Rock Flower Anemone Information and Appreciation Thread

[ReefFish]

What do you all think is best for the baby rock anemones?

 

Hikari cyclopod

Hikari baby brine shrimp

Hikari coral gumbo

 

And what have you all been feeding them?

[seabass]

Target feeding is possible; but alternatively, you could broadcast feed your tank.  I suggest that you feed sparingly.  You could use something for filter feeders; maybe a dry food like Reef Roids or Coral Frenzy.

[SeaFurn]

1 hour ago, ReefFish said:

What do you all think is best for the baby rock anemones?

 

Hikari cyclopod

Hikari baby brine shrimp

Hikari coral gumbo

 

And what have you all been feeding them?

I mostly target feed mine mysis shrimp particles. I pulverize small bits of mysis in a small cup of tank water into even smaller bits using a pipette. 

[j_wey]

On 3/28/2019 at 6:03 PM, j_wey said:

 

That is our RFA.   We've managed to get if off the rock and put it into a glass cup so that we can monitor the babies growth.   The babies are visibly bigger now, but all still attached underside of the RFA after 3 weeks.

 

 

 

 

Update (Aug/5/2019): One of the baby is getting larger compared to others, and coming to the front (still attached to mother).

 

[tofer]

New  one got end of aug  photo not the greatest 

[Tired]

If given decent lighting and an occasional feeding, how big do these lovelies get? Are there different varieties that hit different sizes? 

 

Also, can't find a consensus in articles- do these sting adjacent corals, or do they tend to not bother other sessiles? I see some pics of them nestled up by other creatures.

[tofer]

@Tired I have one that is 3 to 3 1/2 “ . They move to where they like but when they find that spot they stay put (at least mine have ) . I have not had a issue other any warfare with them next to any of my corals . They reproduce  but you need a male and a female and no way to know till they spawn . 

[SeaFurn]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

If given decent lighting and an occasional feeding, how big do these lovelies get? Are there different varieties that hit different sizes? 

 

Also, can't find a consensus in articles- do these sting adjacent corals, or do they tend to not bother other sessiles? I see some pics of them nestled up by other creatures.

I've seen some bigger ones - 4"-6".  I may have one that's getting close to 4" but most are between 2-3".  The amount you feed them really makes the difference.  I think I've dialed in feedings so they grow but at a fairly slow rate. I saw some of Belize variety at MACNA and they are much bigger than my Florida/Caribbean variety. 

 

Others probably have more experience with how they interact with corals but I did have some ricordia in the tank with them and when they got next to each other both didn't fare well.  After separating them they both stayed closed up for a couple of days to heal. 

Mine do nestle with some palys on occasion and they don't seem to mind - but I have seen them eat the palys as well.  Mine also eat snails that get too close and recently one of the bigger nems took down a fairly large hermit crab that tried to climb over it instead of being respectful and going around it.  It literally pulled the crab right out of the shell.  Amazing.

[Tired]

Oh, the snail thing would be an issue. Is there any practical way to keep them away from snails and hermits? 

 

Also, they wouldn't hurt sexy shrimp, would they? 

[tofer]

@SeaFurn Really if a snail falls off the glass onto mine they react like food but then relax and the snail goes about its way .  Never have seen a hermit crab  interaction but I do have to get more 🤔.

[SeaFurn]

5 minutes ago, tofer said:

@SeaFurn Really if a snail falls off the glass onto mine they react like food but then relax and the snail goes about its way .  Never have seen a hermit crab  interaction but I do have to get more 🤔.

Yeah I've seen that too - where they fall off the glass onto them then they close around them but then relax and let the snail go.  And they also eat them and spit the shell out a couple of days later.  I have a a bone yard of shells in my tank to show for it.    The other thing that happens is they hold (stick) the snails on the underside of their skirt to weight it down and keep it flat - like they do with grains of sand.  The snails are basically trapped at that point.  

 

Most of the hermits crawl all over them and they don't mind at all - that's why I was shocked when I saw it. I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it happen.

 

[tofer]

5 minutes ago, Tired said:

Oh, the snail thing would be an issue. Is there any practical way to keep them away from snails and hermits? 

 

Also, they wouldn't hurt sexy shrimp, would they? 

Not sure about the sexy shrimp . Like i said I have had no issues with snails getting eaten  nor saw a hermit crab incident . I do not  think there is  any way to keep them away from each other .  I had a cleaner shrimp that would walk across mine nothing happened . 

[SeaFurn]

14 minutes ago, Tired said:

Oh, the snail thing would be an issue. Is there any practical way to keep them away from snails and hermits? 

 

Also, they wouldn't hurt sexy shrimp, would they? 

There's no way to keep the snails or hermits away from them.  You generally have to "refresh" your CUC occasionally anyway. 

 

I haven't kept them with sexy shrimp but I think they are compatible. 

[tofer]

@SeaFurn I never thought as the snails  trapped as much as resting with a nice  anemone blanket 😁. My snails always seem to get out from under the blanket  .

[Tired]

I know this isn't the thread for them, but I'm guessing the appreciation is there and some of y'all probably keep both, so- are minimax nems less prone to killing crawly things? 

[tofer]

@Tired I could be wrong but i think the would do the same if the opportunity present itself if not more as they can get bigger (i think). Flowers don't go out of their way to eat crawly things  they don't hunt them . There is always a chance of something eating or killing something else . 

