Ron Reefman's Rock Flower experience

[Ron Reefman]

Tell me, can you tell the difference between a male and a female RFA sea anemone?
If it's already there somewhere, I'm sorry, I didn't read it

As far as I know, the only way to tell them apart is when the males spawn. Most of the time, when one male spawns, they all do. So the ones that don't spawn are usually the females. Sorry but I think that's the only way other than dissecting them.

 

[Waldek M.]

ok.thanks

 

[OrionN]

Tell me, can you tell the difference between a male and a female RFA sea anemone?
If it's already there somewhere, I'm sorry, I didn't read it

I don’t think there is an external different. until i see them spawn I cannot tell the two sex apart.

 

[rudipurwadi]

48 pages in a week.. Currently got 6 rfa in 2-3 months..
Thanks a lot Ron, greetings from Indonesia

 

[Judi M]

I currently have at least 15 babies! I am so excited.
However, just tested water and nitrates are at 0. Feed some reef roids in addition to regular food as they've raised nitrates previously.
I am currently fish less since Dec so hoping to add a fish this weekend to help.

 

[Ron Reefman]

48 pages in a week.. Currently got 6 rfa in 2-3 months..
Thanks a lot Ron, greetings from Indonesia

Glad you got through it all! 6 new RFA is cool. I have 6 in my 40g tank along with 4 very small babies I've found recently.

I sent you a private message here as well.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I currently have at least 15 babies! I am so excited.
However, just tested water and nitrates are at 0. Feed some reef roids in addition to regular food as they've raised nitrates previously.
I am currently fish less since Dec so hoping to add a fish this weekend to help.

Judi, 15 babies, that's great! How many adults do you have and in how big a tank?

I've been fish less in my 40g aio tank for a full year now. I like it as I don't have to feed as much, and the filters and tank glass stay cleaner, longer!

 

[Judi M]

Judi, 15 babies, that's great! How many adults do you have and in how big a tank?

I've been fish less in my 40g aio tank for a full year now. I like it as I don't have to feed as much, and the filters and tank glass stay cleaner, longer!

12 adult RFAs in a 32g biocube. I'm worried about lack of nitrates and my mag. is a little low. Going to lfs tmrw to get some mag. to add and need to get my nitrates up for these growing babies. I've been adding live phyto for the babies but stopped 2 days ago due to no nitrates.
I'm trying to decide what fish to add..I really want a pink streaked wrasse but who knows how long till I find one. With that in mind, the other possibilities are: midas or tailspot blenny and a yellow clown goby.
I really want the midas but concerned if I add it and try to add the PS wrasse later, there might be aggresion issues.

 

[SamGamOcean333]

Hello all. I am really glad I found this thread. It is probably the most filled informational on RFAs out there. Sadly there is basically zero information on them. I think we would all love to learn more about them both in tanks and in the wild including their breeding abilities. An RFA documentary or informational/article would be great right now. Someone tell @melev , or one of the other reef guys who makes magazines! I am on page 10 now of this forum, so I am still keeping up.

After 3-4 years of having 10+ RFAs in my 13.5 Evo I am finally seeing babies everywhere! I have never once seen them spawn, but I am not around the tank often. They must be spawning though because after noticing one baby and searching I found 10 babies in the DT, and 10 babies in the back chamber. I am lucking out they are almost all yellow and orange.

I want to add some helpful information here. If you have a refugium and chaeto, and you are noticing baby RFAs (or even not noticing) - you should 100% check your macro and fuge with a UV flashlight. I found 10 babies tangled up in a fist size ball of Chaeto last night after finding one for the first time. I threw out 90% of my chaeto 3 weeks ago. I probably through out 20-50 babies!

I also want to add here that I am from Akron, Ohio. I noticed yall talking about Frost Corals (even though I am 6 years late haha). He is one of the best vendors in our area, and almost always has an absolutely insane RFA collection. I got my first RFA from him 4 years ago - this beautiful rainbow/rasta RFA. It is the only RFA I still have to do this day, and can almost bet it was one of the spawners.

 

[SamGamOcean333]

Question: How is everyone dealing with the new Belize/DR imported RFAs??

I really like these yellow ones with occasional splatter that have been getting quite more popular and noticeable in the hobby since the Caribbean RFA bans. I assume they are Belize/DR deep water RFAs. I have tried 3-4 now over the course of 2 years, and they all eventually die after 1month - 1 year. I feel like it is not my fault because in these tanks I have plethora of healthy anemones. I am also really yet to see anyone with a RFA tank over a year have one of these in them.

Has anyone kept one of these alive for over 1-2 years? Any advice on dealing with RFAs from deep water, or Belize/DR? They seem to have an incredibly high mortality rate while the old Caribbean RFAs were near indestructible. Are they a different species entirely? Will they all breed together?

 

[Ron Reefman]

I got 5 of them a year ago and all but one has died. The first couple in less than a month. I still have one alive after a year and it seems to be doing OK. And this is in a tank with 6 RFAs that are all over 3 years in my tank. There are also 4 very young RFAs from a spawn last fall. And the Black Widow BTA that is 2 years in my tank is now 5 individuals!

