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

[Nicroper]

Those sure look like RFA babies to me, but yours are FAR more prolific than mine! I think because I have high flow for SPS, only a few of the babies actually live. Mine spread out, and aren't clustered like that.

Given the different sizing and sheer amount it seems like maybe it could be multiple spawns worth of RFA.

I'd be curious to know what others think.

Thanks for the confirmation! I do think there have been multiple spawns and I only began to notice because of the large amounts of babies.

 

[Nicroper]

They look pest anemone to me

That is what I was worried about originally, but started to find the multiple sizes and the clusters close to what I am assuming is the female.

 

[Nicroper]

Yes they are baby flower anemone

Thanks!

 

[jesspal]

I’m still not convinced, they appear to have no color at all and from what I’ve seen on here the babies are usually colored in some way.

That is what I was worried about originally, but started to find the multiple sizes and the clusters close to what I am assuming is the female

 

[Cell]

I think I'm with Jess here. I'm not liking the tentacle shape and pattern on those. Check out my babies on post 2 of this thread.

 

[Cell]

Whaddya think @Ron Reefman ?

 

[TnFishwater98]

When mine spawn the lights are on, but beginning the first part of "sunset". I don't know if it makes a huge difference if the lights are on or off honestly, but I have heard of reports of others saying the spawn happens around 5-6pm in the evenings as well, and that's always been my experience too. I'd say the "smoking" lasts for maybe 15-20 mins. Big Papa tends to be the most 'fruitful' and he's certainly my largest nem at about 3 inches across. He's also further from the others in the tank by about a good 6 inches, so they don't necessarily need to be super close together to spawn. I also have pretty good flow, enough that supports SPS.

I don't think you're able to tell if they're male or female until you catch them in action. Typically the males just before spawn will kind of stretch out away from the rock and become cup/bowl shaped.

The females (I think) I've repeatedly witnessed swollen tentacles and what I believe are little 'eggs' inside swirling around inside the tentacles. Definitely easier to see these at night when a flashlight is pointed at them.

I think they spawn more often when I am consistent about feeding once a week, like Ron suggested.

I just missed it but this “guy” was stretched out and made a bowl/cup like you mentioned. I went to get a filter to take a pic and he had already retracted. He was starched out a inch or two maybe ....So you are saying this is probably a male RFA...?

 

[Janet Belanger]

For mine, I can't tell exactly when they start to color up, but a great many of the babies in my tank start out white or near colorless then gain color over time. Usually about the time they're pea sized (roughly zoa sized), they usually start showing their colors, and then the color increases in intensity. Usually about the time it's dime sized it seemingly has full color.

 

[Janet Belanger]

I just missed it but this “guy” was stretched out and made a bowl/cup like you mentioned. I went to get a filter to take a pic and he had already retracted. He was starched out a inch or two maybe ....So you are saying this is probably a male RFA...?

Yep, that's my experience and assumption. As some point you would have seen a white/cloudy 'spawn' come from the mouth while it was lifted from the rock. So far I haven't seen my (assumed male) RFA's lifted away from the rock like that for any other reason, BUT clearly that doesn't mean they don't.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Whaddya think @Ron Reefman ?

To be completely honest, I'm not sure. If I had to guess I'd say I'm about 66% thinking they are not RFA and 33% thinking they are.

All the babies I've had have color, sometimes even bright color right from the time they were about 1/8" in diameter. That makes me think these may not be RFAs. And I've seen 3 different looks to the tentacles when they were small. Some looked kind of like these but that's not very reassuring.

The forth photo Nicroper posted, with literally dozens of tiny anemones, looks quite suspicious to me. They all look the same (not my experience), they all lack color (also not my experience) and they are all grouped very close together (possible for RFAs, but I think unlikely).

Here is a photo of some of my very young kids.

I see eight small to tiny RFAs (ignore the 2 clusters of zoas). They all have good color even though they are all very small.

Here you can see 3 different tentacle shapes on some of the RFAs.

The orange faced ones (toward the top of the photo) have a fine fringe look. The yellow & orange one (middle of the photo) has thicker tentacles, but still a lot of them. The orange one (at the bottom) has far fewer tentacles which look similar to some from the photos Nicroper posted. But again, it has bright color?

