Rock Flower Anemone Information and Appreciation Thread

[Tired]

"Ultra" rock flowers are deeper-water anemones. They tend to have brighter colors, and fluoresce. They also tend to stay smaller. Non-ultras are shallower water anemones, which have duller colors, don't fluoresce as much, and can get larger. There's not much practical difference between the two, except for the slight size difference. As far as I know, they're the same species, just different color morphs. That may be why they're acting a bit differently. 

[DaveDe]

Question. The RFA I bought a week ago - looks like he's dividing - in to three additional RFA's. I'll post photos later. They aren't fully retracted and I could be wrong - is that possible? My guess after looking at both the photos is no. But when they do divide is it just a 1 to 2 split? 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

24 minutes ago, DaveDe said:

Question. The RFA I bought a week ago - looks like he's dividing - in to three additional RFA's. I'll post photos later. They aren't fully retracted and I could be wrong - is that possible? My guess after looking at both the photos is no. But when they do divide is it just a 1 to 2 split? 

Rock flowers don’t split. He’s just curling up, for whatever reason. 

[Tired]

There's never been a recorded RFA split, as far as I know. I think minimax carpets split, but RFAs haven't been seen to do it. And a lot of people have kept a lot of RFAs, so if they did split, it would have been spotted. 

[DaveDe]

Yay, rookie mistake on my part. Wishful thinking. Easy to see that he's just a party of one now that he's extended. 

[Tired]

They don't divide in aquaria, but if you get a male and a female in the right conditions, they do breed. Which, IMO, is much cooler. You get a bunch of cute little babies, and then you get a lot more RFAs (up to a few dozen, if the female is big enough) instead of just one more new one. Plus, breeding mix-and-matches the parents' genetics, so you get new outcomes instead of just another of what you had already.

[HockeyDrumsFish]

Searching but can't seem to find.  What's the verdict on when to add RFA in terms of tank maturity? I'm currently cycling two 12G long 'bookshelf' tanks and I'm going to do one as a full RFA tank (with couple clowns/shrimp/etc.).

 

I'm patient and can wait but a) when can you start introducing?  Have to wait for more tank maturity ala other anems and b) what's the stocking vibe?  One at a time or can you add a number at a time (I saw the reef dudes vids on Youtube where he adds like a dozen at one time to his nano).

[seabass]

25 minutes ago, HockeyDrumsFish said:

What's the verdict on when to add RFA in terms of tank maturity?

RFAs are quite hardy and can survive more extremes than host anemones.  However, you still want a stable environment, preferably with some available nutrients.  I would say that your tank should have gone through its ugly stages so that the anemone(s) don't have to endure that.  If you want a time, I'd say 3 months would be adequate in most cases; although, I feel that it's "possible" (given the right conditions) to add them on day one.

 

31 minutes ago, HockeyDrumsFish said:

One at a time or can you add a number at a time (I saw the reef dudes vids on Youtube where he adds like a dozen at one time to his nano).

Given a healthy, mature tank with an established biofilter, I can't see any reason why you can't add multiples without concern.

[HockeyDrumsFish]

1 hour ago, HockeyDrumsFish said:

Searching but can't seem to find.  What's the verdict on when to add RFA in terms of tank maturity? I'm currently cycling two 12G long 'bookshelf' tanks and I'm going to do one as a full RFA tank (with couple clowns/shrimp/etc.).

 

I'm patient and can wait but a) when can you start introducing?  Have to wait for more tank maturity ala other anems and b) what's the stocking vibe?  One at a time or can you add a number at a time (I saw the reef dudes vids on Youtube where he adds like a dozen at one time to his nano).

Oh and have a little fun with me.  Help me stock my tank!

 

It's a 12G Aquamaxx long - 36x8x10.  Cool bookshelf tank.  I'm going to do a pair of clowns and some fun inverts - blood shrimp, etc - but no corals.  My goal is to make a beautiful RFA 'garden'.

 

So....if this was you guys (I dont have patience to look through 127 pages), what would YOU do?  

 

- Which RFAs would you stock and when?  What are the must haves?

- What are your best sources?  I live in Chicagoland so lotsa LFS but I just don't see RFA in their tanks so most likely will order.

 

Kinda like one of those decorating blogs - here's my living room, tell me exactly what you would do if it it was YOUR living room...that kinda thing.

[seabass]

2 hours ago, HockeyDrumsFish said:

I'm patient and can wait

22 minutes ago, HockeyDrumsFish said:

I dont have patience to look through 127 pages

 

[HockeyDrumsFish]

22 minutes ago, seabass said:

 

Well played!