 

[SamGamOcean333]

I got 5 of them a year ago and all but one has died. The first couple in less than a month. I still have one alive after a year and it seems to be doing OK. And this is in a tank with 6 RFAs that are all over 3 years in my tank. There are also 4 very young RFAs from a spawn last fall. And the Black Widow BTA that is 2 years in my tank is now 5 individuals!

That seems to follow the paradigm myself and most others are experiencing. Were they unique colors compared to the normal Caribbean ones were used to seeing? The amount of disinformation and lies coming from RFA vendors and collectors right now is very sad. I hope more documentation starts to arise about what morphs are from where, so we can start avoiding Belize and DR caught ones.

 

[Ron Reefman]

That seems to follow the paradigm myself and most others are experiencing. Were they unique colors compared to the normal Caribbean ones were used to seeing? The amount of disinformation and lies coming from RFA vendors and collectors right now is very sad. I hope more documentation starts to arise about what morphs are from where, so we can start avoiding Belize and DR caught ones.

The ones I bought looked very much like the Caribbean ones. Personally. I couldn't tell them apart. The one Belize RFA I still have looks just like the Caribbean ones I have (different colors, but similar design and look).

 

[SamGamOcean333]

The ones I bought looked very much like the Caribbean ones. Personally. I couldn't tell them apart. The one Belize RFA I still have looks just like the Caribbean ones I have (different colors, but similar design and look).

Since the pandemic it seems to me there are new morphs coming in. For example I have never seen those yellow splatters before the pandemic. I have been asking anyone to show me a photo of one of them in their tank from 4-5 years ago pre-pandemic, and literally no one can. Personally this raises a lot of questions. One of the biggest questions: Are the morphs completely different from Caribbean Florida vs DR vs Caribbean Belize?

I am seeing vendors with entire RFA batches that look big time different than the old ones pre-pandemic. Here is an example. I wont name the vendor, but the new ones coming in the past half decade which I assume are outside of the Caribbean often have green/grey tentacles. Unlike this vendor here they are often times puffed up for the seller, and partly bleached the first month.

I added the photo below of what they normally looked like before the pandemic - morphs I was very used to for a decade.

I am really hoping a diver or somone very knowledgeable on this chimes in. I tried ANOTHER 2x yellow splatter RFAs and put them in my Evo, and my RFA bowl. The one in my Evo died already. The other one in my orb wont attach.. Please check out my tanks and you will see it has nothing to do with my coral / RFA keeping abilities. This is the 5th one I have tried the past few years, and it is looking like a 100% mortality rate. I only keep trying because it is one of the prettiest RFAs I have ever seen, and vendors are getting so many of them now. In fact half of the vendors literally only had this RFA.

My tanks they are dying in:
1.
2.

 

[SamGamOcean333]

I made a post in our state reef Facebook group and asked if anyone else at the swap bought RFAs and if they died. 14/15 RFAs between 5 different buyers all melted within a week. There were close to ten RFA vendors. I personally bought all 4 of mine from different vendors to maximize chance of survival. It proved useless.

 

[Judi M]

So I bought a cheap black light flashlight on Amazon, and I have way more rfa babies than i thought! 25 at least. Best purchase ever as I can check them anytime now. I am also seeing tiny tiny dots everywhere and waiting to see if it's another batch of babies or not. I'm sure hoping I can get a few to live after reading about how so many see them and then they die before dime size. Adding All for reef, live phytoplankton in addition to normal feeding. Anything else I should do?

 

[SamGamOcean333]

So I bought a cheap black light flashlight on Amazon, and I have way more rfa babies than i thought! 25 at least. Best purchase ever as I can check them anytime now. I am also seeing tiny tiny dots everywhere and waiting to see if it's another batch of babies or not. I'm sure hoping I can get a few to live after reading about how so many see them and then they die before dime size. Adding All for reef, live phytoplankton in addition to normal feeding. Anything else I should do?

Congrats!! I found out also with the UV flashlight I got how many I really had! I am feeding live phyto and so far the babies are growing incredibly fast, and most look like they are surviving. I also try to baste them with some of the water from my food in hopes they get little particulates. If I find any in the sand I scoop them up with a plastic spoon and put them in a little container because my pistol moves the sand around and will kill them.

 

[rsach]

I am debating between using PVC end cap or a flat rock for the RFA garden. Would something like this flat rock work? I am getting 4 of them to begin with.
Also, if using PVC end cap, do you fill the sand later one the RFA is attached?

 

[sfin52]

I am debating between using PVC end cap or a flat rock for the RFA garden. Would something like this flat rock work? I am getting 4 of them to begin with.
Also, if using PVC end cap, do you fill the sand later one the RFA is attached?

It sure will

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'd recommend drilling some slightly bigger holes for the RFA's to set their foot in, like 3/4" or 1" in diameter. If you don't, I think many of your anemones will migrate to the edge of the rock at the surface of the sand. At least that's what mine did back when I did my first RFA garden.

I leave the end caps empty. But over time, if you keep them pushed down into the sand, they do fill up with sand and I don't think the anemones mind that.

Good luck.