Rock Flower Anemone Information and Appreciation Thread

[lake985]

Those are awesome, proudgeek. Here's my little guy (warning: crappy iphone pic):

[Proudgeek]

Very nice selection, proudgeek. Where from, if you don't mind my asking?

 

When it rains, it pours. Apparently the first two babies last week were just a precursor - woke up yesterday morning to find 10-ish baby anemones of various sizes all over the rocks. Maybe more if I get out the looking glass and hunt around for the really tiny ones (look like ambulatory micro zoas minus base tissue). No idea yet on the coloration - they're all very pale ATM. Those that do have pigment seem to be mostly in the pale orange/yellows. Time will tell.

 

As for feeding - I had been broadcasting a mix of decapsulated brine shrimp eggs & V2O's "Zooplankton" as the main feed for my ruby mandarin over the past three months or so. Seems to have worked well as even the smallest anemone seems to be able to grab & swallow some.

 

Thanks! The source from the first photo is Morgan at Reef Gardener here in Miami. The second source is Oceanview Aquariums -- a local LFS. I also went to VIP Reef this week but did not like that ones they had for sale. They are supposed to receive a new shipment by the weekend.

 

Good luck with the babies!

Those are awesome, proudgeek. Here's my little guy (warning: crappy iphone pic):

Nice!

[getmealemon]

My local shop was selling the flower anemones from the Bali region. Under the shop lighting (Hydra 52) this had a bright yellow centre with red flecks toward the outside, under my lighting (kessil 360) it just looks dark green. I'm surprised at the amount of difference and wondering if my anemones are missing out in the lighting department.....any thoughts?

 

[BulkRate]

Are those the same flower anemones as recently mentioned on ReefBuilders? Not a lot of info out there at the moment as to how they differ/are similar to the Caribbean ones. But I'm intrigued by the smaller size and different colorations.

 

Great find... I'm jealous. There's maybe two stores here that might be able to get them, but neither are big on special request follow-through.

[getmealemon]

Are those the same flower anemones as recently mentioned on ReefBuilders? Not a lot of info out there at the moment as to how they differ/are similar to the Caribbean ones. But I'm intrigued by the smaller size and different colorations.

 

Great find... I'm jealous. There's maybe two stores here that might be able to get them, but neither are big on special request follow-through.

 

Yeah i saw the same reefbuilders article and then my local store got them about 2 weeks later. To be honest the majority of them were quite dull compared to normal ones. Other than that they don't seem very different, just thought i would get a few to see if they breed with the others and throw out some wacky colours.

[getmealemon]

Colours on this one are coming on nicely!

 

Got three of these pink babies

 

And this one although tiny is potentially a stunner

[FlowerMama]

Look at all the babies!!! love the babies! My 20 adult nems are still growing. No babies here yet. Though 12 of the 20 are 2" big now so they're still having to mature.

[Astinus]

All I can say is WOW and I Need my Shades!

[ninjamyst]

mine keeps moving around to the sand and hugging the glass...

[Astinus]

lol!

[BulkRate]

Of the 10-13 babies I have trucking around that seem big enough to not spontaneously disappear, I'd say maybe 1/2 have noticeable colors, and of those maybe 1/3 of them are intense enough to be what a reefer would consider buying. The rest are looking like they're going to be patterns of white or brown.

 

Yet all are firmly in what VIPreef or Reefgardner would put in the 19.99 - 49.99 range by my reckoning.

 

You've got some beauties there, getmealemon. Especially that pink tentacled/green one!

[getmealemon]

Look at all the babies!!! love the babies! My 20 adult nems are still growing. No babies here yet. Though 12 of the 20 are 2" big now so they're still having to mature.

Great to hear your getting your collection back up, your old tank helped me decide i wouldn't be crazy to devote a tank to just them!

[MrNanoReef]

My first RFA and she glows bright orange

 

[getmealemon]

Of the 10-13 babies I have trucking around that seem big enough to not spontaneously disappear, I'd say maybe 1/2 have noticeable colors, and of those maybe 1/3 of them are intense enough to be what a reefer would consider buying. The rest are looking like they're going to be patterns of white or brown.

 

Yet all are firmly in what VIPreef or Reefgardner would put in the 19.99 - 49.99 range by my reckoning.

 

You've got some beauties there, getmealemon. Especially that pink tentacled/green one!

Yeah the pink ones are looking pretty awesome. From my experience they change colour massively from birth to reasonable size. The pink ones didn't get that colour until about month 4-5. One that was originally green in the centre only with grey lashes has changed to red lashes and nice green centre with red dots.

 

I move every baby i find in the tank away from the adult anemones to a spot of there own in the tank but some do still seem to disappear.

 

I'm having a massive problem with the black gravel trapping gunge which can't be good for the tank. Also have a ton of bristleworms that do rob babies of food.

