Ron Reefman's Rock Flower experience

[Ron Reefman]

Good eye @Ron Reefman ! I didn't even see the Mangroves popping out. Initially I thought the overflow might have been a simple closed system where the overflow lead to a chamber in the table between the glass tops and just used for circulation and surface skimming. Based on your observations though, it looks like there may be a little sump against the wall or just a small refugium.

Hopefully I know a lot more tomorrow assuming Sam makes it to my house for a visit.

 

[lapin]

Ron @Ron Reefman
I have a question (not about end caps)
Since my tank is 5'x5'x3' deep, do you think if I add 10 to my rock work for color, will they over run my tank? If so how long will I have? They will be near impossible to remove.
Cheers

 

[tankstudy]

I've been asked a few times but I was finally able to upload it. Hopefully it works. I was actually recording this for my younger brother, the camera guy, he was interested in keeping rocks as well. You'll need to enlarge this to actually see the little white eggs gather.

This is how I figure out which ones are females. If you use a white led from a side angle, once lights are out, you can see thru the rock flowers pretty well. Males will continue to spew sperm while females will do this type of mouth motion. A couple weeks later, I usually get a solid spawn especially if I pick up the sperm and pipette it directly in to the females mouth.

2-3 weeks in, if you feed your rock flowers regularly, you can even catch a glimpse of developing embryos as the females feed.

Hope this helps some folks out!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ron @Ron Reefman
I have a question (not about end caps)
Since my tank is 5'x5'x3' deep, do you think if I add 10 to my rock work for color, will they over run my tank? If so how long will I have? They will be near impossible to remove.
Cheers

@lapin, seriously? A5'x5'x3' tank? That's like a 560g tank? Yikes!!!

You shouldn't have any real issues. First, they can be crazy colorful when they fluoresce, so enjoy that. I think they need to be full size (3" minimum to as big as 5") before they will spawn. I think that if they are not well fed, they are less like to spawn. I've had 3 events in 2 1/2 years, it seems to be a once (maybe twice) a year event. Mine have produced about 10 to 20 babies that have survived. I think my six line wrasse may have eaten some of the babies when they were released by the female. The babies are incredibly small and if you can find them, they are quite easy to remove (maybe not so much in a 5'x5' tank ;Wideyed). The oldest of my 3 broods are now about 1 1/2" to 2" in diameter and over 2 years old... and I feed them well in hopes of good, healthy growth and producing more breeding parents.

I've been asked a few times but I was finally able to upload it. Hopefully it works. I was actually recording this for my younger brother, the camera guy, he was interested in keeping rocks as well. You'll need to enlarge this to actually see the little white eggs gather.

This is how I figure out which ones are females. If you use a white led from a side angle, once lights are out, you can see thru the rock flowers pretty well. Males will continue to spew sperm while females will do this type of mouth motion. A couple weeks later, I usually get a solid spawn especially if I pick up the sperm and pipette it directly in to the females mouth.

2-3 weeks in, if you feed your rock flowers regularly, you can even catch a glimpse of developing embryos as the females feed.

Hope this helps some folks out!

@tankstudy, thanks for posting the video and the very helpful information. You sure have the inside track over me about RFA breeding info and hands on experience. My knowledge all comes from after the fact involvement when I find tiny new babies in the tank!

Have you been able to pin down specific dates for males to release sperm or females to release babies? A marine biologist has implied to me that it's only around the summer solstice and it's a once a year event that all the breeding capable members participate. Do you have any insight about those statements?

 

[tankstudy]

Have you been able to pin down specific dates for males to release sperm or females to release babies?

Dates seem to vary drastically on the sperm release for me. I get 2-4 spawning events a year. Without a controlled setting it's extremely hard to tell why. I do feel that the availability of food and certain water parameters may factor in to it.

Reproduction is energy intensive, so the increase in availability of food may also trigger them to spawn. Which may help to explain why mine spawn quite regularly.

The release of babies is around ~14-21+ days after the spawning event, this is assuming that fertilization has occurred. The hobbyist will generally want them to release 21+ days as these result in larger babies. They also have a much higher survival rate. Keeping females, that are brooding, well fed seem to cause them to brood longer. Females that tend to have little to no food supplement appear to have a slightly higher tendency to release earlier from what I have seen.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@tankstudy, great info and I really appreciate your participation here!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Dates seem to vary drastically on the sperm release for me. I get 2-4 spawning events a year. Without a controlled setting it's extremely hard to tell why. I do feel that the availability of food and certain water parameters may factor in to it.