I wish I could be more helpful, but that's the best I can do at this point. If I were Nicroper, I'd keep them and see how they develop over time. But I'd also be prepared to do some serious mitigation if it turns out these are some kind of pest anemone.

Good luck and please keep up informed (pictures always help!).

 

[ApoIsland]

Keep good water quality I'm pretty sure you'll get some spawning at some point, but be careful what you wish for!

For me it's near impossible to collect the majority of the babies. Once they root the foot in the rock (especially base rock) it's really difficult to get them out without destroying the foot and/or the rock. I'm able to collect some by cutting the rock with bone cutters, and then drop the chunk of rock with the nem on it, into a collection container. I think you'd have the most success collecting them as soon as you find them, but they 'root' almost everywhere in my tank. Perhaps if you have less flow, they'll settle in closer to the parents.

In my experience you get much more frequent spawns with poor water quality than with good. And my poor water quality spawns result in a munch greater amount of babies. Very few seem to survive more than a few months before they just disappear though in any situation, good or bad water quality. I don't feed them though so that is probably a big reason for lack of survival from the babies.

When I was really putting in the effort I had only a couple spawns per year which resulted in only a few babies. The last 6 months I have really let things slide and have noticed at least 4 spawns and can easily count more than 100 babies.

 

[Nicroper]

To be completely honest, I'm not sure. If I had to guess I'd say I'm about 66% thinking they are not RFA and 33% thinking they are.

All the babies I've had have color, sometimes even bright color right from the time they were about 1/8" in diameter. That makes me think these may not be RFAs. And I've seen 3 different looks to the tentacles when they were small. Some looked kind of like these but that's not very reassuring.

The forth photo Nicroper posted, with literally dozens of tiny anemones, looks quite suspicious to me. They all look the same (not my experience), they all lack color (also not my experience) and they are all grouped very close together (possible for RFAs, but I think unlikely).

Here is a photo of some of my very young kids.

I see eight small to tiny RFAs (ignore the 2 clusters of zoas). They all have good color even though they are all very small.

Here you can see 3 different tentacle shapes on some of the RFAs.

The orange faced ones (toward the top of the photo) have a fine fringe look. The yellow & orange one (middle of the photo) has thicker tentacles, but still a lot of them. The orange one (at the bottom) has far fewer tentacles which look similar to some from the photos Nicroper posted. But again, it has bright color?

I wish I could be more helpful, but that's the best I can do at this point. If I were Nicroper, I'd keep them and see how they develop over time. But I'd also be prepared to do some serious mitigation if it turns out these are some kind of pest anemone.

Good luck and please keep up informed (pictures always help!).

Thanks for all the feedback. I am still on the fence as well. Could the color just be duller because my parent flowers are also relatively dull? I am going to attach a picture of the other one that I have been calling the "male". The largest baby(size of pencil eraser) I can see looks to have the same color as the larger "male" flower. I first noticed them when I was changing the filter floss, they were tiny, so I put them under the dissecting scope and they had color under there but not to the naked eye. Oh I could take some pictures through the scope if that would help? If they are not baby RFAs what could they be? I thought majanos could be a possibility, but I feel like they would be much larger by now. I did post on the meet and greet thread so there is some background info that might help as well.

 

[Nicroper]

I took some pictures under the dissecting scope. Maybe these will help.

 

[Nicroper]

One more picture for size reference. I would say the largest ones in these photos are about 1/2 cm and the largest one in my tank is about 1cm. I first noticed them @May 17th.

 

[Tofer]

they are baby RFA. they will gain more color as they get older . I may have a pic of little ones I have had .

 

[Cell]

Still look like pests or not RFA's to me.

 

[Cell]

This is what they should look like.

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

 

[Nicroper]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Still look like pests or not RFA's to me.

Do have an idea of what they could possibly be? I can't find anything similar so far ‍

 

[Nicroper]

I will keep an eye on them and see how they turn out. Regardless of what they are they will be staying because this is a student/classroom tank. I have only been spot feeding a few to help them live and grow, so I feel like very few will actually make it. I just hope they stay civil! Thanks everyone

 

[Nicroper]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Do have an idea of what they could possibly be? I can't find anything similar so far ‍

Oh man lol I need to learn how to use emojis here. I did not mean to pu that symbol.