Saltwater garden: What is your experience with Rock Flower Anemones?

[saltyhog]

I won't have a tank without them! I have 6 in my large tank and I'm not sure how many in my 25 Lagoon. I've seen the ones in the big tank spawn many times but never have had any babies I have found. I have never seen them spawn in the smaller tank but have at least 3 generations of babies in it. Go figure.

 

[Will_WhatIsThis]

I love rock flowers. I have a fish bowl dedicated to them

 

[Catnip885]

I have 3 of them in my Evo. I have always loved their colors. I have never had an issue with one hurting anything in my tank. I want to set up a reef jar eventually with rock flowers and sexy shrimp I think it would be just gorgeous.
Here is a photo of the one my other two decided to moved to spots that are hard to photograph.

 

[Gretchacha]

My RFA is in 220 par and I would say it is in a medium flow area for most of the day. I run multiple flow scenes at various speeds throughout the day. You can tell when too much flow when the outer portion of the RFA will fold over like they do when they are feeding. Mine folds over a little when I run Nutrient Transport Mode at 75% but then gets used to the flow and folds back down. So I would say they can handle a good amount of flow. At least mine can. I have 2 MP60's and 2 MP40's in a 84"x30"x24" tank. They will tell you when they are not happy by curling up.
As far as growth, my RFA is over triple the size when I purchased him 2yrs ago. Was 2.5" and now 8" in diameter. They are pigs and love to eat. They need to be fed frequently IMO. I feed mine a good chunk of shrimp and scallop every other day plus whatever he catches when I feed my fish twice a day.

8”!?! Zoiks!

 

[Gretchacha]

I love rock flowers. I have a fish bowl dedicated to them

Cute!

 

[h8mondays]

I have four RFAs in my tank now and somebody had babies a while back, one of which is growing rapidly. Only issue I've had is I purchased a beautiful pink RFA that completely changed colors in my tank. From pink to generic orange almost overnight.

 

[bnord]

I love them, and have one or two, maybe three in with a couple of different tanks. By the way I recall a Jake Adams mini rant where he says the true name is a rock anemone. No flower. Not sure, but he was usually right. Will try to look it up.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

I def love them... and ive had several many years ago.

they stay where you attach them but for some reason on my newest tank... each one i put in.. they wander off never to be seen again... so annoying. Im not doing anything different this time. same kessil 160we light, same wave maker... just different 10 month old tank... Again, on my other tanks, they stayed put with no trouble!

 

[Mmbra]

A tip i learned about these from an old thread here on R2R is that if you get 1" pvc caps from home depot and put a little bit of sand in, then place the anemone on top, they will bury in and plant their foot in the cap and you can move them around as you please. I have not had one leave the cap once allowed to plant their feet.

Here is a link to a beefy rockflower thread with a lot of great information if anyone is interested.

Ron Reefman Rockflower Experience

 

[gonzo620]

I love Rock Flowers. I’ve kept them for many years now. The males spawn often and the girls have birthed babies for me on multiple occasions. I’m always on the lookout for different colors arrangements to add to my collection. I keep them in the sand only. I save the rock work for corals.

 

[52728299]

The biggest thing I learned is they are cool but my butterfly eats them like potato chips

 

[JoJosReef]

I love Rock Flowers. I’ve kept them for many years now. The males spawn often and the girls have birthed babies for me on multiple occasions. I’m always on the lookout for different colors arrangements to add to my collection. I keep them in the sand only. I save the rock work for corals.

What kind of cup are you keeping the babies in?

 

[jmarina]

I have about 150 RFAs currently, but have had many, many more over the years. There are about 70 in my 30g RFA/gorgonian tank, and around 80 in my 80g.

Here’s a couple of notes from my experiences:
1. Target feed about once a week with some meaty foods (mysis, reef frenzy, whatever you got). They appreciate it. For smaller RFAs, I’ve found target feeding to really help pack on size in the first 1.5 years.
2. Target feeding promotes spawning.
3. They will spawn in your aquarium, with the greatest chances lying around a full moon in the mid/late fall and spring. Target feed around this time for sure. I’ve also found around these times that doing a water change that will drop the temperature a degree or two sometimes triggers them.
4. There is no way to tell males from females unless you witness spawning and birth. So you have to play the numbers game and get a small bushel to make sure you have females and males.
5. Loss rates on spawns are incredibly high. Some people may have different experiences, but I usually see about 3-5 out of 40 babies reach adulthood.
6. They are peaceful, have a relatively weak sting, and don’t move much.

7. Don’t dip nems
8. Only thing I’ve seen kill a healthy RFA is (very) cold water, a broken foot, or a peppermint shrimp.
9. Whenever buying, make sure you look for healthy specimens, and if buying in bulk, ask if they treat them with antibiotics.
10. Enjoy them. They are colorful, forgiving, and great citizens in the reef.

One of my prettiest babies made (picture doesn’t do it Justice):

Super nice!

 

[InsideThePoster]

What else do the RFA's get along with if anything like zoa's, paly's or mushrooms ?

 

[gonzo620]

What kind of cup are you keeping the babies in?

Lol! A nacho cheese cup from Taco Bell

 

[jabberwock]

Lol! A nacho cheese cup from Taco Bell

I love it. My LFS gets frags delivered in urine specimen cups for drug testing. They have become obsolete because the tests are now AIOs. Some frugal coral grower bought cases of them...

 

[JoJosReef]

Lol! A nacho cheese cup from Taco Bell

Haha, looks like a run to the border is in order!

I love it. My LFS gets frags delivered in urine specimen cups for drug testing. They have become obsolete because the tests are now AIOs. Some frugal coral grower bought cases of them...

I, too, bought a whole stack of urine specimen cups for giving away cuttings of macros and other small frags.

 

[Janet Belanger]

Mine make babies at least a few times a year and I've observed 'Big Daddy' spawn around 5pm, about the same time my clownfish spawn. The tiny babies end up all over the aquarium so while the adults stay put once they plant their foot, the babies do not.

They're impossible to move once they get into your rock work, but they don't seem to sting other corals in my experience.

 

[Robert Ranciato]

I have 2 one is really nice with a rainbow of colors and one is just orange. The funny thing is they constantly have babies, every few months I see a ton of little babies all over the rock work, but they are always orange. No rainbow ones some have a nice white skirt but mostly just plain orange. I try and put them into a plastic container on the sand bed otherwise they don't usually survive. Great addition to a mixed reef

 

[mrbiggs1986]

I have 2 that have been in the same spot for about 8 months. They’re in 1” pvc encaps and seem pretty happy in the sand partially shaded.