Ron Reefman's Rock Flower experience

[Ron Reefman]

Absolutely will report back Ron. This spawn happened within a couple days of the spawn last year so it seems the beginning of Oct may be a trigger for me. Could also be coincidence as I did just have another spawn a few months ago.

Seems like there was not nearly as much sperm released last night and the spawn from a couple months ago as compared to the spawn from last year. This could also just be the timing of my viewing as I did just catch the last 5-10 minutes. Of course I'm also not sure how long a spawn lasts either.

For the last 9 months I have had a copper banded butterfly which seemed to be hovering around the group and more aggressively picking at things around/under the adults so I suppose its not impossible he got most of the babies before I could notice them. Although that scenario doesn't seem logical as there are clearly 3 babies that he shows no interest in. I'm considering moving him back to the sump for a couple months regardless though.

My wife caught what we think was the beginning of a spawn. It's a small 16g tank and it gets cloudy pretty quick. In total, it lasted about 30 minutes of on and off spawn.

For me, the funny thing is, when I had all my RFA in a 120g DT I had 2 rounds of babies. I never saw the spawn or the delivery, but found 12 to 20 babies each time. They were about a year apart. They got moved to never my 40g tank and for 2 years, never spawned. Or at least I never saw it or any new babies.

For the last 10 months they've been in the 16g tank mostly on their own. I've had multiple spawns. One time I had 3 spawns separated by 9 days each time! And only 2 babies 30+ days after the first spawn. This last time I had 2 spawns, again separated by 9 days (coincidence???) and again just 2 babies after 32 days from the first spawn. I would have thought that with the smaller tank and having 30+ RFA close together I would have the perfect situation for lots of fertilization and lots of babies. But so far I've had just the opposite!

The only 2 things I'm starting to feel comfortable about is that RFAs, in captivity, can spawn at almost any time of the year, but always in the evening. And that the gestation period is roughly 4 to 5 weeks (and I consider that time frame as still open to the need for further proof).

 

[cpschult]

Ron, I had a baby explosion I just found. I’ve had one rock nem getting smaller last few days and I’ve been keeping an eye on it. Check these out!
I bet there are 40-60+ There are at least 7 on/in the shell being held up. Insane!! @Ron Reefman

 

[cpschult]

My other ones are getting larger as well!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ron, I had a baby explosion I just found. I’ve had one rock nem getting smaller last few days and I’ve been keeping an eye on it. Check these out!
I bet there are 40-60+ There are at least 7 on/in the shell being held up. Insane!! @Ron Reefman

cpschult, that's great news! I've read posts from a couple people with big new 'litters' of baby RFAs. Are you planing to feed them anything?

Once every week I'd try shutting down all flow in the tank and feed some kind of coral food but turkey baster in the areas where most of the babies are. Give them 10 minutes and let the pumps start back up. Once you start to see some growth, you might cut feedings in half or once a month for an additional few months

 

[cpschult]

Yeah I’m feeding lrs/mysis with reef roids added in. Trying to get just reed roids on the babies

I have very little flow in the tank, and I leave off for a bit after feedings. Seems to work

 

[Ron Reefman]

I just had to move a female clown from my DT into the RFA tank. She was really being aggressive with another clown. So now I feed more regular fish food to the RFA tank. I've been pleasantly surprised at the RFA's closing up and collecting some of the food even with the water moving.

 

[cpschult]

@Ron Reefman have you ever had a rfa melt?? I think I just lost the one that just had babies. Like I said it was looking kind of weird.. I now have some weird blobs in tank

 

[sfin52]

My first couple spawns happened when only the male was larger than 2 inches. You got more than 40 babies but of course that could have come from multiple mothers. I have a total of 9 rfa in the tank.

had a spawn last night. They are all much bigger now with the large orange male about 4-5 inches. Mine seem to all stand straight up during a spawning event so its easy to tell when it’s happening.

Stand straight up any pics of this

 

[ApoIsland]

Stand straight up any pics of this

The pic does not show it well but here It is. Also a pic of how they normally look when flat for comparison.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@Ron Reefman have you ever had a rfa melt?? I think I just lost the one that just had babies. Like I said it was looking kind of weird.. I now have some weird blobs in tank

cpschult, I can't say I've ever had one 'melt' but I have lost a couple over the years and never figured out where they went. I have had a couple get damaged when I had to remove them from rocks. That's part of the reason I use pvc end caps now.

Stand straight up any pics of this

sfin52, are you asking about the fact that they 'stand up' when they spawn?

You can see the RFA in the back is 'standing up' reaching out of it's pvc end cap.

Below, you can see the RFA at the far right is also doing the 'stand up' spawn. BTW, the tank is cloudy due to the amount of spawning going on and that I have the skimmer and HOB filter turned off. I was just trying to keep as much spawn in the water column as possible.

