Rock Flower Anemone Information and Appreciation Thread

[Tired]

I haven't yet fed this one anything big enough to really get its attention. It's been catching the occasional pod (I assume) and also the dried daphnia I scatter into the tank sometimes. I see the individual little tentacles kinda curl inward when it gets things. Gotta find it a nice big food item to gorge itself on, maybe a bundle of mysis or a scrap of krill. Is there a good guide to judging how large a food item is appropriate for a given rock flower? Size of the mouth when closed? 

 

I knew they could move, but I don't think I really had a mental image of what that would look like. I didn't expect it to just kinda crawl like a snail, sliding along, and at a speed I could see.

[seabass]

2 minutes ago, Tired said:

Is there a good guide to judging how large a food item is appropriate for a given rock flower?

I don't feed large items, but they can take small fish.  I'd stick to smaller items like mysis or other bits of food designed for fish.  Occasional feedings are usually all that's required.  Target feed by placing the food on the tentacles instead of the disc.

[Tired]

I wasn't planning on another nem, wanted to make sure my current one does well, but look at this baby. It's tiny- dime-sized in this pic, if that, maybe a nickel at most now that it's relaxing slightly further. It was up on SaltCritters for like $20, and I was already there for zoas, and I couldn't resist. Those stripes, ugh. The rim is slightly pink, and the center is actually kind of bluish, very faintly. It's not fluorescing much at the moment, not sure if it'll pump that up a smidge after not having been recently shipped, but I don't care either way. I can't wait for this lovely little one to get bigger than small change, it's gonna be such an eye-catcher! I mean, ultras are lovely, but you've gotta have the blue lights on to show the colors. This? This would pop in pretty much anything short of total darkness. 

[Tigahboy]

Couple shots from last night.

 

[Tired]

Does anyone have any photos of rock flower anemones that are red and white under white light? Red center or red rim would both be cool, but especially red center. I'm looking to get one like that, if I can. 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

3 hours ago, Tired said:

Does anyone have any photos of rock flower anemones that are red and white under white light? Red center or red rim would both be cool, but especially red center. I'm looking to get one like that, if I can. 

If I remember tomorrow, I’ll try and get some pictures for you. 

[banasophia]

6 hours ago, Tired said:

Does anyone have any photos of rock flower anemones that are red and white under white light? Red center or red rim would both be cool, but especially red center. I'm looking to get one like that, if I can. 

Hmm I don’t have quite what you’re looking for, but I just took a few pics for you before my lights switched:

 

 

 

plus some lovely aiptasia and cyano for good measure... really need to do something about that 😬

[Tired]

Oh, lovely! Where did you get them? 

[banasophia]

2 hours ago, Tired said:

Oh, lovely! Where did you get them? 

Thanks! I got most of my RFAs from my LFSs, and then in August a got a bunch of nice ones for a good deal from Reef Legends at Reefapalooza.

 

[HiImSean]

Well my female clown has taken to dive bombing one of the new RFA 👎 It let go and is now also in the back of the rock work. I’m sure it’ll move around once it’s starting to recuperate. 

[kimberbee]

29 minutes ago, HiImSean said:

Well my female clown has taken to dive bombing one of the new RFA 👎 It let go and is now also in the back of the rock work. I’m sure it’ll move around once it’s starting to recuperate. 

Mine was doing the same for a while. She was really going at it. At first I wondered if it was hosting behavior. She stopped after a day or so. 

[HiImSean]

I think it is hosting behavior. She hosted a hammer to death before and use to host a frogspawn in my only tank. 

[HiImSean]

I guess I’m just not meant to have anemones. My female clown beat the crap out of the red one. It moved around the tank and looked worse and worse till it started falling apart. The other one has been looking great. It started moving around the front of the rocks when the clowns started going at it. I checked it out this morning and it was all balled up looking pissed off. I can back about an hour later and the clowns had torn half of it to shreds 😔 idk why they don’t like RFAs but I’m not wasting any more money on them. Maybe in a bigger tank eventually. 

[SeaFurn]

On 11/28/2019 at 12:40 PM, HiImSean said:

I guess I’m just not meant to have anemones. My female clown beat the crap out of the red one. It moved around the tank and looked worse and worse till it started falling apart. The other one has been looking great. It started moving around the front of the rocks when the clowns started going at it. I checked it out this morning and it was all balled up looking pissed off. I can back about an hour later and the clowns had torn half of it to shreds 😔 idk why they don’t like RFAs but I’m not wasting any more money on them. Maybe in a bigger tank eventually. 

That's such a bummer.  Are your clowns breeding age? Are they getting ready to spawn mayber?  Mine get crazy when the emerald crab or a snail gets close to their flower pot.  Thank god an RFA hasn't tried to get in it.  I'll have to watch them closely if they ever do based on your experience. 

[Tired]

Has anyone ever had a fish stung, but not killed, by a RFA? I'm wondering how potent it is.

 

Thinking of maybe keeping some Endlers' livebearers (freshwater guppy relatives that can be acclimated to marine) if my tank isn't too small, but I have RFAs. I'd worry about an endler tasting the RFA and getting stung in the face.

[HiImSean]

5 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

That's such a bummer.  Are your clowns breeding age? Are they getting ready to spawn mayber?  Mine get crazy when the emerald crab or a snail gets close to their flower pot.  Thank god an RFA hasn't tried to get in it.  I'll have to watch them closely if they ever do based on your experience. 

