Rock Flower spawning thread.

[LazyFish]

Please feel free to post about your RFA spawns & breeding. Any information is appreciated as there does not seem to be a ton available on raising up RFA babies.

 

Here goes what I know about these guys & getting them to breed. The Rock flower grow out tank thread & the Rock flower appreciation thread are full of information on RFA & breeding them as well.

 

Temperment: semi-agressive RFA are more likely to get stung by the sweepers of corals rather than be the one doing the stinging however they do have nematocysts   & are capable of stinging corals that come in contact with them. I have seen them get nasty stings from Favia & favites most brains with sweepers but I have also seen them sting mushroom & montipora corals that have fallen into them. RFA like to snuggle! They seem to like to be touching others of there own kind & it seems to help them keep from wandering around if they have some buddies. These anemones are far less prone to wandering than most other kinds but if something is bothering it or conditions are not favorable it may decide to take a hike but most pretty much stay put. RFA are very unlikely to eat or harm your fish unless it is already debilitated in some way. RFA are not a hosting coral for clown fish (usualy)  but will host some other things like some crabs &  shrimp. Fish often will take food right out the mouth of this nem when they discover that its sting is not so bad sometimes you may have to cover the nem so that it can eat in peace. (my clowns do this despite getting stung they shake there head & go right back & do it again)

 

care: Easy to care for given ample light in an established aquarium. Lighting seems to be preferred between moderate to high intensity but will be tolerated lower levels. Flow seems to be preferred between low to medium for best expansion but can tolerate higher flows. They seem to be far more tolerant than most anemones of fluctuations in the home aquarium. Photosynthetic but benefit greatly from once to twice weekly feedings. Accepts a variety of food prepared or fresh.Once they have digested there food the nems will poop out brown stuff & shrink up while they excrete the waste. They will be ready to accept food again when they open back up. Acclimation is easy the drip method works well & is preferred however some use the purge method. This involves laying the nem on a flat surface & allowing it to purge the water that is in it over several minutes & deflate before adding it to the aquarium. This nem should be placed on a rock or in the sand or at the base of a rock. Some times you may have to hold it against the surface you want it on for a few moments before it takes hold. It will sometimes move a few inches from that spot but will soon settle down. Not big on wandering but having other RFA for it to cuddle up with will help keep it in place. Do NOT try to forcefully make this nem move & rip its foot 90% of the time they will die. Do NOT try to frag this nem or cut it in half it can not reproduce by budding & you will kill it. They can be burned easily by salt if it comes in direct contact with them make sure your salt mix is completely dissolved before water changes.

 

Breeding:

A seller told me that he has at times observed them spawning regularly thorough the year in small amounts if the conditions are right. When they do its usualy, just before, on or right after a full moon. Suggesting a lunar influence in the spawning events. Having lights timed with a lunar cycle may be beneficial in inducing more frequent spawns. He told me that Large spawning events occur around the time of a full moon in spring & at the beginning of fall. He said they usually breed in the evenings around 5-7pm. Im thinking it was (got corals?) that I got this info from. Mabe not...don't remember. I talked to a lot of sellers & ordered from different places. Severe environmental stress may also stimulate a spawn but the females will spit any eggs that they are already carrying. From my personal experience this all seems to be true.

