Cell's Rock Flower Madness

[Cell]

Sometime in early 2020 I added 9 full grown Rock Flower Anemone's to my tank. In November/December of that year, I discovered the first baby. It was a little eraser sized speck glowing brightly in my sandbed. It didn't take very long until found another, then another, then even more. On and on it went for several weeks until by the very end, I had amassed around 40 baby RFA's.



They initially went into a PVC end cap and remained there for months. I would periodically squirt Reef Roids or Benereef into the cup to feed them and encourage growth. Realizing how quickly I could be plagued with RFA's if left uncontrolled, I eventually moved all the adults along with the entire baby brood into a WB10 where they have been ever since. I stopped feeding them regularly and just let them be. They are still fairly small, but they are finally getting to a point where I'm going to start selling them locally. Here is what they look like today:

The most exceptional specimens will be kept and cultivated. There are many more in the tank still and I'm finding some very small ones again, so I think there may have been another birthing event at some point.

I'm not shipping, only selling locally, but I just wanted to share some cool pics with the class here on R2R! Some of you may have seen the end cap garden in Ron Reefman's RFA mega thread, but the rack pic is new.

 

[1112-425XL]

Impressive!

 

[taricha]

Here is what they look like today:

The most exceptional specimens will be kept and cultivated.

Amazing. Are these genetic clones of the nine originals that you had in the tank? Or are they genetic mixes from a spawning etc event?

 

[billyocean]

That's really cool! Also interested in if they are clones or a mix of colors...

 

[billyocean]

And I suppose that is about 3 years of growth from babies to there?

 

[brandon429]

I added just one recently to my pico

Is it going to divide all over the place like a mushroom

 

[Cell]

Amazing. Are these genetic clones of the nine originals that you had in the tank? Or are they genetic mixes from a spawning etc event?

Great question! I have no idea.

Here are 7 of the original 9, I sold one with a dark green disc and brown tents, and an orange with grayish tents.



My impression was that the big orange one with dark tentacles was the mother. There really seems to be a great variety of colors and characteristics covering all the adults as well as new color combinations.

 

[Cell]

And I suppose that is about 3 years of growth from babies to there?

Yep, 2.5 years to be more precise. Target fed regularly for the first 8-12 months, then rarely fed after that.

 

[Cell]

I added just one recently to my pico

Is it going to divide all over the place like a mushroom

RFA's dont divide. If that what @taricha meant by genetic clones, then no, it was a spawning event.

 

[billyocean]

I think by clones they meant were they the same colors or did they take colors and mix from the parents.

 

[taricha]

as well as new color combinations.

Gotcha! So yes, the babies have some genetic differences from the adults. Awesome.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Those are amazing!!

 

[FourPawz]

Location?

 

[Cell]

Twin Cities area

 

[Mmbra]

Glad to see those babies are still doing great.

 

[OrchidMiss]

Love it!

 

[OrchidMiss]

I have about 7 in my 20g.
Plan on adding several more soon! Then gonna just let them spit babies allll over the place

 

[shakacuz]

i have about 10. no spawns yet :(

 

[jkcoral]

Over the years I’ve tried to keep track (as much as is possible) of details about the color of babies relative to at least the mother (by focusing on RFA babies found directly under the skirt of a mother).

I’ve found almost no correlation between the color of the parent and final color of the baby. I even went as far as setting up a separate pico tank exclusively for splatters to see if splatters breeding makes more splatters, and ultimately the outcomes of the babies seem to be completely random.

 

[JoJosReef]

Do you know if RFAs spawn when in close proximity to one another or would a spawn occur if you had them on opposite ends of a tank?