 

Patience waiting for a tank to cycle and/or add live stock is a whole other kinda patience than reading trough 127 pages of a thread!  🙂

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

1 hour ago, HockeyDrumsFish said:

Which RFAs would you stock and when?  What are the must haves?

There really are only two kinds of RFA's - there's the "ultras" which are the brightly colored ones, and there are the basic rock flowers that are usually white or green. I've also seen some blues and yellows that don't fluoresce as much. I think they're still pretty, and help break up the colors in the tank. However, if you're always going to run blue lights, you may or may not get some fluorescence out of them. 

 

1 hour ago, HockeyDrumsFish said:

What are your best sources? 

The two vendors that I've been the happiest with, were Got Corals, and Foxy Saltwater. They both shipped healthy, decent sized RFA's compared to others I had used. 

 

What are you planning on using for flow? Keep in mind RFA's are anemones, and will wander. They will find their way to a powerhead - so you'll need to have a plan for a cover of some sort to protect them, from becoming diced up. 

[tofer]

A couple of random  babies from different spawns 

[tofer]

[tofer]

[SeaFurn]

I’m In the process of moving all the babies (200+) out of the 45 and into a temporary tank so I can reset it. Mermaids cup and dinos have taken over and can’t be overcome - even after more than 6 months of trying. It’s been so frustrating. 
I still have a bunch more babies to move but I’ve figured out a few tricks along the way to make it easier to get them out. It’s still a tedious process though. 
And while not especially apparent in these pics, many of the babies migrate to the upside down frag plugs and nestle against them. There’s also a bunch on the side of the glass now. 

 

 

[seabass]

Looks like you have a nice variety there. 👍 

[Tired]

They look like zoanthid confetti. All the little babies! So cute.

[Jakesaw]

Really like the idea I saw on post above to add them on sand bed over some Rubble rock.  I placed mine in front of tank on rock ledge so I could see it.  The Anemone slowly moved toward middle of tank to find a crevace to settle into that it's less visible from the front.  When I get the space in new tank I'll turn that rock forward in scape or find a way to nudge that anemone out ( if possible )

 

Also, The anemone was red in the store when I purchased it, but under my lights it's quite orange.  At night for an hour, where my tank is only blue the anemone looks red.  But mostly it's orange.  

 

\

[tviquez10]

I got a rock flower anemone Thursday. I placed it here and it hasn't moved. Seems really wedged but responds to things touching it. I tried spot feeding frozen marine cuisine, pellets and flakes and I swear it was about to eat and curled all the way towards the center and then relaxed with food still in its tentacles. Maybe it tasted it and didn't like it? Lol Should I move it so it can open fully or leave it alone?

[Jakesaw]

1 hour ago, tviquez10 said:

 Lol Should I move it so it can open fully or leave it alone?

It's your tank, but they do like to find a crevace and settle in.  If you can see the rock flower, with a good view of it, I'd leave it alone.  Not sure how to move one that has settled in.  Supposedly they are not as easy to move as a regular anemone, but may be able to tease out by water flow from a powerhead.  

 

I'll be watching to see how things go with yours either way!  Your animone has really nice color pattern

 

 

[tviquez10]

@Jakesaw It really is eye catching! I hope it does well 🤞

[DevilDuck]

7 hours ago, tviquez10 said:

I got a rock flower anemone Thursday. I placed it here and it hasn't moved. Seems really wedged but responds to things touching it. I tried spot feeding frozen marine cuisine, pellets and flakes and I swear it was about to eat and curled all the way towards the center and then relaxed with food still in its tentacles. Maybe it tasted it and didn't like it? Lol Should I move it so it can open fully or leave it alone?

I wouldn't move it. You'll do more damage than good trying to. It seems happy there, if not it will move on it's own. If your really set on relocating it, move the entire rock that it's attached to.

I have one out of six RFA that moves around periodically, the other mostly stay in their place or have moved less than an inch. If you feed them regularly, perhaps once a week, they will grow quickly. Most of mine have nearly doubled in size in the last 6 months.

 

They have spawned sexually for some people. I'm hoping mine will and I get baby anemones with different color patterns. So far I only have one that is budding, cloning itself with smaller heads attached to the foot.

 

 

[tviquez10]

@DevilDuck Wow, yours is beautiful!!! I'm going to try frozen again to see if it will accept it. I would love for it to get large! I'll just leave it where is at. Must be getting the right flow and light if it hasn't moved. I just thought it looked uncomfortable.lol

[Tired]

That's normal for a rock flower anemone. They often just scrunch into a corner and press against the rocks like that. If it wanted to be somewhere else, it would go somewhere else- they're fully mobile. To feed it, place food on the tentacles and leave it alone; it'll eat if it's hungry.