Stable tank conditions are helpful in getting rfa to breed regularly. RFA are male & female. RFA usualy begin to breed at around two inches across but some reports that they can reproduce at smaller sizes. A good meaty diet helps keep your anemone in shape & ready to breed. Typically broods occur in a 1/1 ratio of male to female however temperature may play a part in affecting the male to female development ratio of embryos.(unproven) Oddly tank breed specimens often show colors, combinations of colors or patterns that are not always present on the parent anemones. Spawning usually occurs in the evening, between 5-7 PM When Spawning occurs the Male RFA will stand up tall with its tentacles folded in & swish itself around & start to release sperm this can cloud the tank but is harmless alternately it may bulge out in the middle & raise itself up like an umbrella or a hat when it releases sperm. The female carries the eggs & they are fertilized internally. RFA brood there young internally & embryos can be seen inside pregnant females as little balls circulating around inside there bodies. Use of a flash light or strong light source helps to see this but it may be difficult to see in heavily pigmented specimens. The females continue to eat while brooding so be sure to feed mamma! The brood time may vary from a few weeks to longer the young are usually brooded from the 6-24 tentacle stage of development. Once the embryos are developed the female will start to spit them out they are sometimes hidden under the female or scattered around near her. Stress may cause the female to spit the eggs prematurely. The embryos may be spit out in mass or released a few at a time. Frequently a large amount will be release with hold overs appearing every few days after until all have been spit out. Once the embryos are spit out they are tiny anemones with mouths disk foot & tentacles. The tentacles are usually white when they first come out but should start to develop color within a week. Disk color may be present or may take several weeks to develop. They should be able to attach right away & usually settle on small grains of sand near the mother they can easily be picked up & transferred to a container or another tank to keep them from getting lost. Lots of babies just seem to disappear in the aquarium so putting them in a container is a good idea.The baby nems can not use there tentacles at first they need very fine foods ovo feast, reef roids coral frenzy clam juice rotifers, Cyclop-Eeze or other very small things. At just under 1/4 inch mine seem to just be using there tentacles to capture some larger particles like brine shrimps. Growth seems strangely irregular with some of the older babies not always being the largest some show moderate growth while others seem to be growing quickly. I can find no correlation as to why this is.

 

Most of my corals were closed up & looked pissed off & my tank looked suspiciously cloudy. I immediately went to see what was wrong.

I found one of my RFA happily spawning away.

I took a look and saw the same thing going on in my 20g! also my big female is full of eggs!

Here is some video of him spawning & of the female moving the eggs around inside her body.  click on image best viewed in  full screen

 

The whole thing lasted over an hour this is the first time I have caught them spawning!

HaHa if you turn the volume up you can hear my playsation in the background lol. The sounds its making totally fit haha!

 

[Simulated Fish]

Awesome! Any draw back or I'll effects? The tank I am getting ready to start is going the be a RFA focused tank. I wonder what the risk is to both corals and people.

[Weetabix7]

Very cool!!!!

[LazyFish]

well no ill effects I can see...the ones that were breeding look a little deflated today but thats it. I did a partial water change in the 20 because it got so darned cloudy but I have a lot of nems in that tank. The female started spitting the eggs out when I started messing in the tank. If they get stressed they do that before they are fully developed...Next time I catch her with eggs I will skip water changes a while & run more carbon until  she spits out the little nems. Like I need more lol. 13 rfa & 1 bali rock nem in the 20 & 1 ultra rfa in the 10. The fish don't seem to mind & I think a lot of other corals have been feasting on nem sperm all night. Some of the corals look pretty happy today& now the water has cleared.

[LazyFish]

looks like she only spit out about half of the eggs I still see quite a few inside the nem! Wooo the female is an ultra & I suspect the father was the same ultra that spawned in my 10g last night. They were in the same tank together until recently. The eggs super tiny but they are really visible so they are more than a few days old I think.

 

The pictures are taken with a flashlight & don't really show the colors well.

The female has a blue mouth then purple on the disk then florescent green yellow on the disk with some white stripes & purple arms that are more purple at the tips.

The male has a green mouth with some purple around it then orange then yellow green on the disk & the arms are a weird sort of purple & green. I wonder what the babies will look like If I get any.

[Simulated Fish]

Keep us updated! This is amazing, tank breeding is always something that has fascinated me.

[Nixperience]

Nice! I'm planning on getting a bunch when my tank is ready for them and I have the money. Is it recommended to turn the skimmer off when this happens?

