Rock Flower Anemone Information and Appreciation Thread

[Noinoi24]

5 hours ago, BulkRate said:

Watch it over the next couple of weeks (take pics if you can for time-lapse comparison) and see if the colors noticeably fade & the tentacles start to shrink back down into nubs... that will tell you if it's starving or just a weirdo. 

 

If it IS starting to starve & you happen see it moving around even a little, cut the pumps and nudge it well away from that spot - the foot will not be anchored firmly and you can probably get it off the bottom of the tank with nothing more than a few gentle nudges with an old credit/bank card cut in half.

 

I've had a couple that bunkered down in locations that were either too shaded or otherwise unsuitable and had them start to waste away... it's always better to intervene sooner rather than later when that happens, as it can take weeks or months for a starved rock flower to recover.

Interesting, do you think the reason my RFA wasted away less than 12 days after delivery is from starving? Then these two that just recently died were moving and one night just started wasting away.

[seabass]

4 hours ago, Noinoi24 said:

Interesting, do you think the reason my RFA wasted away less than 12 days after delivery is from starving? Then these two that just recently died were moving and one night just started wasting away.

A healthy RFA won't typically starve to death in such a short time unless it's totally deprived of light.  It's possible that you have a predator, or it could just be shipping stress (or damage caused by the vendor removing the anemone from its location).

[BulkRate]

This.  (Seabass' statement)

 

For what it's worth, I've never personally seen a rock flower anemone arrive at a store in a starved condition.  I HAVE seen plenty that looked the part after a few weeks of being under inadequate lighting or without feeding at said stores. :/  But it take weeks for them to show it, not days.

 

Most short-term deaths happen due to shipping stress or injury... and my bet is that the bulk of the shipping stress is really just improper removal from their holding tanks somewhere along the supply chain.  Pretty much any injury to the foot is eventually a death sentence for these anemones.

 

I think Seafurn actually wound up in double jeopardy on this - he had a couple nems pass with what clearly looked like injury AND some kind of fireworm that may have been snacking on his first order of anemones from VIP.

 

 

 

 

[LongPig]

Is frozen krill a good food for the rock nems? I fed mine the same mix I've been feeding my Acans (spirulina enriched brine, rotifers, pellets, coral gumbo) with a syringe and they seemed to need more. Should I just buy some shrimp and cut them into chunks? Is once a week good? What kind of a bioload does that kind of feeding put on my system? Do they expel a large amount of waste after a feeding like that?

[seabass]

You really don't need to do anything special in regards to feeding RFAs.  I use flake fish food.  Mysis shrimp is another good food.  Target feeding small amounts once a week is plenty; I've gone over a year without target feeding mine before.

[kimberbee]

On 12/28/2017 at 12:20 PM, seabass said:

You really don't need to do anything special in regards to feeding RFAs.  I use flake fish food.  Mysis shrimp is another good food.  Target feeding small amounts once a week is plenty; I've gone over a year without target feeding mine before.

To add in - I feed mysis, brine, bloodworms, different pellets, reef roids... They seem to like just about any food. 

[Negaprion]

Hello all - I'm a recent lurker of this forum and a first time poster.  I've developed a fascination with RFAs in a round about way - I'm an avid SCUBA diver in the Gulf of Mexico near Naples, Florida and have been encountering RFA's in the wild.  I often collect inverts and the occasional fish for my tank.  I began noticing RFA's for their striking colors and amazing variety.  They've also become a bit of a collecting obsession (as in it's very difficult).  A few observations of RFA's in the Gulf:

• We frequently dive "live bottom" areas approx. 15 miles offshore in about 45 feet of water.  The RFA's are not super common - I may see 3 or 4 in a full dive.  
• I never see them very near each other, often dozens of feet apart- it's a wonder they are able to reproduce.
• The ones I see tend to be large 4 to 6 inches in diameter.  
• I've seen them in 75' of water or more.
• They almost always host a Pederson Shrimp or two

They are impossible to collect when their foot is in a rock crevice.  I've managed to collect 2 anemone, simply because of their locations - they were rooted in gravel or rubble where I could fan it away from their foot with my hand.  All the others manage to shrink fully inside a crack.  It's been a pure numbers game for me - I've seen close to 30 RFA's for 2 captures.  If anyone has a suggestion for getting them to release their foot without harm, let me know.   On one of my last dives, I saw the most amazingly colored RFA I've ever seen - red, blue, green all in a gradient - I got so excited that I forgot to take a picture of it!  It promptly sucked into its crevice when I disturbed it--total torture.

 

Photos of my finds below - the reddish colored RFA is 5-6" in diameter and I've had it for several months, the green one is much smaller and is a recent addition.  I still haven't seen any indications of sexes.  I hope to collect another in the near future to increase my odds of having at least 1 M & 1 F.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[seabass]

Nice and welcome to Nano-Reef.com.

