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

[Corals.com]

Awesome!! I hope mine do that someday!

We hope so too! Fingers crossed!

 

[Fish Think Pink]

How do you tell sex of RFA? Flip it over (giggle) ... but seriously asking

I've had one that I've grown from 1/2" to +4" - gorgeous fluorescent orange color under blue lights. I've never noticed 'smoke' so does that mean mine is female? Or still too young to know?

 

[Corals.com]

How do you tell sex of RFA? Flip it over (giggle) ... but seriously asking

I've had one that I've grown from 1/2" to +4" - gorgeous fluorescent orange color under blue lights. I've never noticed 'smoke' so does that mean mine is female? Or still too young to know?

Not necessarily female since you haven't seen it happen, it's just hard to catch them in action, especially if it occurs overnight when your lights are off. The rock flowers that spawned for us were only around 1.25".

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Not necessarily female since you haven't seen it happen, it's just hard to catch them in action, especially if it occurs overnight when your lights are off. The rock flowers that spawned for us were only around 1.25".

Good to know yours size. Makes me think I should get a couple more, then put them all together and see what happens when lights go off...

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!

Are the lights on or off at 6pm spawnings? How long does this 'smoke' last?

My lights start ramping up at 1:30pm to ramp all the way down at 10pm, so my tank has light at 6pm. Wondering if they NEED dark at 6pm because if so then they'll need different tank & different light schedule as family likes to watch our tank in evening

 

[Corals.com]

Good to know yours size. Makes me think I should get a couple more, then put them all together and see what happens when lights go off...

Are the lights on or off at 6pm spawnings? How long does this 'smoke' last?

My lights start ramping up at 1:30pm to ramp all the way down at 10pm, so my tank has light at 6pm. Wondering if they NEED dark at 6pm because if so then they'll need different tank & different light schedule as family likes to watch our tank in evening

Good to know yours size. Makes me think I should get a couple more, then put them all together and see what happens when lights go off...

Are the lights on or off at 6pm spawnings? How long does this 'smoke' last?

My lights start ramping up at 1:30pm to ramp all the way down at 10pm, so my tank has light at 6pm. Wondering if they NEED dark at 6pm because if so then they'll need different tank & different light schedule as family likes to watch our tank in evening

Plus, rock flower gardens look really cool too! I wouldn’t say that there is a specific time that they would spawn either. Just that it typically occurs when the lights are off. That could be at night or even early morning!

 

[Janet Belanger]

Good to know yours size. Makes me think I should get a couple more, then put them all together and see what happens when lights go off...

Are the lights on or off at 6pm spawnings? How long does this 'smoke' last?

My lights start ramping up at 1:30pm to ramp all the way down at 10pm, so my tank has light at 6pm. Wondering if they NEED dark at 6pm because if so then they'll need different tank & different light schedule as family likes to watch our tank in evening

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.

 

[Janet Belanger]

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!.

What a beautiful bunch! Also all great info!! I've seen what seemed like a newly released baby from one of the females and it was almost colorless and could have easily been sucked up through an airline hose. It was floating around the DT waiting to find a place to land. I feel like I don't spot babies until they're about the size of a pencil eraser (which I suspect is when they start to color up). Do you happen to know if the babies are "born" colorless and color up over time?

 

[Corals.com]

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.

Great mfo

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.

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.

Great info! Thanks for sharing that!

 

[gunflintcamper]

Awesome thread! Lots of super helpful info! I just recently was told that mine could maybe multiply...i have 7-10 in each of two tanks. I spot feed once a week. Soooo...maybe someday?

At what size do you try to collect the babies?

My 20 cube has enough rock to lose a hundred micro babies.

 

[Janet Belanger]

Awesome thread! Lots of super helpful info! I just recently was told that mine could maybe multiply...i have 7-10 in each of two tanks. I spot feed once a week. Soooo...maybe someday?

At what size do you try to collect the babies?

My 20 cube has enough rock to lose a hundred micro babies.

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.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Good to know yours size. Makes me think I should get a couple more, then put them all together and see what happens when lights go off...

Are the lights on or off at 6pm spawnings? How long does this 'smoke' last?

My lights start ramping up at 1:30pm to ramp all the way down at 10pm, so my tank has light at 6pm. Wondering if they NEED dark at 6pm because if so then they'll need different tank & different light schedule as family likes to watch our tank in evening

Plus, rock flower gardens look really cool too! I wouldn’t say that there is a specific time that they would spawn either. Just that it typically occurs when the lights are off. That could be at night or even early morning!

I've had more than a dozen spawning events in my tanks and they all happened when the lights were on, but in the early evening, between 6pm and 9pm, when just the blue leds were on. And remember, these guys may well see blue light dimming as being early evening, but it's possible it's the fact that as the lights dim, photosynthesis stops and that could also be the trigger for spawning.