[LazyFish]

I don't have a skimmer on my nanos. I had one on my 29g & I saw a pregnant female (never got baby nems) so no problem with it on.  I guess turning it off wont hurt....I guess if there is enough nem stuff in the water like if you have a lot of them spewing at once it could make the skimmer go nuts.  
If you are looking to breed them I hear they go by a seasonal/lunar cycle & that it really helps (but may not be totally necessary) to have lights that can follow a lunar phase cycle .......A seller that has a lot of RFA told me they can spawn randomly throughout the year if the conditions are right. When they do its only in small amounts on, just before or right after a full moon. Large spawning events occur around the time of a full moon in early summer & at the beginning of fall. He said they usually breed in the evenings around 5-7pm. Im thinking it was (got corals?) that I got this info from. Mabe not...don't remember. I talked to a lot of sellers & ordered from different places. I think my moon phase is off a few days I think the full moon was set a day or two before this spawn.

I read somewhere that severe environmental stress can also stimulate a spawn but the females will spit any eggs that they are already carrying. That about sums up what I know about getting them to breed.

 

[reefhound]

that's awesome.. mine just had babies.. first time! I have a 40 count, and probably some I cant see.

all 3 are ultra's, and I suspect the father is the neon green, the mother is orange green and yellow.. should be interesting here soon!

[LazyFish]

Nice I found 4 babies today I think from another spawn they are super small I think the colors will only get better. So far two are splotchy flourecent orange with white arms. One is neon green with white arms and whiteish yellow mouth and one is neon green with Dark green arms.

[SelectedByNature]

1 hour ago, LazyFish said:

Nice I found 4 babies today I think from another spawn they are super small I think the colors will only get better. So far two are splotchy flourecent orange with white arms. One is neon green with white arms and whiteish yellow mouth and one is neon green with Dark green arms.

Cool stuff. Wish I new someone that had some or where to get nice ones on the east coast (Canada).

[LazyFish]

I have found 6 baby nems now 3 mostly orange and 3 mostly green about half the size of a very large pea They are in a little thing i made to keep track of them and so far are growing fast.

[reefhound]

nice.. I have the same thing going on here:

not much info on raising these

[LazyFish]

They are at it again! I have found 15 babies from the previous spawn. I'm going to post some more Info on the care & breeding of these guys I think the rock flower appreciation thread has a lot of good info & tells you most of what you would need to know about them but I don't see too much on raising the babies or info on the spawning itself so I have updated this thread with what I have learned. Please add to it if you know anything else use full. Im gona try something crazy.I'm going to try transferring sperm from one of the ultra rfa in one tank to a lone female in another tank & see it it works...I don't know if the female is receptive only during the spawning event or if she will accept the sperm at other times. I have this one nem that sometimes spews sometimes at random when the others are not spawning I'll collect some & spray the female with it & see if I get any results. Sounds scientific right! ha ha ha!

[reefhound]

I have thought about freezing it for a month to try and induce spawning at a later date

[LazyFish]

ha ha IDK about just sticking it in the freezer & freezing it would probably damage it or destroy it it's not like controlled cryogenic storage. But I did try what I mentioned. I wonder If I will get babies. The female looked interested at least she started moving around & became more active when it was introduced so IDK.

[reefhound]

no, not saying it would produce anything, but may contain a hormone to induce spawning in the future

[reefhound]

i'm also digging out new babies, small,,, I didn't see a spawn a month ago, but i'm pretty sure these are new and not holdovers from the previous run

[LazyFish]

Idk the new ones I'm finding are mostly super small a few lrger ones. I think I missed a spawn too 

[Sancho]

Interesting thread....2 of the 3 I have started spewing today it’s been going on all morning. I wish I knew more about the breeding behavior it would be awesome to try and set up a breeding tank. 

[SeaFurn]

1 hour ago, Sancho said:

Interesting thread....2 of the 3 I have started spewing today it’s been going on all morning. I wish I knew more about the breeding behavior it would be awesome to try and set up a breeding tank. 

Hey Sancho!  Check out the Rock Flower Anemone appreciation thread.  I've got a bunch of baby RFAs and have been trying to put down as much info as I can or that others are interested in.

 

The spring equinox just happened and that's a time when RFA's generally spawn. Yours are right on time!