Yeah it sucks. I’m not going to add any more RFA to that tank. I’ve got one in my 90 that’s coming down so I guess I’ll try to sell it. 
 

they are of breeding age but haven’t had a batch of eggs in a while. I think they’ve become more aggressive since I moved them from the 90g to the 20g drop off, the male toward me but it was the female pounding the first anemone that died. 

[SeaFurn]

2 hours ago, HiImSean said:

Yeah it sucks. I’m not going to add any more RFA to that tank. I’ve got one in my 90 that’s coming down so I guess I’ll try to sell it. 
 

they are of breeding age but haven’t had a batch of eggs in a while. I think they’ve become more aggressive since I moved them from the 90g to the 20g drop off, the male toward me but it was the female pounding the first anemone that died. 

I’ll buy it from you if you do -  since your right here in the ATL. I’ve always got room for one more. 

[SeaFurn]

6 hours ago, Tired said:

Has anyone ever had a fish stung, but not killed, by a RFA? I'm wondering how potent it is.

 

Thinking of maybe keeping some Endlers' livebearers (freshwater guppy relatives that can be acclimated to marine) if my tank isn't too small, but I have RFAs. I'd worry about an endler tasting the RFA and getting stung in the face.

My clown fish will occasionally swim by and touch one. They don’t seem to react when they do. 

 

I suppose If you have a bigger RFA with a quick aggressive feeding reflex and a smaller fish swims right into it it could be a problem. Otherwise I think the fish would learn quick to stay away. 

[banasophia]

@SeaFurn did I see you posting some new pics on IG of your RFA having a baby?! So cool those of you that get to observe this in your tanks!! Mine don’t seem to reproduce. 

[tofer]

Interested to see what color this will be 

[SeaFurn]

8 hours ago, banasophia said:

@SeaFurn did I see you posting some new pics on IG of your RFA having a baby?! So cool those of you that get to observe this in your tanks!! Mine don’t seem to reproduce. 

You sure did! It was pretty amazing I have to say. As many babies I have in my tank I’ve never seen one of mine giving birth. I’ve seen the video @seabass posted of one of his giving birth but this one seemed a little different. She really had to work to get that baby out - scrunching up and contorting over and over. When I realized what was happening I turned off the pumps so the baby didn’t get blown away. I think that’s what happens most of the time since the babies are scattered all over the tank. In this instance the baby slowly made it’s way off of the oral disk over the tentacles and situated itself under mom. It took about 20-30 min. After that I turned on the pumps. This was a big baby compared to most of the others in my tank. I think it might be the only one she has this time. 

Here’s the pic from IG for those on NR. Hadn’t had a a chance to post it here yet.

(Swipe left to see the second pic) 

How many RFAs do you have? Yours may actually spawn but you may not even know that they do. 

[banasophia]

34 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

You sure did! It was pretty amazing I have to say. As many babies I have in my tank I’ve never seen one of mine giving birth. I’ve seen the video @seabass posted of one of his giving birth but this one seemed a little different. She really had to work to get that baby out - scrunching up and contorting over and over. When I realized what was happening I turned off the pumps so the baby didn’t get blown away. I think that’s what happens most of the time since the babies are scattered all over the tank. In this instance the baby slowly made it’s way off of the oral disk over the tentacles and situated itself under mom. It took about 20-30 min. After that I turned on the pumps. This was a big baby compared to most of the others in my tank. I think it might be the only one she has this time. 

Here’s the pic from IG for those on NR. Hadn’t had a a chance to post it here yet.

(Swipe left to see the second pic) 

How many RFAs do you have? Yours may actually spawn but you may not even know that they do. 

That is just so incredible!!! I never would’ve imagined they give birth like that!

 

I have 8-9 and I’ve never observed any kind of reproduction that I’m aware of, but I should look through this thread a little more because maybe I just don’t know what to look for. 😊

[SeaFurn]

9 minutes ago, banasophia said:

That is just so incredible!!! I never would’ve imagined they give birth like that!

 

I have 8-9 and I’ve never observed any kind of reproduction that I’m aware of, but I should look through this thread a little more because maybe I just don’t know what to look for. 😊

You have a bunch! With that many you definitely have a good chance of having some babies. 

Spawning usually occurs around the solstices and equinoxes (within a week or two

around those) and usually in the early evening. Mine usually happen when the lights transition to blues and usually on days when there’s been a water change. The water change baffles me. At first I thought it was just a coincidence but it’s happened too many times for that now. Sometimes they spawn when the lights are

completely out. 

So, Dec 21 is the winter solstice. Start feeding yours a little more than normal for the next few weeks and start watching your tank just before Christmas. There are some videos on here and on IG of what they look like when they spawn. Fingers crossed yours do. Keep hoping that @kimberbee ‘s spawn this time too! 

 

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, SeaFurn said:

You have a bunch! With that many you definitely have a good chance of having some babies. 

Spawning usually occurs around the solstices and equinoxes (within a week or two

around those) and usually in the early evening. Mine usually happen when the lights transition to blues and usually on days when there’s been a water change. The water change baffles me. At first I thought it was just a coincidence but it’s happened too many times for that now. Sometimes they spawn when the lights are

completely out. 

So, Dec 21 is the winter solstice. Start feeding yours a little more than normal for the next few weeks and start watching your tank just before Christmas. There are some videos on here and on IG of what they look like when they spawn. Fingers crossed yours do. Keep hoping that @kimberbee ‘s spawn this time too! 

 

Thanks so much for the tips, I’ll try them!! 🤗

[banasophia]

On 11/15/2019 at 6:57 AM, Tigahboy said:

Couple shots from last night.

 

Wow I love these shots - gorgeous colors and detail!!