**Baby Rock Flower Anemones!** Reproduction at Corals.com! Share your stories too!

[Corals.com]

Happy Tuesday! We had an exciting event here at Corals.com!
Looks like we're the proud "extended" parents of 11 baby Rock Flower Anemones!
We've had these 2 Rock Flowers in a container by themselves for several months now.
We were curious to see what would happen if left relatively undisturbed. Well, I guess
we now know the answer to that question! Always cool to see corals reproducing in your
tanks! Feel free to share any pics or stories of corals that have reproduced for you!
Thanks for checking these out and happy reefing my friends!

 

[Cell]

Here's my brood from about 4 months ago in a 2 inch pvc cap:

 

[ApoIsland]

Here's my brood from about 4 months ago in a 2 inch pvc cap:

I love this pic. Wish I had the motivation to collect and isolate my babies.

Is this a pic from 4 months ago, or is this a recent pic after they have been in the cup for 4 months?

 

[Peace River]

Congratulations on the new RFAs!!!

@Ron Reefman may have some thoughts to share!

 

[Cell]

I love this pic. Wish I had the motivation to collect and isolate my babies.

Is this a pic from 4 months ago, or is this a recent pic after they have been in the cup for 4 months?

Old pic. They've since been split up and moved to the bottom of a different tank so I havent taken any pics recently.

 

[ApoIsland]

Happy Tuesday! We had an exciting event here at Corals.com!
Looks like we're the proud "extended" parents of 11 baby Rock Flower Anemones!
We've had these 2 Rock Flowers in a container by themselves for several months now.
We were curious to see what would happen if left relatively undisturbed. Well, I guess
we now know the answer to that question! Always cool to see corals reproducing in your
tanks! Feel free to share any pics or stories of corals that have reproduced for you!
Thanks for checking these out and happy reefing my friends!

Would you mind sharing a little more about the details of the size of the container, lighting, any filter, and how the rfa's were kept w/ regard to water changes, feeding, etc..?

I'm planning on starting a 2 gal pico and was thinking to rehome two from my main tank that I know are male/female and would love to hear what you are doing.

 

[Corals.com]

Here's my brood from about 4 months ago in a 2 inch pvc cap:

That’s awesome! Looks like you really had an event! Were you trying for it or did it just happen randomly in your tank? Curious to know what size they were initially versus now too! We’d love to know the details! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Corals.com]

Congratulations on the new RFAs!!!

@Ron Reefman may have some thoughts to share!

Thanks! We appreciate that! Will be fun to watch them grow for sure! We love sharing!

 

[Corals.com]

Old pic. They've since been split up and moved to the bottom of a different tank so I havent taken any pics recently.

Very cool! Would love to know the change in their size since they began! Thanks!

 

[Corals.com]

Would you mind sharing a little more about the details of the size of the container, lighting, any filter, and how the rfa's were kept w/ regard to water changes, feeding, etc..?

I'm planning on starting a 2 gal pico and was thinking to rehome two from my main tank that I know are male/female and would love to hear what you are doing.

Sure! We keep them in smaller baskets so they're not escaping and hiding in our tanks! We keep them in indirect/lower lighting as well as lower flow. We think one important aspect in getting them to reproduce sexually successfully, would be keeping them in close proximity to one another (baskets, containers, rock flower garden, etc). That way, in the off chance that egg and sperm are released, they don't have long distances to overcome to "meet up" so to say and get skimmed out before they have had the chance to fertilize. We're not sure 100% yet if these produced asexually or sexually quite yet, but some of the colors of the babies are not 100% identical to the 2 anemones, so those could be the result of sexual reproduction(mix of the 2), while others are very close in color. Those may have been from asexual reproduction. Guess we'll have to see how their colors develop over time! We feed our rock flowers every other week as they are very self sufficient in filter feeding on their own. We do between 10-15% water changes every week as well. Other than that, we feel consistency overall is key to all corals settling into your aquarium and doing well long term! Thanks for reaching out!

 

[Janet Belanger]

So Cool! Beautiful pics!

In my tank, Big Papa (and sometimes some of his presumably male companions) spawn at around dinner time 6pm every few months. I can see what I believe are 'eggs' swirling around inside the tentacles of the some of the other rock flower nems (presumably female). The lighter color tentacles are easier to spot what's swirling around inside, and the tentacles swell up with water when there's activity in there. I don't believe very many of the babies survive, but I spot little ones all over the tank in varied colors and patterns. Such neat creatures!

 

[DaneGer21]

If y’all get to many, pm for my address, I’ll take a free sample! Haha

 

[Corals.com]

So Cool! Beautiful pics!

