What to do with BABY torches

[Nemesis of Pistol Shrimps]

Hello fellas,

Weird situation. I have a bunch of baby rasta torches all over my rocks which started to pop up after my tank crashed and the original mother torch died. Interesting propagating mechanism.

I would like to know how I would be able to move these (naturally planted there since birth, not frags) since they are in higher spots where I would like to put SPS in the future.

Oh and initially I thought they were mojano anemones: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/weird-polyps-on-rock-id.939455/#post-10640357

 

[Jekyl]

Cutting the rock works.

 

[Fishy888]

Hello fellas,

Weird situation. I have a bunch of baby rasta torches all over my rocks which started to pop up after my tank crashed and the original mother torch died. Interesting propagating mechanism.

I would like to know how I would be able to move these (naturally planted there since birth, not frags) since they are in higher spots where I would like to put SPS in the future.

Oh and initially I thought they were mojano anemones: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/weird-polyps-on-rock-id.939455/#post-10640357 View attachment 3071412 View attachment 3071413

You could always send me some! Seriously though I would consider treating them like they were aiptasia and hit ‘‘em with kalk paste. First you’ll need to scrape as much as possible off the rock. If you can take the rock out to do it it’ll be best because you can rinse the rock off after you scrape it without bits decomposing or making new torches. Once the rock is scraped hit those places with the kalk paste. I prefer doing this out of water as well because you can let the kalk paste sit right there without it being diluted immediately. That makes a difference. Oh and if you run into aiptasia or majanos do not scrape the rock prior to using the kalk paste. If you scrape a rock with pest anemones without kalking them first your tank will become a cacophony of pest nems.

 

[Nemesis of Pistol Shrimps]

You could always send me some! Seriously though I would consider treating them like they were aiptasia and hit ‘‘em with kalk paste. First you’ll need to scrape as much as possible off the rock. If you can take the rock out to do it it’ll be best because you can rinse the rock off after you scrape it without bits decomposing or making new torches. Once the rock is scraped hit those places with the kalk paste. I prefer doing this out of water as well because you can let the kalk paste sit right there without it being diluted immediately. That makes a difference. Oh and if you run into aiptasia or majanos do not scrape the rock prior to using the kalk paste. If you scrape a rock with pest anemones without kalking them first your tank will become a cacophony of pest nems.

I'm thinking of cutting them off somehow, no idea how since some rocks are foundations and can't be removed, and then putting them all in one area and making it grow out into a cool torch garden. I never thought I would hear treating baby torches the same way people treat AIPTASIA though

 

[Jason boles]

If they are the branching type I believe you could just wait until they grow up a bit and the skeleton extends beyond the top of the rock, then chop it off.

I could be being naive, but mine appear to continually grow upwards from the base.

 

[Fishy888]

I'm thinking of cutting them off somehow, no idea how since some rocks are foundations and can't be removed, and then putting them all in one area and making it grow out into a cool torch garden. I never thought I would hear treating baby torches the same way people treat AIPTASIA though

I didn’t think you wanted to keep them or sell them. I’m glad to hear you want to keep them! You’ll need figure out a way to remove your rock however to cut them and mount them where you want them.