My first RFA and she glows bright orange

 

Thats a beauty!

[getmealemon]

Looking back through my photo's you can see quite nicely the colour develop on this green/grey baby which is nearly one year old now....

 

Green one on the left

 

[FlowerMama]

I even love the tan ones. What would be fun is to put all the tan ones in a 10g and let them breed and see what colors come back! That would be really interesting.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to grow some and my plan would be to sell locally to our local club. Now we have 83 members so it's growing. Then I could use the money to pay for modifications for my conceal carry weapon.

[getmealemon]

So once again i've had some rock nems melt over the last week or so. I still have no idea why this happens. All parameters are fine and i did a large water change as an added measure. If it was something fundamentally wrong with the tank i would have thought all of them would die or the babies would be the first to go due to there size. The main problems with my tank is a plague of flatworm covering the gravel around the nems and detritus getting trapped in between the gravel. I don't hear of many other people having them melt so it must something i'm doing.

[seabass]

Maybe the flatworms are expelling toxins which are melting your nems.

[getmealemon]

It's possible but the flatworms aren't a new problem for the tank. My LFS had a few melt which they put down to a temperature swing which i don't buy, plus i use a temp controller so can rule that out straight away. There RFA tank also used black gravel. Anyway i've siphoned a lot of flatworm out - still lots left and siphoned out some of the detritus around the gravel and will monitor.

 

In the long run i think i might ditch the gravel and go for sand in case for whatever reason this is contributing. Will be a shame because the black gravel worked especially well for spotting/moving baby anemones.

[holy carp]

Looking for a little insight from the RFA gurus:

 

I bought 2 a while back. I still have them in a 5oz plastic cup in the back of the tank - I didn't want to set them on rock until I had gotten rid of a bit of turf algae I've been fighting, since I've be taking the rocks out of water semi-regularly to treat with peroxide.

 

For about a month, they both remained happily in the cup, almost snuggled against each other. They are entertainingly active eaters, but have been growing much more rapidly than I imagined, so I started feeding less often. Then overnight, one crawled up and out of the cup and then down between the side of the cup and the back glass. It stayed there in the shade for a week and then went under the cup. Then into the back corner of the tank. Then it crawled back onto the cup (only an inch or so away from the corner). Now it's back in the cup again close to the other one.

 

I was surprised how far they can travel over night - seems like 6" is no challenge. This sounds like more movement than I expected, so my questions are these:

 

Any idea why one would take to the road while the other hasn't moved at all? Lovers' Quarrel?

 

If this had happened after placement on/by a rock, would it have stung other corals to death along the its path? Or would other corals perhaps corral the rfa?

 

The walking has got me reconsidering where final placement should be. I don't mind letting them find their favorite spot, but I don't want a slaughter along the way.

[seabass]

They do this when not entirely happy. Could be from anything: lack of flow in the cup, lighting in the cup, proximity to the other anemone (in both leaving and coming back), looking for the food supply, an irritant, etc.

 

While it's possible that it could have stung a coral, they tend not to be that destructive unless they sit on top of a coral. I think that some corals have stronger defenses than RFAs, but at least the anemone has the ability to move.

 

RFAs don't move as much as you think that they might; so they are much easier to place where you want them than BTAs, for example. However, if they decide to move, there usually isn't much you can do about it (unless they are on the glass).

[FlowerMama]

To above, melting- are you feeding too often? Once a week is all I do.

 

To the moving around, I had 3 in my previous set that would change positions on the one rock they claimed often. All others, stayed put.

 

The 20 I have in my tank currently, all sitting in a row except for one that moved up onto a rock, all others staying put since I've had them.

 

Seems like the more you have the less they move. I think they honestly look for another to see if there's more. Cuz mine side by side here just don't move. Even as they're growing one is getting squished some and it's not even moving. I do think they're social animals. I've had more things sting my rfa than the other way around.

[holy carp]

Yes, it's very interesting how they move. This morning, the moving RFA was back in the cup and must be within a 1/2" of where it originally started, so maybe exploring is a good theory.

[getmealemon]

To above, melting- are you feeding too often? Once a week is all I do.

 

 

 

Again possible....i feed mine every 2-3 days so it may be too much. Was wondering the other day how much food they actually catch themselves - my tank is teeming with amphipods and small bristleworm both of which i have seen RFA eat before. Not sure how much light RFA actually prefer as well?

[FlowerMama]

 

Again possible....i feed mine every 2-3 days so it may be too much. Was wondering the other day how much food they actually catch themselves - my tank is teeming with amphipods and small bristleworm both of which i have seen RFA eat before. Not sure how much light RFA actually prefer as well?

 

Yeah, from VIPReef's site--Feed them once a week meaty foods like brine shrimp or PE mysis and they will be very happy. When I had cyano and dino I did not feed them for 2 mos. They looked no different. so yeah, too much feeding.