Reproduction is energy intensive, so the increase in availability of food may also trigger them to spawn. Which may help to explain why mine spawn quite regularly.

The release of babies is around ~14-21+ days after the spawning event, this is assuming that fertilization has occurred. The hobbyist will generally want them to release 21+ days as these result in larger babies. They also have a much higher survival rate. Keeping females, that are brooding, well fed seem to cause them to brood longer. Females that tend to have little to no food supplement appear to have a slightly higher tendency to release earlier from what I have seen.

Thank you comrades for sharing your knowledge . Following

 

[SymbiontSam]

@SymbiontSam how do you get gas exchange in that setup with glass covering the top of the aquarium completely? Also, where does the over flow go as there is nothing below the table?

Thanks for answering this Ron! Yes, I have a 30 gallon refugium and a 20 gallon sump tucked back there. The turnover rate is very fast in the table tanks, so they stay oxygenated.

I've been asked a few times but I was finally able to upload it. Hopefully it works. I was actually recording this for my younger brother, the camera guy, he was interested in keeping rocks as well. You'll need to enlarge this to actually see the little white eggs gather.

This is how I figure out which ones are females. If you use a white led from a side angle, once lights are out, you can see thru the rock flowers pretty well. Males will continue to spew sperm while females will do this type of mouth motion. A couple weeks later, I usually get a solid spawn especially if I pick up the sperm and pipette it directly in to the females mouth.

2-3 weeks in, if you feed your rock flowers regularly, you can even catch a glimpse of developing embryos as the females feed.

Hope this helps some folks out!

Thanks for sharing this @tankstudy ! That's amazing! I'll have to check mine for this.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

This is all great information, thanks for sharing, and I can't wait to learn more about this!

 

[Nurse.Reef.Reapeat]

Now, where can we buy nice RFA without breaking the bank?

 

[MrsBugmaster]

Now, where can we buy nice RFA without breaking the bank?

Check out Saltcritters

 

[MrsBugmaster]

What...we are not allowed to mention company names anymore?

 

[Ron Reefman]

What...we are not allowed to mention company names anymore?

That's the first time I've ever seen that happen. I'll ask the mods to please explain why to me and let you know what they say.

Now, where can we buy nice RFA without breaking the bank?

There are a number of sellers here doing pretty good prices. Some doing groups of 4 to 10 RFA's. But usually the prices go up as the RFA gets bigger and/or prettier. I got most of mine from Cultivated Reef (a sponsor here) and VIP Reef (an LFS in Miami who I think does online selling as well).

 

[evolved]

What...we are not allowed to mention company names anymore?

Just that particular company, as they had a pattern of scamming here, in the past.

 

[Gw2kpro]

Does anyone have a copy of the Jenison 1981 RFA study? I can't seem to find it.

Mostly, I'm curious to know how they were able to determine that RFA's occur in a 1:1 ratio as I haven't heard of a way to tell the sexes apart.

 

[MrsBugmaster]

Just that particular company, as they had a pattern of scamming here, in the past.

thanks for the clarification, I didn't know that and have never had problems with them and bought several times

 

[Saltyanimals]

I had one take off running and now it's in the back of the tank in almost total darkness. Not sure how long it'll live in that location without lights, but guess it's out of my hands.

 

[SymbiontSam]

Does anyone have a copy of the Jenison 1981 RFA study? I can't seem to find it.

Mostly, I'm curious to know how they were able to determine that RFA's occur in a 1:1 ratio as I haven't heard of a way to tell the sexes apart.

it can be hard to find a copy of these papers due to paywalls.

They collected individuals, brought them back to the lab, and made microscope slides from tissue samples. You can tell with the naked eye from dissections though. Other than spawning, release of juveniles, or looking for the eggs through transparent tissue near the mouth (previously shown here) there is no way to tell the sex from external features.

 

[AC1211]

Can Rock flower anemones touch other nems like rbta and maxi minis?

 

[eggplantparrot]

Can Rock flower anemones touch other nems like rbta and maxi minis?

no problem