In my tank, Big Papa (and sometimes some of his presumably male companions) spawn at around dinner time 6pm every few months. I can see what I believe are 'eggs' swirling around inside the tentacles of the some of the other rock flower nems (presumably female). The lighter color tentacles are easier to spot what's swirling around inside, and the tentacles swell up with water when there's activity in there. I don't believe very many of the babies survive, but I spot little ones all over the tank in varied colors and patterns. Such neat creatures!

That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing that! If you catch it in action next time, send us some pics!

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

You guys are my heros! Good.job with the babies.
Lol
D

 

[Corals.com]

You guys are my heros! Good.job with the babies.
Lol
D

Thanks! Appreciate that!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Congrats on the new arrivals.

@Cell , that end cap with all those babies is just flat out awesome! Great work!

Over the past 5 years I've learned a lot about RFA reproduction, but it's mostly anecdotal because there is so little scientific or marine biology info about RFA reproduction out there.

My first experience was in a 120g DT and totally unexpected. I had a dozen in the tank and got about 15 babies that we found around the tank. A couple of years ago I set a RFA breeding tank. A 16g tank with 30+ RFAs of various sizes and colors. Although I had about 8 spawning events (all in the early evening which correlates with what Janet said up in post #11), I only got a few babies. After 18 months I decided to give it up and go back to enjoying them in my DT.

Two points.
First, the RFA females do not release eggs into the water as stated in post #10. The female takes in the sperm and fertilizes the eggs internally. It seems the gestation period is roughly 25 to 30 days (best guess based on numerous spawns in several reefers tanks). Then the babies are released from the female. This is very unlike corals that release sperm and eggs into the water column and they meet up and float around in the water.
Second, colorful RFAs do have zooxanthellae and deal with photosynthesis. But it seems they grow better and breed more often if fed regularly (as in every week or two). A small chunk of silversides or a shrimp work well.

Continued good luck.

A pic of a few of my kids tucked in close and playing with some friendly zoas!.

 

[Corals.com]

Congrats on the new arrivals.

@Cell , that end cap with all those babies is just flat out awesome! Great work!

Over the past 5 years I've learned a lot about RFA reproduction, but it's mostly anecdotal because there is so little scientific or marine biology info about RFA reproduction out there.

My first experience was in a 120g DT and totally unexpected. I had a dozen in the tank and got about 15 babies that we found around the tank. A couple of years ago I set a RFA breeding tank. A 16g tank with 30+ RFAs of various sizes and colors. Although I had about 8 spawning events (all in the early evening which correlates with what Janet said up in post #11), I only got a few babies. After 18 months I decided to give it up and go back to enjoying them in my DT.

Two points.
First, the RFA females do not release eggs into the water as stated in post #10. The female takes in the sperm and fertilizes the eggs internally. It seems the gestation period is roughly 25 to 30 days (best guess based on numerous spawns in several reefers tanks). Then the babies are released from the female. This is very unlike corals that release sperm and eggs into the water column and they meet up and float around in the water.
Second, colorful RFAs do have zooxanthellae and deal with photosynthesis. But it seems they grow better and breed more often if fed regularly (as in every week or two). A small chunk of silversides or a shrimp work well.

Continued good luck.

A pic of a few of my kids tucked in close and playing with some friendly zoas!.

Thanks for sharing! Awesome pic too by the way!

 

[Cell]

That’s awesome! Looks like you really had an event! Were you trying for it or did it just happen randomly in your tank? Curious to know what size they were initially versus now too! We’d love to know the details! Thanks for sharing!

I'll try to take some fresh pics soon. Growth has slowed, at the time of the previous pic I was feeding them every few days but shortly after the pic I moved them to a different tank and have barely fed them since. I wasn't trying to breed per se, but I had 7 or 8 adults near each other in the same tank so I assumed it would happen and welcomed it. It was a surprise though when I saw the first baby, I missed the spawning all together. I initially found just 10 or 12 babies and thought I had a nice small batch, but that number quickly grew to 20, then 30 and finally topped out at 40 something as I continued to find them for several weeks after I spotted the initial one.

 

[Corals.com]

I'll try to take some fresh pics soon. Growth has slowed, at the time of the previous pic I was feeding them every few days but shortly after the pic I moved them to a different tank and have barely fed them since. I wasn't trying to breed per se, but I had 7 or 8 adults near each other in the same tank so I assumed it would happen and welcomed it. It was a surprise though when I saw the first baby, I missed the spawning all together. I initially found just 10 or 12 babies and thought I had a nice small batch, but that number quickly grew to 20, then 30 and finally topped out at 40 something as I continued to find them for several weeks after I spotted the initial one.

Wow! You really ended up with a lot of babies! Yes, please do share some updated pics when you have time. That would be great to see! Thanks!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Awesome!! I hope mine do that someday!