[tofer]

Has anyone here witnessed a female giving birth or preparing to ?  The reason Im asking is one of mine was fully  open yesterday  and today has all tentacles curled under and only part of the disk and the mouth visible.  Have not added anything to the tank recently livestock wise 

All Params normal  for the tank

salinity 1.025

Nitrates 10

Cal 400

Mag 1275 

temp 79 

 

 

 

 

[SeaFurn]

5 hours ago, tofer said:

Has anyone here witnessed a female giving birth or preparing to ?  The reason Im asking is one of mine was fully  open yesterday  and today has all tentacles curled under and only part of the disk and the mouth visible.  Have not added anything to the tank recently livestock wise 

All Params normal  for the tank

salinity 1.025

Nitrates 10

Cal 400

Mag 1275 

temp 79 

 

 

 

 

@seabass has.

He posted this on my thread. Pretty amazing. I keep watching mine hoping to see it but haven't been so lucky. 

 

[geneva]

This question may have already been answered in the past, but how long should I wait to feed a new RFA after I introduce to my tank?

I got two new babies on Saturday, and they're adjusting decently despite my high salinity (this is a constant battle for me without an ATO). One settled in on some rock, and the other can't decide where it wants to settle yet. I'll have to post some pictures when/if I can get some good ones.

[seabass]

If they will accept food, I'd feed them a little once a week.  I don't feel that you really have to wait to feed them.  However, if you have fish (and therefore feed the tank), they tend to do alright without hardly ever target feeding them, so no rush.

[JillianAG]

Any ideas?

 

i have two rock nems.  One had been an only child for almost a year.  I added #2 about six weeks ago. The new one found the original and within two days they were snuggled up to each other and have stayed that way until about four days ago, the original got very round and dome shaped and stayed that way for two days - then this morning it left - went in between the two rocks above it and cane half way out on the other side.  It is afternoon now and it’s back to its original spot next to the new one???

 

first pic is the last six weeks - second pic is side shot of how dome shaped it got before it left!

 

weird behavior.  Anyone have any experience with this type of behavior?  I know it’s silly and dumb - prob means nothing.  Just curious ??

[kimberbee]

1 minute ago, JillianAG said:

prob means nothing.

Pretty much! 

[ChristopherDido]

So I'm a little concerned, got another RFA for my Pico Jar Contest Container. All others I've gotten have opened up rather quickly and attached well. I floated for 15-20 minutes, placed on rock after turning off pumps and left it sitting for 30 minutes. I'm concerned they may have injured it. I won it on an auction from a local LFS. It's smaller than all others I've had, when he pulled it out to give it to me it was inside of some tube thing. He cut it out and then put it in a bag. The color from what I can see will be beautiful. It hasn't moved since I put it in. Do you think I need to worry? Here's a pic, it's the 'blob' with a bit of orange top right of the reddish with white tentacle RFA. TIA.

[SeaFurn]

5 minutes ago, ChristopherDido said:

So I'm a little concerned, got another RFA for my Pico Jar Contest Container. All others I've gotten have opened up rather quickly and attached well. I floated for 15-20 minutes, placed on rock after turning off pumps and left it sitting for 30 minutes. I'm concerned they may have injured it. I won it on an auction from a local LFS. It's smaller than all others I've had, when he pulled it out to give it to me it was inside of some tube thing. He cut it out and then put it in a bag. The color from what I can see will be beautiful. It hasn't moved since I put it in. Do you think I need to worry? Here's a pic, it's the 'blob' with a bit of orange top right of the reddish with white tentacle RFA. TIA.

Did it's foot look damaged? Did they cut out part of the tube it was in and then pull it off the tube?  Is it attached to the rock now?

It's probably stressed.  Some of mine look like that at night after the lights go out but then they open up in the morning.  You may want to turn your lights down if they haven't gone off for the night already. 

[ChristopherDido]

6 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

Did it's foot look damaged? Did they cut out part of the tube it was in and then pull it off the tube?  Is it attached to the rock now?

It's probably stressed.  Some of mine look like that at night after the lights go out but then they open up in the morning.  You may want to turn your lights down if they haven't gone off for the night already. 

When I looked did not look damaged, but I've never seen what a damaged foot looks like. They did pull it off after cutting all around it. Currently it's 'attached' but not like others did. Just turned off lights... I'll keep it posted on what happens.

[BulkRate]

That description of the handling's not promising.  Seriously, how hard is it to remember to GENTLY separate the foot from a surface, or just use smaller pieces of PVC in the sales/swap display and then pack the whole thing for transport?  On a smooth surface it takes a couple minutes at most with a plastic card (or gloved fingernail) to make 'em let go safely.

 

That rant aside, it could just be very, very stressed.

 

Smaller rfas do not handle shipping/transport stress as well as the more mature ones do - I'd move it down an inch or so if it has not planted its foot yet so that it's just touching one of your others.  No science but I've noticed that if one RFA likes a spot, others will tend to congregate around it as well.  You might also want to put a 1-ply piece of toilet tissue on the lid just about it to give it partial shade for a day or two as well - ideally without the acclimation stress being quite so great it'll open up and then squinch off to find a place to its liking if it wants more light.

