade to do it. I would try to coax it off of the rock over several days. If you can get it to attach to a smooth surface you will be able to remove it easily.
Normal carpets you cannot cut, as they do not propagate naturally through splitting (forget the technical term). However, the mini maxi's do split. The best sucess I have had is to find a small power head, (like a koralina 425 nano) and point it directly at the nem. This will make them move and you can usually scoop them up at this time, using a credit card under their foot if you need to.
I had a 33 gal cube dedicated just to the mini maxis and a couple bta... Ended up getting damn red bubble algae (the stubborn harder to pucture skinned type not many emeralds like to attempt 
) so needless to say I got sick of the bubble algae and during my move - I removed every single mini maxi (a dozen or so) by hand... If you can get a finger tip or other softer object under an edge of the foot... G-E-N-T-L-Y move side to side, working up the rest of the foot. Just like you would a BTA or other anemone. Luckily for me most of my rock was flatter so this was easier for me this way. Plus by using my hand I could feel how much pressure I was actually putting on the poor lil things. ...which is another thing you should keep in check...
I stupidly tried using something hard (like a credit card) to pry one foot up to one of my favs!!! It did not go well for the guy. I got him off and in one piece etc But he got cut on his foot bad enough that he died days later. So NOT saying using a credit card might not work for some - especially if it is attached to flatter area... the one I dealt with had his foot half on flat and half down in a hold in the rock I didnt even see... So just be very very careful!!! Like Elmer Fud hunting wabbits!!! LMAO (sry corny but its early and I am NOT a morning person haha)
Maybe a rubber kitchen spatula would work well for you?? They come in all shorts of sizes from lil 1" minis to the normal 4" ones that is probably in a drawer in your kitchen somewhere I would definantly try the power head method of course before any of these... or if you cant get a power head in there (or he is that darn stubborn)... I suppose you could try putting a small flat rock of where he is footed (like if he is footed into a hole that the power head simple makes him withdrawl more into) - I have done it before as well, I found they figure out pretty quickly something is blocking their light and their way to expand to catch food and some of mine have moved to the top side of the new rock within hours!!!!!
Hope that gives you enough ideas to figure out how to safely get the lil guy outta there!! GOOD LUCK!
) so needless to say I got sick of the bubble algae and during my move - I removed every single mini maxi (a dozen or so) by hand... If you can get a finger tip or other softer object under an edge of the foot... G-E-N-T-L-Y move side to side, working up the rest of the foot. Just like you would a BTA or other anemone. Luckily for me most of my rock was flatter so this was easier for me this way. Plus by using my hand I could feel how much pressure I was actually putting on the poor lil things. ...which is another thing you should keep in check... I stupidly tried using something hard (like a credit card) to pry one foot up to one of my favs!!!
It did not go well for the guy. I got him off and in one piece etc But he got cut on his foot bad enough that he died days later. So NOT saying using a credit card might not work for some - especially if it is attached to flatter area... the one I dealt with had his foot half on flat and half down in a hold in the rock I didnt even see... So just be very very careful!!! Like Elmer Fud hunting wabbits!!! LMAO (sry corny but its early and I am NOT a morning person haha)Maybe a rubber kitchen spatula would work well for you?? They come in all shorts of sizes from lil 1" minis to the normal 4" ones that is probably in a drawer in your kitchen somewhere
I would definantly try the power head method of course before any of these... or if you cant get a power head in there (or he is that darn stubborn)... I suppose you could try putting a small flat rock of where he is footed (like if he is footed into a hole that the power head simple makes him withdrawl more into) - I have done it before as well, I found they figure out pretty quickly something is blocking their light and their way to expand to catch food and some of mine have moved to the top side of the new rock within hours!!!!! Hope that gives you enough ideas to figure out how to safely get the lil guy outta there!! GOOD LUCK!