Ron Reefman's Rock Flower experience

[Ron Reefman]

I'm currently setting up my 120gal display, and this post makes me want to get a bunch of rock flowers for that tank!

Do they generally stay in place, and are they aggressive?

Thanks for this awesome post!

RFAs do generally stay in one place once they settle in. They may move around some at first. And the have a tendency to like living at the sand/rock interface, attached to the edge of the rock at or just below the sand. But if they find a suitable hole in a rock, they may settle in there and stay forever. I've always been a fan of placing them in PVC plumbing end caps. Put them in an end cap and push the end cap down into the sand and they almost never move.

I've had no issues with RFAs being aggressive. I have Maxi-mini nems and zoas right up close. I'd be more careful with LPS and SPS corals. I've never had one cause a problem with any livestock. Serpent stars, crabs, sea cucumbers have all moved right over them.

 

[OrionN]

I got a few good pictures of my RFA and just want to show them off. I have three more that are in difficult to photograph and thus not show here. Still white light. I don’t have filter for blue light so these will have to do.

 

[Ron Reefman]

We just got back from a couple of days snorkeling in the Florida Keys. Although we collected very near our 80 individual animal limit (20/person/day), we didn't get any RFAs.

I needed CUC and we found the 'mother load' of cerith snails. We collected 44 in total.


We also got 7 hermit crabs in cerith shells,


10 astrea snails,


2 rock boring urchins, 1 small cucumber,


3 sea stars,


3 small clams.


This small rock (above, that the clams attached to already) has a white tube with a small white feather duster and there are several very, very small red feather dusters, 1 tiny limpet and 1 tiny chiton.

We had some nice sunsets and this is one of my favorite shots.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Today I was putting the last of my new collected CUC into the tank and I found I have a new Rose Bubbletip Anemone! Lucky me!

 

[cpschult]

Hey @Ron Reefman . I haven’t touched my tank for 3 months. Did a water change and cleaned out a bunch of bubble algae and general maintenance. Was looking at it this evening and saw these guys!!

Aw shoot, looks like I can’t post pictures anymore? Oh, I had to login!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hey @Ron Reefman . I haven’t touched my tank for 3 months. Did a water change and cleaned out a bunch of bubble algae and general maintenance. Was looking at it this evening and saw these guys!!

Aw shoot, looks like I can’t post pictures anymore? Oh, I had to login!

Cool! I just found a few very small anemones that I suspect are baby RFAs in my tank as well. But I have some very plain looking RFAs that I collected in the Keys and 3 of the babies look like they have no color, just dark gray and off white.

BTW, I'll be up in you neck of the woods in a few weeks. The SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) is having it's national championships, the RunOffs, at Road America which is near Elkhart Lake, WI. I'll be there as a photographer for a couple of small newsletters.

 

[cpschult]

Cool! I just found a few very small anemones that I suspect are baby RFAs in my tank as well. But I have some very plain looking RFAs that I collected in the Keys and 3 of the babies look like they have no color, just dark gray and off white.

BTW, I'll be up in you neck of the woods in a few weeks. The SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) is having it's national championships, the RunOffs, at Road America which is near Elkhart Lake, WI. I'll be there as a photographer for a couple of small newsletters.

Oh man, I thought that was closer than it actually is. 90 minutes, hmm. I’ve been trying to convince the kids to go back to the Keys for spring break again. My youngest loved it but my oldest would rather sit by the pool lol

 

[Ron Reefman]

Oh man, I thought that was closer than it actually is. 90 minutes, hmm. I’ve been trying to convince the kids to go back to the Keys for spring break again. My youngest loved it but my oldest would rather sit by the pool lol

Ha! I wish my drive was only 90 minutes! It's about 2400 miles each way and I'm driving a Miata! Actually, I'd rather drive my Miata than fly and rent a car!

 

[cpschult]

Ha! I wish my drive was only 90 minutes! It's about 2400 miles each way and I'm driving a Miata! Actually, I'd rather drive my Miata than fly and rent a car!

When I was younger we used to drive down there every summer. I have no idea how my parents did it. 24 hours straight through. Hope you have a great time!

 

[Ron Reefman]

When I was younger we used to drive down there every summer. I have no idea how my parents did it. 24 hours straight through. Hope you have a great time!

With a little luck I'll get a photo or 2 that are good enough to post up here.

 

[Trueruby]

We just got back from a couple of days snorkeling in the Florida Keys. Although we collected very near our 80 individual animal limit (20/person/day), we didn't get any RFAs.

I needed CUC and we found the 'mother load' of cerith snails. We collected 44 in total.


We also got 7 hermit crabs in cerith shells,


10 astrea snails,


2 rock boring urchins, 1 small cucumber,


3 sea stars,


3 small clams.


This small rock (above, that the clams attached to already) has a white tube with a small white feather duster and there are several very, very small red feather dusters, 1 tiny limpet and 1 tiny chiton.

We had some nice sunsets and this is one of my favorite shots.

Hi Ron, have you seen FL rfa’s healing back to normal? After bleaching event I have not seen them on market.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hi Ron, have you seen FL rfa’s healing back to normal? After bleaching event I have not seen them on market.

No, not at all. We snorkeled 3 different sites and saw no RFAs where we normally see at least a few. We didn't get to my favorite RFA site where we normally see a few dozen, so I can't say for sure.

 

[Trueruby]

No, not at all. We snorkeled 3 different sites and saw no RFAs where we normally see at least a few. We didn't get to my favorite RFA site where we normally see a few dozen, so I can't say for sure.

That is sad to hear, hope they can recover asap.

 

[OrionN]

A few pictures today

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Where are we buying our RFA from these days? Queen City has a nice selection but look like Central American which I have questions about the health of.

 

[sfin52]

Where are we buying our RFA from these days? Queen City has a nice selection but look like Central American which I have questions about the health of.

How can you tell?

 

[Ryebreadiest]

How can you tell?

I asked them.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Where are we buying our RFA from these days? Queen City has a nice selection but look like Central American which I have questions about the health of.

I'm not buying any as my Black Widow Bubble Tip nem has split 1 to 3 about a year ago and then again about 3 months ago. So I have 5 of them, 8 RFAs and 2 Maxi-minis along with my corals in a 40g breeder aio tank. So no room left!

 

[Waldek M.]

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

 

[Snoopy 67]

I did not see it happen but mine spawned recently. There are 6 or 7 very small red ones on the gravel.
No more siphoning sand for a while.