Spawning Rock Flower?

Ron Reefman

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Schnizzle, it sure looks like it to me. And I have questions for you (if you don't mind)!

How long have you had that RFA in your tank?
Roughly how big is it in diameter?
Was the video taken yesterday?
What time of day was it when you saw it?
Do you have other RFAs in the tank (you mentioned a little green one)?

I ask because I'm trying to get a better understanding of RFAs and their reproduction in our aquariums.

It appears that you have some pretty good flow in your tank, based on how the white spawn is being blown away and the algae nearby is blowing around. That is probably going to reduce the chances of reproduction as the other RFAs will struggle to collect much if any. And if your green RFA is the only other one, and it's small, it may not be mature enough to reproduce (HUGE guess on my part). So another question, that is the diameter of the small green RFA you have?

I'm very unsure of the gestation period, but I've heard a couple people who have also seen the process say it's like 10 days to a month. Please keep a close eye on all your RFAs and please, please, please, report back (and video) if you see the birth. And even if you miss the birth and see babies at some point, let us know. BTW, the babies will be incredibly small. Mine were smaller than the eraser at the end of a pencil when I found them. I've had 3 spawns in my tank. But I never saw the spawn event or the birth event, just new babies at some point after the fact.

I will sincerely appreciate any info you can share! ;);Woot;Woot;Woot
 
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Schnizzle

Schnizzle

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Schnizzle, it sure looks like it to me. And I have questions for you (if you don't mind)!

How long have you had that RFA in your tank?
Roughly how big is it in diameter?
Was the video taken yesterday?
What time of day was it when you saw it?
Do you have other RFAs in the tank (you mentioned a little green one)?

I ask because I'm trying to get a better understanding of RFAs and their reproduction in our aquariums.

It appears that you have some pretty good flow in your tank, based on how the white spawn is being blown away and the algae nearby is blowing around. That is probably going to reduce the chances of reproduction as the other RFAs will struggle to collect much if any. And if your green RFA is the only other one, and it's small, it may not be mature enough to reproduce (HUGE guess on my part). So another question, that is the diameter of the small green RFA you have?

I'm very unsure of the gestation period, but I've heard a couple people who have also seen the process say it's like 10 days to a month. Please keep a close eye on all your RFAs and please, please, please, report back (and video) if you see the birth. And even if you miss the birth and see babies at some point, let us know. BTW, the babies will be incredibly small. Mine were smaller than the eraser at the end of a pencil when I found them. I've had 3 spawns in my tank. But I never saw the spawn event or the birth event, just new babies at some point after the fact.

I will sincerely appreciate any info you can share! ;);Woot;Woot;Woot

I'm all about sharing info so I don't mind AT ALL. My feeling is that this was a stress induced event. Sizes below are diameter.

1. I added the RFA in question to my tank 24.5 hours prior to the video of it spawning. 1730 on Sunday evening.
2. When I picked it out it was bunched up about 1.5". When I returned home from work yesterday at 1730 it had opened up to about 2.5". It may be bigger, it doesn't seem to have fully settled yet, maybe a result of the flow.
3. The video was taken nine minutes prior to posting, yesterday at 1803.
4. See above.
5. I have one other RFA, the "little" green one. Probably 1.25". I placed this one and it stayed put for two months until it retracted into the rock and crawled back out this past Friday 2" away from its prior spot. The new one was placed just above the original spot of the first one and about 2" downstream of the green one.

All the "spawn" seemed to drift the opposite direction of my green one but I'll still keep an eye out. I analyze the tank pretty well every day when I am home (I travel a lot).

90g long with two opposing xf230 gyres on OGC mode maxing at 60%
I'm guessing a 10x turnover through my sump. I have a 12k liter pump at 50% so with head pressure and friction...
2 t247 Ocean Revive, blues at 100% 1000 to 2200 and white at 45% from 1200 to 2000
I have a build thread with most everything else documented.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. I really like these things now. Interestingly enough I had no plans of ever getting one but the green one was given to me in a tank shutdown and I fell in love. haha

green.jpg
both.jpg
 
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Schnizzle

Schnizzle

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Okay, interesting evening. I just caught the same RFA spawning again at the same time tonight. I have videos. I thought it was done so I continued with my plan of feeding and quickly discovered it was far from done. I (hope) figured it couldn’t hurt so I caught some in a pipette and dropped it on the green one.

My Porcelain Anemone Crab decided to steal the food from his new residence during all this.

None of this was very scientific, I just got caught in the moment after reading so much today. At least I had the presence of mind to record much of it.



 
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Schnizzle

Schnizzle

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I didn’t really want to post that but hey, we all are here to learn from each other. Good, bad or indifferent.
 

homer1475

Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
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I found a single baby the other day crawling up my glass. It's been just about a month since I last saw mine spawn(i've seen it three times now). This is the first time I've seen a baby though, it's about the size of a pencil eraser as @Ron Reefman said. It's colors are no where near close to any of the ones in my tank. I've seen the male "smoking", but vary curious who the female is.

I have 5 total in my tank and have only ever seen the one "smoke". All are roughly 4 to 5 inches in diameter. I have seen 2 of them "cup up" during the spawning event, but the baby looks nothing like any of them.
 

Ron Reefman

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@Schnizzle, I loved your videos and especially your trying to see if the green one will get pregnant! ;Hilarious;Hilarious

BTW if anybody here is interested, I have a RFA breeding thread started here:
 

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