What a beautiful bunch! Also all great info!! I've seen what seemed like a newly released baby from one of the females and it was almost colorless and could have easily been sucked up through an airline hose. It was floating around the DT waiting to find a place to land. I feel like I don't spot babies until they're about the size of a pencil eraser (which I suspect is when they start to color up). Do you happen to know if the babies are "born" colorless and color up over time?

All the babies I've had, were from colorful parents. And we first discovered we had babies when we saw very tiny specs of color on some bare rocks. They weren't much bigger than 1/16th or 1/8th on an inch in diameter.

I do have a couple of far less colorful RFAs that I've collected when snorkeling. But so far I haven't seen either of them spawn and I haven't had any new babies since they went into the tank. But I'm 20+ days out from the last spawning event where 7 or 8 out of 205+ spawned. If I'm right about the 25 to 35 day gestation period, I might see babies in the next week or two.

 

[homer1475]

I actually wish mine would stop spawning!

Pretty soon my tank will be nothing but RFA's. lol I currently have about 25 babies, only problem is they are all white, or black centers with orange tentacles, or an orange center with white tentacles. I do not collect them, just let them go where they want to.

These are a couple of mine. About the size of a pencil eraser:

And my babies from my very first spawn I noticed. These are now about the size of a silver dollar.

 

[Corals.com]

I actually wish mine would stop spawning!

Pretty soon my tank will be nothing but RFA's. lol I currently have about 25 babies, only problem is they are all white, or black centers with orange tentacles, or an orange center with white tentacles. I do not collect them, just let them go where they want to.

These are a couple of mine. About the size of a pencil eraser:

And my babies from my very first spawn I noticed. These are now about the size of a silver dollar.

Thanks for sharing! If you have any info on how often or when they spawn for you, let us know!

 

[Janet Belanger]

I've had more than a dozen spawning events in my tanks and they all happened when the lights were on, but in the early evening, between 6pm and 9pm, when just the blue leds were on. And remember, these guys may well see blue light dimming as being early evening, but it's possible it's the fact that as the lights dim, photosynthesis stops and that could also be the trigger for spawning.



All the babies I've had, were from colorful parents. And we first discovered we had babies when we saw very tiny specs of color on some bare rocks. They weren't much bigger than 1/16th or 1/8th on an inch in diameter.

I do have a couple of far less colorful RFAs that I've collected when snorkeling. But so far I haven't seen either of them spawn and I haven't had any new babies since they went into the tank. But I'm 20+ days out from the last spawning event where 7 or 8 out of 205+ spawned. If I'm right about the 25 to 35 day gestation period, I might see babies in the next week or two.

Ohh fun! So it seems that at least some of them begin colorful.

All my "adults' were colorful and hand selected, but over time genetics took over and many of the babies aren't as colorful as the parents. Very few babies that have survived are replicas of ANY of my original bunch. I think I get maybe 5 or 6 babies from each spawn and now have about 50 or 60 total from the original 7 I picked up. Survivability is likely low for me due to flow, and I haven't seen it but I suspect some of the fish eat them. My clownfish stare at the nems sometimes and it appears they're watching/waiting for something to happen.

I wish I had tracked the one little baby I saw that wasn't colorful to find out where it landed... maybe it colored up, maybe not.

Let us know what happens with the spawn! Curious to know if 25-30 days is accurate, I haven't been tracking timing for my bunch. It does seem that spawning seems more frequent in the summer time for me.

 

[Tofer]

I have had multiple spawning events in my bio cube32 over the past 3 years . The most recent was a week ago . I started out with 3 and now I have about 40ish maybe more . I don’t go out of my way to fed them directly they catch left over from fish . The male is on the opposite side of the tank from the known females so in my experience they don’t have to be close to each other . Like others have said it’s usually starts around 6pm ish sometime it seems to be close to a equinox before or after . Some of the babies are clones of the parents but some can be different colors as well . Attached are some pics of the babies and 1 showing the male raised releasing sperm .

 

[Corals.com]

I have had multiple spawning events in my bio cube32 over the past 3 years . The most recent was a week ago . I started out with 3 and now I have about 40ish maybe more . I don’t go out of my way to fed them directly they catch left over from fish . The male is on the opposite side of the tank from the known females so in my experience they don’t have to be close to each other . Like others have said it’s usually starts around 6pm ish sometime it seems to be close to a equinox before or after . Some of the babies are clones of the parents but some can be different colors as well . Attached are some pics of the babies and 1 showing the male raised releasing sperm .

That's awesome! Looks like you've got quite the collection of them! Thanks for sharing the pics!

 

[Nicroper]

Could anyone confirm that these are baby rock flower anemones? I do have 2 adults in the tank. Thanks!

 

[Janet Belanger]

Could anyone confirm that these are baby rock flower anemones? I do have 2 adults in the tank. Thanks!

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.

 

[jesspal]

Could anyone confirm that these are baby rock flower anemones? I do have 2 adults in the tank. Thanks!

They look pest anemone to me

 

[Tofer]

Yes they are baby flower anemone