Rock Flower Anemone Information and Appreciation Thread

[ChristopherDido]

On 10/5/2017 at 9:35 PM, seabass said:

They are hardy buggers.  I'm not saying that I've never lost one, but I still have the very first one that ever purchased (well over a decade ago).  It's gone through just about everything you could throw at it.

Hey @seabass Here is what my RFA looks like right now, I had some issues with it over this past weekend.  I was hoping after finding it in the back of the tank behind the rocks and it upside down, not attached to anything, that moving it somewhere else and turning off the powerheads/pumps would get it to reattach.  Tried two different places, left it for about 15 minutes first time with no flow, 30-45 minutes the second time.  Came in to work this morning and it currently looks like this.

Should I take it out? Will it "nuke" my tank?

Thanks in Advance.

[seabass]

I don't think it will nuke your tank.  But I'm not too optimistic about it's chances.  If I were to try something, I might try an iodine dip (using a turkey baster to blow off any slime).  Sorry, about your nem.   If treatment doesn't work and it get's worse, you'll need to get it out of your tank.

[ChristopherDido]

6 hours ago, seabass said:

I don't think it will nuke your tank.  But I'm not too optimistic about it's chances.  If I were to try something, I might try an iodine dip (using a turkey baster to blow off any slime).  Sorry, about your nem.   If treatment doesn't work and it get's worse, you'll need to get it out of your tank.

I did what you suggested.  Smelled it after a dip and dropping in fresh saltwater.  I had posted pics of what it looked like, but when I smelled it after posting to ask for one last piece of advice, i remember what someone said... if it smells bad its gone... it smelled bad.  Deleted the pics because I didn't want to show the carnage :-(

Edited October 24, 2017 by ChristopherDido
Did not want to add sadness to this thread.

[seabass]

Sorry to hear that.   Once they get damaged or infected like that, they have very little chance.

[ChristopherDido]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

Sorry to hear that.   Once they get damaged or infected like that, they have very little chance.

I won't give up on them, but I'm taking this harder than I thought. It was my first coral loss. My home tank RFA is happy so that's good!

[BulkRate]

It happens every now and then, but you have my condolences.  Go have a concrete or something at Ted Drewes or scarf down one of our horrible (yet so very, very tasty) provel-based pizzas to drown your sorrows.

 

IME rock flowers are incredibly hardy once they're acclimated provided there's no damage to their foot or infection of an injury... as Seabass says, once that's happened it's a pretty certain downhill path.  There have been a couple times where I've had to back out of purchasing some really, really nice looking ones after watching the salesperson pull & squeeze them off the rock/glass by brute force when bagging it up for me.

 

If you don't mind my asking, how long had that one been in your tank?

[seabass]

Ever seen a RFA stretch like this?

[SeaFurn]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

Ever seen a RFA stretch like this?

 

Whoa...no! What was it doing? 

[seabass]

It's just searching for some light and open water.  The Caulerpa has kind of taken over its territory, but it seems basically OK with it.

 

This pic was taken prior to the lights coming on.  When the lights come on, it retracts quite a lot.  It's kind of unusual, but it's totally healthy and has been doing this for awhile now.

[kimberbee]

On 10/26/2017 at 5:57 PM, seabass said:

Ever seen a RFA stretch like this?

I have a few that stretch out very awkwardly at random times too. 

[ChristopherDido]

On 10/26/2017 at 5:57 PM, seabass said:

Ever seen a RFA stretch like this?

The one in my main tank when it pulls away from the rock/sand looks like that, but it's in a crevice, so not surprised on that one, based on where mine is. They are interesting!

[NU2REEFIN]

Here is a pic of three of my latest babies. There is two more attached to rocks in the display.

 

A "baby" from about 10 months ago now the size of a silver dollar.

[SeaFurn]

11 minutes ago, NU2REEFIN said:

Here is a pic of three of my latest babies. There is two more attached to rocks in the display.

 

A "baby" from about 10 months ago now the size of a silver dollar.

So cool! The orange one has amazing color!

What do you feed the babies and how often? 

Are they in a grow out tank? 

[NU2REEFIN]

They are in the main tank, just in a little plastic "cup". I am feeding them chopped up mysis and reef caviar. Last time only the one pictured lived and grew out of about 5 I found. This time I will tend to them more and see what happens.

