Rock Flower Anemone Information and Appreciation Thread

[ngvu1]

SeaFurn just reminded me of something.  I Remember seeing many times the bristle worms walking right into the moth of a rocknem trying to steal the pellets.  Not sure if this could cause any problem.  I normally would stop that but at night when I'm not there, I don't know what would happen.

 

 

[SeaFurn]

2 minutes ago, ngvu1 said:

SeaFurn just reminded me of something.  I Remember seeing many times the bristle worms walking right into the moth of a rocknem trying to steal the pellets.  Not sure if this could cause any problem.  I normally would stop that but at night when I'm not there, I don't know what would happen.

 

 

My nems eat bristle worms if they get too close! And I know the bristle worms don’t bother the babies either.

I’m just thinking there’s something else happening to Reeffish’s nems. 

[ReefFish]

37 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

I’m so sorry you’re having so much trouble. I remember when I lost 8 over the course of a few weeks and I was devastated. As it turns out, I had a fire worm in my tank and it was wreaking havoc. 

 

Could there possibly be be something else going on in your tank like that? Mine succumbed quickly like yours in the same fashion. 

 

It just doesn’t make sense. Like you, every picture I’ve ever seen has them huddled together. All of mine are that way. I know several of yours are larger than mine and that those are the stinging ones so I suppose it’s a possibility but I just think you should investigate other possibilities. 

I found these in the tank about three months ago but was told they were normal bristle worm

And all my RFA's that are separated from the others in a holding rack with cups have all been fine

[ReefFish]

 

31 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

My nems eat bristle worms if they get too close! And I know the bristle worms don’t bother the babies either.

I’m just thinking there’s something else happening to Reeffish’s nems. 

I had one eat one too and thought it was going to kill it but nothing it's still happy and healthy and that was month's ago

 

The only thing I've come up with is there stinging each other because the ones that are isolated from the rest are all fine and if you look at the picture they made it so that none are touching

Except for that one baby

[SeaFurn]

2 minutes ago, ReefFish said:

I found these in the tank about three months ago but was told they were normal bristle worm

And all my RFA's that are separated from the others in a holding rack with cups have all been fine

I was just so frustrated when I started losing mine and it seemed so random. One day they’d be fine and look healthy and then a day or so later they’d detach and the mouth would gape open. 

 

Yeah those look look like typical bristle worms. I’m just thinking there may be some something else going on and especially thinking that if the ones on your rack away from the others and off the rocks have all been fine. 

It could be a pest of some sort. 

May need to set some traps....

[ReefFish]

4 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

I was just so frustrated when I started losing mine and it seemed so random. One day they’d be fine and look healthy and then a day or so later they’d detach and the mouth would gape open. 

 

Yeah those look look like typical bristle worms. I’m just thinking there may be some something else going on and especially thinking that if the ones on your rack away from the others and off the rocks have all been fine. 

It could be a pest of some sort. 

May need to set some traps....

I don't think that there's anything in the tank but who knows

But I did see that one RFA stinging the other and the next day it's upside down in the sand with it's mouth gaping open and half its skirt melted where it was stung

[SeaFurn]

19 minutes ago, ReefFish said:

I don't think that there's anything in the tank but who knows

But I did see that one RFA stinging the other and the next day it's upside down in the sand with it's mouth gaping open and half its skirt melted where it was stung

I’m curious about this sting. 

Try putting your finger on the one that stings and see if it’s stronger than touching a normal one - (which just feels like it’s sticky to me)

[ReefFish]

43 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

I’m curious about this sting. 

Try putting your finger on the one that stings and see if it’s stronger than touching a normal one - (which just feels like it’s sticky to me)

Lights just went off but I will try tomorrow too see if one hurts me more then another 😕

[ngvu1]

I finally climbed to the chair and took some top down pictures of the rocknem tray in the back of the tank.  the big red with dark face is 1 of the parents.  It was totally  different back then when I got it a few years ago.  because of its location, I had not seen it for a long time.

 

Added the picture of the other parent also

Edited February 15, 2019 by ngvu1

[Noinoi24]

Here’s my collection. It’s in the left side of the tank.

[ngvu1]

Awesome tank Noinoi

[ReefFish]

On 2/14/2019 at 8:07 PM, SeaFurn said:

I’m curious about this sting. 

Try putting your finger on the one that stings and see if it’s stronger than touching a normal one - (which just feels like it’s sticky to me)

So I put my hand in the tank to see if any of the RFA's had a sting that I could feel but nothing they only stick to my hand

 

But if this isn't getting stung by it's neighbor I don't know what is

This was two days ago and today it's half melted and need to get it out tomorrow 😞 

This was a RFA that I grow from a baby so it hurt a little more then one I just bought

[SeaFurn]

11 hours ago, ReefFish said:

So I put my hand in the tank to see if any of the RFA's had a sting that I could feel but nothing they only stick to my hand

 

But if this isn't getting stung by it's neighbor I don't know what is

This was two days ago and today it's half melted and need to get it out tomorrow 😞 

This was a RFA that I grow from a baby so it hurt a little more then one I just bought

@seabass @BulkRate  @Got Corals - any ideas on this?   My thought is there's some kind of pest in the tank because I have never seen the same type RFA stinging each other.  Reefish's experience is so similar to my fireworm situation.  After I got rid of that damn thing, it stopped.  

[seabass]

22 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

any ideas on this?