 

[sfin52]

cpschult, I can't say I've ever had one 'melt' but I have lost a couple over the years and never figured out where they went. I have had a couple get damaged when I had to remove them from rocks. That's part of the reason I use pvc end caps now.



sfin52, are you asking about the fact that they 'stand up' when they spawn?

You can see the RFA in the back is 'standing up' reaching out of it's pvc end cap.

Below, you can see the RFA at the far right is also doing the 'stand up' spawn. BTW, the tank is cloudy due to the amount of spawning going on and that I have the skimmer and HOB filter turned off. I was just trying to keep as much spawn in the water column as possible.

Yes thats what I was asking. Thanks you. That sure obstructs the viewing. Does this cause any water quality issues?

 

[cpschult]

@Ron Reefman

 

[cpschult]

This is the one that just had a ton of babies

 

[ApoIsland]

Caught the tail end of this guy spawning - time to start the clock. Of course, by the time I realized what was going on it's probably too late - I did turn off the return for a bit though to see if I caught it in time. This is the 3rd largest in my tank, I have never seen either of the larger ones do this.

have you seen any babies yet?

 

[danieyella]

have you seen any babies yet?

Nothing yet, my calendar is marked to start looking this week though. I did notice that the RFAs in the section of the tank where I saw the spawning were all retracted and closed up the last few days though while the others in the tank are all still fluffy like normal. Not sure what thats about?

 

[ApoIsland]

Nothing yet, my calendar is marked to start looking this week though. I did notice that the RFAs in the section of the tank where I saw the spawning were all retracted and closed up the last few days though while the others in the tank are all still fluffy like normal. Not sure what thats about?

interesting behavior. I’ve never noticed mine closed up for anything besides food or when a hermit crab crawls over them.

Hope you find some soon.

I started looking for my babies last week as my spawn happened Oct 2nd. Noting yet...

 

[danieyella]

interesting behavior. I’ve never noticed mine closed up for anything besides food or when a hermit crab crawls over them.

Hope you find some soon.

I started looking for my babies last week as my spawn happened Oct 2nd. Noting yet...

Yeah I didn't notice anyone stomping around or nipping at them so who knows what's going on. Good luck with yours! Hope you see something soon

 

[footgal]

Maybe y’all can help me here. You seem to be the experts on everything RFA. I cannot seem to keep these guys to save my life!! Around April last year I ordered 6 for my 20 gallon tank and they all died within a month except for 3. They shriveled, detached, had gaping mouths, and ultimately melted. They were all healthy upon arrival and I acclimated them together so there should be no difference. Two months ago I bought 5 for my 45 gallon from a different vendor. Again, most died with only 1 survivor this time. Acclimated together and everything. Same symptoms from the dead anemones. The surviving nems are all thriving, big and healthy and I even had a spawn a while ago but no babies have come of it yet. I’m very confused! I love these anemones but can’t seem to keep them . Any advice? Both of these tanks are also hosting single BTAs but the RFA never touched them or went near them

 

[ApoIsland]

Maybe y’all can help me here. You seem to be the experts on everything RFA. I cannot seem to keep these guys to save my life!! Around April last year I ordered 6 for my 20 gallon tank and they all died within a month except for 3. They shriveled, detached, had gaping mouths, and ultimately melted. They were all healthy upon arrival and I acclimated them together so there should be no difference. Two months ago I bought 5 for my 45 gallon from a different vendor. Again, most died with only 1 survivor this time. Acclimated together and everything. Same symptoms from the dead anemones. The surviving nems are all thriving, big and healthy and I even had a spawn a while ago but no babies have come of it yet. I’m very confused! I love these anemones but can’t seem to keep them . Any advice? Both of these tanks are also hosting single BTAs but the RFA never touched them or went near them

Sorry to hear about the losses. The fact that you have one going strong is a good sign I guess. I think I saw a pic of your 45g tank and maybe it's just the photos but the tank looks immaculately clean like there is not a spec of algae. Is it possible they might not be getting enough nutrients? I don't specifically target feed mine but they are in a fairly dirty tank as I don't run a skimmer. They occasionally manage to catch a small scrap of mysis from time to time when I broadcast feed the fish.

 

[footgal]

I

Sorry to hear about the losses. The fact that you have one going strong is a good sign I guess. I think I saw a pic of your 45g tank and maybe it's just the photos but the tank looks immaculately clean like there is not a spec of algae. Is it possible they might not be getting enough nutrients? I don't specifically target feed mine but they are in a fairly dirty tank as I don't run a skimmer. They occasionally manage to catch a small scrap of mysis from time to time when I broadcast feed the fish.

I feed heavy, and all of my pics are right after water changes so it looks really really good. I’m actually starting to battle some nusaince algae in there and I made a point to target feed these because of my losses with the first batch. I really don’t understand