[kimberbee]

13 hours ago, NU2REEFIN said:

They are in the main tank, just in a little plastic "cup". I am feeding them chopped up mysis and reef caviar. Last time only the one pictured lived and grew out of about 5 I found. This time I will tend to them more and see what happens.

That orange-y purple one is AMAZING!!

[tofer]

Im I being paranoid that  my newly purchased anemone  are not fully open and one moved itself under a ledge and not really getting a lot of light ?

Hey were purchased Saturday Afternoon  acclimated  shut wave makers off for like 2 hrs so the could  attach . Sunday morning the one moved under a ledge out of  the light the other moved a little  half on the rock half on the sand .  

Param

 Salinty 1.025

Nitrates  5

Ph 8.3

Alk  9

Calcium  410

Mag 1300 

[kimberbee]

15 minutes ago, tofer said:

Im I being paranoid that  my newly purchased anemone  are not fully open and one moved itself under a ledge and not really getting a lot of light ?

Hey were purchased Saturday Afternoon  acclimated  shut wave makers off for like 2 hrs so the could  attach . Sunday morning the one moved under a ledge out of  the light the other moved a little  half on the rock half on the sand .  

Param

 Salinty 1.025

Nitrates  5

Ph 8.3

Alk  9

Calcium  410

Mag 1300 

Since it is new to your tank, it would likely take a while to decide where it wants to be in it's new home. Your parameters look fine, so try to be patient and keep an eye on it. 

[BulkRate]

I've become a real fan of doing RFA islands made out of a couple chunks of base rock onto which I put my new anemones & any babies that I want to try to grow out.  Easy to make sure there no too-deep caves or overhangs, and easy to reposition.

 

Of course, this go-round most of the new ones and babies are just rooting into the sunbed & seem perfectly happy with just being snuggled up to the edge of the rock.  Go figger.

 

BTW, all... NEW baby nems! (likely from the last equinox)  Only two this time, but they're huge (as in about thimble sized) compared to the normal rice grains I often get.  As a note - fed a lot of finely minced foods in the last month.

[SeaFurn]

2 hours ago, BulkRate said:

I've become a real fan of doing RFA islands made out of a couple chunks of base rock onto which I put my new anemones & any babies that I want to try to grow out.  Easy to make sure there no too-deep caves or overhangs, and easy to reposition.

 

Of course, this go-round most of the new ones and babies are just rooting into the sunbed & seem perfectly happy with just being snuggled up to the edge of the rock.  Go figger.

 

BTW, all... NEW baby nems! (likely from the last equinox)  Only two this time, but they're huge (as in about thimble sized) compared to the normal rice grains I often get.  As a note - fed a lot of finely minced foods in the last month.

That's awesome news! How about some baby pics?

[seabass]

17 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

How about some baby pics?

[SeaFurn]

23 minutes ago, seabass said:

   Ask and you shall receive! 

I should have anticipated that from you! 

 

[tofer]

These are weird but beautiful animals. 

Last night had a small issue when cleaning sandbed of tank . 1 of the anemone was half on a rock half on the sand and a I vacuumed a little close to the  rock and it started to shift like it was going to crush it the anemone.  Somehow I grabbed the rock and the anemone rolled over on itself and was upside down on its disk  I rolled it to put its foot on the sand  .Finished cleaning and added freshwater kept  powerheads off for 2 hours and it seemed all set started to open back up while putting its foot down .

This morning before I left for work all was well seemed good . Got home and it was back upside down  I shutt off powerheads again  and righted it so foot was down . 

Is this a normal occurrence when they want to move themselves flipping on their disks ? 

Sorry for the very long post 

[uwharrie]

On ‎10‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 9:01 PM, seabass said:

It's just searching for some light and open water.  The Caulerpa has kind of taken over its territory, but it seems basically OK with it.

 

This pic was taken prior to the lights coming on.  When the lights come on, it retracts quite a lot.  It's kind of unusual, but it's totally healthy and has been doing this for awhile now.

I have one that does this every day. But once lights are fully on it is happy. It has been in the same spot for over a year

 

[rsucre]

I would like to keep a group of flower rock nems in a certain area of my tank.  Anybody tried to "fence" an area, perhaps with a relatively flat container or some other object to try to maintain the nems restricted to that area?  Can you share pics?

[seabass]

1 hour ago, tofer said:

Is this a normal occurrence when they want to move themselves flipping on their disks ? 

No they sometimes let go and let themselves drift in the current, but I've never noticed one intentionally flipping upside down.  They can walk if they wish to move.