[Tired]

How do the various anemone shrimps in the hobby fare with rock flowers? Pederson's and whatnot. Are there any that have been tested and found to work, or not work? Leaning away from sexy shrimp since they eat corals if you forget a feeding (which I can't guarantee I won't do), so I'm looking at other nem-compatible shrimp. I figure that's one way to help prevent eating. They can't eat it if it's hosting in them!

 

Is there a good way to differentiate different locales/sizes? I assume there are color and pattern differences.

[tofer]

38 minutes ago, Tired said:

How do the various anemone shrimps in the hobby fare with rock flowers? Pederson's and whatnot. Are there any that have been tested and found to work, or not work? Leaning away from sexy shrimp since they eat corals if you forget a feeding (which I can't guarantee I won't do), so I'm looking at other nem-compatible shrimp. I figure that's one way to help prevent eating. They can't eat it if it's hosting in them!

 

Is there a good way to differentiate different locales/sizes? I assume there are color and pattern differences.

I wish I could help with these questions but  I can't . Maybe @SeaFurncould answer for you .

[banasophia]

10 hours ago, Tired said:

If given decent lighting and an occasional feeding, how big do these lovelies get? Are there different varieties that hit different sizes? 

 

Also, can't find a consensus in articles- do these sting adjacent corals, or do they tend to not bother other sessiles? I see some pics of them nestled up by other creatures.

Here are a couple pics of three of my RFAs from this morning. You can see they are able to touch each other, the cloves, and the zoas without any major problems. The pink one had been in the same exact spot where I had originally placed it until last weekend, now it is actually on top of some of the cloves. I tried to move it, but it’s footed there so it’s out of my control.

 

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, one RFA recently decided to move over and sit on the pipe organ coral next to it for a while. I moved it off after 1-2 weeks. The pipe organ hasn’t been able to fully open since then.

 

 

How the pipe organ used to look:

 

 

 

 

Also, I put a really small BTA in the biocube for a little while, but the RFA moved on top of it and was obviously winning the battle so I moved the BTA to my other tank.

 

[RebeccaAnnBaselice]

So glad I found this forum!! My favorite critter in our entire tank is our RFA - Big Foot. 😆 He/she (who knows) is amazing!  It’s HUGE! I’d say about 7-8” in diameter. Loves to EAT and wait for it....my clowns hosted it!!! 💕 My female clown also sucks on the tentacles 😂

[Tired]

That's all good to know, thanks.

 

If I have a tiny rock flower, can I feed it heavily until it gets larger, then ease up on the feeding? Or would it somehow get its metabolism used to the heavy feeding and suffer if fed less? 

 

Maybe it doesn't sting some of the corals because it doesn't recognize them as threats, but it thinks the pipe organ is something to sting in defense? 

 

Do rock nems wander around without any notable reason, or do they generally tend to respond to actual stimuli? I'm thinking of one for a nano tank, so I'm hoping I could set one in a good spot and keep it there instead of it walking over what might be literally everything else. Particularly if I could set it up on an elevated point that my CUC might have a hard time reaching. 

 

How do they feel about bristleworms? I know a place where I can get a lot of those pinkish ones with the purple cores and white spines, the little beneficial ones, which might make a good substitute CUC that could just replace itself as it was eaten. The bristles won't hurt a nem that catches them, right? 

[seabass]

7 hours ago, Tired said:

I'm hoping I could set one in a good spot and keep it there instead of it walking over what might be literally everything else. Particularly if I could set it up on an elevated point that my CUC might have a hard time reaching.

If you pick a spot that they like, it is likely that it will stay there (provided conditions like light, flow, and feeding don't change).  They seem most likely to move when new, so sometimes it's best to add a RFA, let it settle, then mount corals where you want them.  There is no guarantee that they won't move in the future, although I have found that they tend to stay put in my tanks.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about your cleanup crew around your RFA.  Over time, you might lose a couple snails to it; but they tend to be able to negotiate around anemones.

[SeaFurn]

11 hours ago, RebeccaAnnBaselice said:

So glad I found this forum!! My favorite critter in our entire tank is our RFA - Big Foot. 😆 He/she (who knows) is amazing!  It’s HUGE! I’d say about 7-8” in diameter. Loves to EAT and wait for it....my clowns hosted it!!! 💕 My female clown also sucks on the tentacles 😂

Oh wow! That’s amazing!

That’s the first I’ve seen/heard of a clown hosting one. Thanks for sharing. 

[SeaFurn]

21 hours ago, Tired said:

How do the various anemone shrimps in the hobby fare with rock flowers? Pederson's and whatnot. Are there any that have been tested and found to work, or not work? Leaning away from sexy shrimp since they eat corals if you forget a feeding (which I can't guarantee I won't do), so I'm looking at other nem-compatible shrimp. I figure that's one way to help prevent eating. They can't eat it if it's hosting in them!

 

Is there a good way to differentiate different locales/sizes? I assume there are color and pattern differences.

Yes you’d be fine with any of the anemone shrimps. They are cool. I’ve had a white spotted anemone shrimp. 

 

You just would need to research the various types and see which one you like.

[tofer]

Couple of RFA babies