[ChristopherDido]

18 minutes ago, BulkRate said:

That description of the handling's not promising.  Seriously, how hard is it to remember to GENTLY separate the foot from a surface, or just use smaller pieces of PVC in the sales/swap display and then pack the whole thing for transport?  On a smooth surface it takes a couple minutes at most with a plastic card (or gloved fingernail) to make 'em let go safely.

 

That rant aside, it could just be very, very stressed.

 

Smaller rfas do not handle shipping/transport stress as well as the more mature ones do - I'd move it down an inch or so if it has not planted its foot yet so that it's just touching one of your others.  No science but I've noticed that if one RFA likes a spot, others will tend to congregate around it as well.  You might also want to put a 1-ply piece of toilet tissue on the lid just about it to give it partial shade for a day or two as well - ideally without the acclimation stress being quite so great it'll open up and then squinch off to find a place to its liking if it wants more light.

So bad new, this morning when I woke up it was no where to be found.  I'm devastated and don't know what to do.  Would you go back and talk to the LFS, it didn't even live for 24 hours.  I told him I was concerned by the fact that it was in that tube of rubble nastiness, from inside their coral tanks and him saying he could "cut" it out.  I told him my concern with this and that usually they don't do well being removed from "rock." He said "I wouldn't sell you something I thought i had damaged, wouldn't want you coming back to yell at me."  I joked back that I would if something happened, would you go back and say something?

[SeaFurn]

9 minutes ago, ChristopherDido said:

So bad new, this morning when I woke up it was no where to be found.  I'm devastated and don't know what to do.  Would you go back and talk to the LFS, it didn't even live for 24 hours.  I told him I was concerned by the fact that it was in that tube of rubble nastiness, from inside their coral tanks and him saying he could "cut" it out.  I told him my concern with this and that usually they don't do well being removed from "rock." He said "I wouldn't sell you something I thought i had damaged, wouldn't want you coming back to yell at me."  I joked back that I would if something happened, would you go back and say something?

I totally would. And would demand a refund (too bad you don't have a body remnant to take with you). And depending on my LFS options I'd probably never buy from them again. 

[BulkRate]

Just saw the newer post on your build thread - it's not been long enough for it to decompose, so if you can't find it, it may have been blown off the rock into another section of the tank, or more hopefully has just tucked itself into a crevice.

 

As for the "would I go back to the store owner about this" question?  Yes (I would).  With the timeline you provide and the pictures of your healthy tank w/ other anemones clearly thriving and the shriveled/stressed newcomer not, the finger points to handling issues at the source especially with cross-country shipping not being a factor.

 

2 possible outcomes:

1.  Grab a penlight and see if there's some overhand/cave/whatever that it's tucked itself into and just be resigned to this one being your problem child for a while.  Let the store know that it's ailing but that you're going to see if it recovers.

 

2.  You find it lying in an odd spot on your rock/sand on its side/upside down and it won't anchor its foot.  Or the foot's shot through with red streaks and you see it start to slime up and fall apart.  Get it out of your tank and let the store know that it's dying/dead and ask (politely) if they will help you on sourcing its replacement or refund your auction money as store credit towards it. 

[seabass]

I agree, it wouldn't have disintegrated entirely in this time frame.  It either moved itself, or floated away.  Often you can find them tucked under a rock.  Worse case is that it got sucked up into a filter or powerhead.

[ChristopherDido]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

I agree, it wouldn't have disintegrated entirely in this time frame.  It either moved itself, or floated away.  Often you can find them tucked under a rock.  Worse case is that it got sucked up into a filter or powerhead.

only have an air pump in there lol... I'm honestly more concerned that the BIG RFA ate it... has that ever happened?

[BulkRate]

Not in any permanent way that you're fearing - I've seen a few baby anemones fall into my larger ones when being born - the bigger will engulf it like it would food on contact but within a few minutes the baby would be released or even placed on the rock/sand beside it.

 

By now if there's not a haze of decaying anemone smeared across the bottom of your pico and a very -ahem- "distinctive" smell then smart money's on it hiding.  Have a rousing game of Where's Waldo:  Pico Reef Edition and see if you can find it. 

 

[ChristopherDido]

1 hour ago, BulkRate said:

Not in any permanent way that you're fearing - I've seen a few baby anemones fall into my larger ones when being born - the bigger will engulf it like it would food on contact but within a few minutes the baby would be released or even placed on the rock/sand beside it.

 

By now if there's not a haze of decaying anemone smeared across the bottom of your pico and a very -ahem- "distinctive" smell then smart money's on it hiding.  Have a rousing game of Where's Waldo:  Pico Reef Edition and see if you can find it. 

 

Ok... I'm home now... I just gave it a good once over... I'll go over it again here after I take my pups out, good to know the big one won't eat it... I'm gonna try and piss it off a bit so it closes up and I can see under it's skirt... That sounds really wrong hahaha ... This is a very tough game of Waldo!!!!