Not really.  However, I like your thinking about a possible predator.

 

Although, I can't 100% rule out competition between anemones (like species or not).  My only experience is with Caribbean anemones, and I haven't witnessed any aggression between them (in almost 15 years).  Makes me wonder if Pacific anemones have developed stronger defenses.  And what about potential hybrid babies?

 

When I look at Harry's cluster,

there doesn't appear to be any aggression there either.

 

So I guess I'm with you SeaFurn, a predator seems plausible.

[ReefFish]

6 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

@seabass @BulkRate  @Got Corals - any ideas on this?   My thought is there's some kind of pest in the tank because I have never seen the same type RFA stinging each other.  Reefish's experience is so similar to my fireworm situation.  After I got rid of that damn thing, it stopped.  

I don't think there is anything in the tank because I haven't added anything to this tank in over 5 months and I use Red Sea salt mix so its not like something came in the water change now that all the RFA's have space between them they all seem to be happy.

I did notice that the Rock Anemones that had all there neighbor anemones die/melt away have different tentacles from the others there straight and the others looked like little Christmas trees.

[SeaFurn]

3 hours ago, ReefFish said:

I don't think there is anything in the tank because I haven't added anything to this tank in over 5 months and I use Red Sea salt mix so its not like something came in the water change now that all the RFA's have space between them they all seem to be happy.

I did notice that the Rock Anemones that had all there neighbor anemones die/melt away have different tentacles from the others there straight and the others looked like little Christmas trees.

I have a mix of smooth tentacled and ridged tentacled RFAs. Mine coexist peacefully. 

Some people think the difference in tentacles might determine the sex of the RFA but it doesn’t. 

 

I hope you figure out what’s causing your losses or at the very least somehow keep the others away from the troublemaker! 

Keep us posted. 

 

 

[ngvu1]

I had 1 Rock nem at first, then I added another one.  Months later I started seeing babies.  1 of the parents decided to let go with the flow to the other side of the tank.  Then I added another rocknem.  Somehow they are not near each other.  Anyway, I never saw any of the 3 big rock nems releasing the white cloudy thing, but I keep seeing babies rocknems appearing.  Lately, I see 2 new baby rock nems, each is next to the 2 big rocknems.  The third big one has nothing to do with this, I think 🙂

 

So which one is the male and which one is the female? Or they are both the same but need 2 to tango? I do notice that from the 2 parents, 1 has ridges and 1 doesn't.

[ngvu1]

This is my pair, the second generation rocknems 🙂

[SeaFurn]

12 hours ago, ngvu1 said:

I had 1 Rock nem at first, then I added another one.  Months later I started seeing babies.  1 of the parents decided to let go with the flow to the other side of the tank.  Then I added another rocknem.  Somehow they are not near each other.  Anyway, I never saw any of the 3 big rock nems releasing the white cloudy thing, but I keep seeing babies rocknems appearing.  Lately, I see 2 new baby rock nems, each is next to the 2 big rocknems.  The third big one has nothing to do with this, I think 🙂

 

So which one is the male and which one is the female? Or they are both the same but need 2 to tango? I do notice that from the 2 parents, 1 has ridges and 1 doesn't.

The only way to know for sure is to see the males releasing the sperm or see the females having the babies.  But...I also think the females will put their tentacles in their mouths after they catch sperm - just my observation.  I've got one or two that I'm pretty sure are females not because I've seen them have babies but because they have a bunch a babies under their skirts - I'm talking 7-10 so it's not likely they came from another nem. 

[ReefFish]

On 2/16/2019 at 7:55 PM, SeaFurn said:

I have a mix of smooth tentacled and ridged tentacled RFAs. Mine coexist peacefully. 

Some people think the difference in tentacles might determine the sex of the RFA but it doesn’t. 

 

I hope you figure out what’s causing your losses or at the very least somehow keep the others away from the troublemaker! 

Keep us posted. 

 

 

All my RFA's have been doing fine now that none are touching each other and I realized that all that died in the last 2 months had been touched/touching this pink with purple skirt RFA

 

 

Before the die-off

 

What was left after they ether moved or died and on the bottom left is the last one to die the day after this picture was taken

You can see everything that was next to that pink one in the center is gone/dead and the gold one that was at the bottom moved up the rock work and also died after being next to that pink one.

This is the only thing all that died had in common is that they all touched that one pink RFA

 

[ngvu1]

Someone posted this 7inch rocknem on FB.  It is crazy.  The picture might have been enhanced, but I can imagine it is not bad in person

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

I just got a batch of rock flowers from @Got Corals. I can’t reccomend them highly enough. The flowers are outstanding. A beautiful variety. Definitely check them out the next time you’re wanting RFA’s. 

[ngvu1]

2 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

I just got a batch of rock flowers from @Got Corals. I can’t reccomend them highly enough. The flowers are outstanding. A beautiful variety. Definitely check them out the next time you’re wanting RFA’s. 

Those are awesome

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

8 hours ago, ngvu1 said:

Those are awesome

Thank you! I'm super happy with them. I'm really impressed with their service, and live stock. The next batch I buy will definitely be from @Got Corals once again. 

[ReefFish]

On 2/27/2019 at 11:09 PM, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

I just got a batch of rock flowers from @Got Corals. I can’t reccomend them highly enough. The flowers are outstanding. A beautiful variety. Definitely check them out the next time you’re wanting RFA’s. 

 Do you have any pictures of them in the tank