Ron Reefman's Rock Flower experience

OP
OP
Ron Reefman

Ron Reefman

Lets Go Snorkeling!
View Badges
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
9,264
Reaction score
20,824
Location
SW Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I normally keep smaller fish in a tank that had lots of RFAs. Even now, I have a wild caught minnow from a local estuary in the 16g RFA breeding tank with over 30 RFAs. The minnow, only 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long, has been fine for a couple of weeks now. I put 5 other minnows in my DT and they schooled which I thought was cool. But one by one they disappeared and there are only a couple small anemones in that tank. I assume other predators got them.

That said, a mandarin that tends to be a bottom dweller may be at higher risk to a big RFA.
 

Cell

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 20, 2019
Messages
14,116
Reaction score
21,727
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Mandarins are generally slow, methodical swimmers and would avoid swimming into an RFA, unstartled.
 
OP
OP
Ron Reefman

Ron Reefman

Lets Go Snorkeling!
View Badges
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
9,264
Reaction score
20,824
Location
SW Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I wish I could help here, but I buy most of mine live from vendors at shows or LFS I'm willing to travel hours to visit.
 

bsn_rn_cen

Grandmaster Algae Farmer
View Badges
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
1,790
Reaction score
6,661
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm sorry for hijacking your thread but you seem to be the go to guy for rfa. I noticed some tiny babies in my tank tonight. I've counted 9 but I'm sure there are more that I'm missing. Is there anything I can do to help them survive. Last time I found a baby it was swept away by flow and never to be seen again. Here is how small they are. Bad pictures I know but I don't have a fancy camera so doing the best I can with my beat up phone.
20200709_173936.jpg
20200709_174134.jpg
20200709_173918.jpg
20200709_174747.jpg
 
OP
OP
Ron Reefman

Ron Reefman

Lets Go Snorkeling!
View Badges
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
9,264
Reaction score
20,824
Location
SW Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm sorry for hijacking your thread but you seem to be the go to guy for rfa. I noticed some tiny babies in my tank tonight. I've counted 9 but I'm sure there are more that I'm missing. Is there anything I can do to help them survive. Last time I found a baby it was swept away by flow and never to be seen again.

First, you aren't hacking this thread. The whole idea of it is so we can all share info and ask questions about RFAs. So you are welcome here and your question is even appreciated! As is your calling me the 'go to guy'... thanks.

I've never done anything to support the babies I've had other than some 'special' feeding. I'm sure some got carried away in the flow of the tank, but the ones that settled down and attached to anything (mostly rock) seemed to hold on and survived OK. I've had a couple attach to the glass at first and move to the bottom of the glass at the sand in time.

I run fairly strong lighting (leds with PAR of over 100 at the sand). But these colorful RFAs don't survive well on just photosynthesis. And the babies are way too small to spot feed well. So when I fed the fish I added some fine coral food and flake food that I broke down to almost just dust. I would pre-wet the food in a beer mug so it would sink. I would turn off all the pumps, including the return pump, so the water was dead still. I put the food in the tank with a turkey baster and tried to get some aimmed at every baby. That way food would sink to the bottom feeding the RFAs and the zoas. After 10 minutes I'd start the pumps (they are all on one power strip) for just 10 to 15 seconds and shut them off again. This got all the food that wasn't captured back up in the water column again and then let it settle to the bottom again. After 10 more minutes I turned everything back on.

I would feed this way once or twice a week for the first 4 to 6 weeks. Then once every couple of weeks for another 8 weeks. After that I just do it randomly every 2 to 4 weeks. As far as I could tell, they all survived.

I hope that helps? RFAs are fairly hardy and should do OK.

Good luck.
 

ApoIsland

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 13, 2020
Messages
1,089
Reaction score
1,293
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Tried posting in another thread but it didn’t get any traction so I’ll try here.

Does anyone know what this strange growth is on my RFA? Have had the nem for a few years and noticed this maybe 6 months ago or so.

CEC48358-6EDE-448A-B1F0-BD9621187EF3.jpeg A3E7547A-DF4E-4461-97C6-CF3BC7E48511.png
 
OP
OP
Ron Reefman

Ron Reefman

Lets Go Snorkeling!
View Badges
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
9,264
Reaction score
20,824
Location
SW Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Tried posting in another thread but it didn’t get any traction so I’ll try here.

Does anyone know what this strange growth is on my RFA? Have had the nem for a few years and noticed this maybe 6 months ago or so.

CEC48358-6EDE-448A-B1F0-BD9621187EF3.jpeg A3E7547A-DF4E-4461-97C6-CF3BC7E48511.png

I can't say for sure, I've never seen anything quite like it. It kind of looks like brown/blue version of bubble algae... but I don't think bubble algae comes in brown version? I've never seen brown jelly disease other than in photos, but that's my 2nd thought.

Lets see if we can get some outside help here: #reefsquad

Have you tried to remove it? Is it soft or hard? Has it been growing over time?

I'm kind of surprised the nem hasn't tried to eat it!
 

ApoIsland

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 13, 2020
Messages
1,089
Reaction score
1,293
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I can't say for sure, I've never seen anything quite like it. It kind of looks like brown/blue version of bubble algae... but I don't think bubble algae comes in brown version? I've never seen brown jelly disease other than in photos, but that's my 2nd thought.

Lets see if we can get some outside help here: #reefsquad

Have you tried to remove it? Is it soft or hard? Has it been growing over time?

I'm kind of surprised the nem hasn't tried to eat it!

It's fleshy and it's part of the nem. The nem closes when i touch it. Like a tumor or something.
 

Nburg's Reef

High-Rise Reefer
View Badges
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
1,613
Reaction score
1,852
Location
Washington, DC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I had around 10 or so adults when I moved my tank across the country. I moved them from a Red Sea Reefer 450 (~120 gal system) to a 20 gallon long with a 20g sump for about 6 months and back to the 450. All but 4 have either died, are dying or are MIA. The 4 that did survive shrank more than 50% and are still not 100% but I think they'll make it. Funny thing is most other corals, fish, etc did just fine including acros, etc. a few ricordea also shrank and died, while others were unaffected. Before the move the tank had pretty much no detectable nitrates or phosphates, but I had trouble keeping NO3 and PO4 down in the smaller tank.

I am guessing the move and nitrate/phosphate change was too much for them. Probably less particulate food/fish poop and higher nitrates didn't fare well for them. I had many babies in the tank and a few of the larger ones survived the move and were doing extremely well while the larger ones died, so I think it was a reduction in food.

Is it true that once they start the death spiral, its hard to revive them?
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 67 51.9%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 67 51.9%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 33 25.6%
  • None.

    Votes: 29 22.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 7.0%
Back
Top