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Is this normal for RFAs?


Chris's Fishes

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Chris's Fishes

Hello! So, I picked up a healthy-looking RFA from a LFS on Monday afternoon for $20, and was pretty excited to get it home - it looked really nice in the store, and I've always wanted to give RFA's a try. They're just kinda hard to find in my area, and I had never really wanted one at a time when I was regularly ordering online. Plus, my only other experiences with anemones haven't been all that great - I nursed a BTA back to health after a bad shipping experience, but it wasn't thriving, so I gave it away. I'm hoping this guy might do a bit better for me, long term.

 

The problem? It isn't opening up all the way. It's inflated, has good color, and has a tightly shut mouth, but it's kinda crinkled and curled up a bit. There's also been a tiny bit of expelled zoo around the nem, but I've read that's pretty common with new anemones, so I'm not too worried about that. Is this just part of the acclimation process, or is it a sign of a deeper issue?

 

The tank the nem came out of was pretty poorly lit (it's a new store, and they were just using some cheap black box LED lighting over the tank), so I figured it might be a bit shocking to get put under some decent lighting. I used wax paper over half of the tank, and it dimmed everything down quite a bit. I guess light acclimation COULD be an issue, but I don't think it'd be causing major issues, as my lighting isn't really insane or anything (two 23W ABI PAR 38's over a 10 gallon).

 

Acclimation was pretty much normal. It went into a bucket, and got dripped for about 45 minutes. At that point, the majority of the water in the bucket had been replaced with tank water. After that, I slowly heated the bucket water up to the tank temp, and in the nem went, rock and all.

 

Tank parameters have settled out for the most part:

 

SG: 1.024-1.025 (depending on how long it's been since I topped off)

Temp: 80F

Ammonia/Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 2 PPM

Phosphate: 0.05 PPM

PH: 8.1

 

Everything else in the tank is doing well. I'll grab a pick tonight when the lights come back on.

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NoOneLikesADryTang

Crinkled and curled, I wouldn't worry too much about. It's probably trying to get used to water/flow/light/etc. When they spit out their guts, or won't attach is when I would start to get concerned. 

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Chris's Fishes

Light's came on a few minutes ago, and this is basically what it's been doing.

 

1379164364_RFA20.thumb.jpg.f8126d74c2dca53bac727d14d6f51837.jpg

 

It's just not really FULLY extended or inflated - but it's not closed. 

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Was its foot damaged at all?

 

I have one that opens up fully at night and stays scrunched during the day. I believe it's because it was under a lower light than mine.

 

 

My others didn't expand until they got accustomed to the tank, then they fully expanded. 

 

If it's only been a few days, it's most likely getting used to the new tank

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Chris's Fishes
2 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Was its foot damaged at all?

 

I have one that opens up fully at night and stays scrunched during the day. I believe it's because it was under a lower light than mine.

 

 

My others didn't expand until they got accustomed to the tank, then they fully expanded. 

 

If it's only been a few days, it's most likely getting used to the new tank

I don't think the foot was damaged, no. I bought the entire rock it was on for that sole purpose - to avoid damaging the foot.

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NoOneLikesADryTang

It's a good looking RFA! I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. Just keep an eye on it. My guess is it's just getting used to new conditions. I've also got some that will open up more than others. I've got some that don't really expand at all. I've got some that ball up completely at night (turn in on themselves, so you can't even see their tentacles) and others I've never seen ball up. They're incredibly fascinating creatures to me. 

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39 minutes ago, Fisker said:

Light's came on a few minutes ago, and this is basically what it's been doing.

 

1379164364_RFA20.thumb.jpg.f8126d74c2dca53bac727d14d6f51837.jpg

 

It's just not really FULLY extended or inflated - but it's not closed. 

Very pretty. Looks completely normal.

 

They do odd things from time to time.

34 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

It's a good looking RFA! I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. Just keep an eye on it. My guess is it's just getting used to new conditions. I've also got some that will open up more than others. I've got some that don't really expand at all. I've got some that ball up completely at night (turn in on themselves, so you can't even see their tentacles) and others I've never seen ball up. They're incredibly fascinating creatures to me. 

They are fascinating. Got one, ended up converting a tank into anemones.

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Chris's Fishes

Thanks everyone! I know that they're known for doing weird things and being cranky sometimes, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything!

 

They are incredibly interesting. I'd actually love to have a few more, now that I've got this one - it's got a very interesting appearance, and great colors, and was cheaper than even most small frags.

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NoOneLikesADryTang
3 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Very pretty. Looks completely normal.

 

They do odd things from time to time.

They are fascinating. Got one, ended up converting a tank into anemones.

So do I - it's actually going to become a combo tank, with a smithii mantis, and rock flower garden - but I'm still working on the den for the future mantis. Currently I think I have around 85-90 Rock Flowers... So I'm really hoping I can start propagating them, and find new loving homes for the babies, once they've reached a decent size.  

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2 minutes ago, Fisker said:

Thanks everyone! I know that they're known for doing weird things and being cranky sometimes, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything!

 

They are incredibly interesting. I'd actually love to have a few more, now that I've got this one - it's got a very interesting appearance, and great colors, and was cheaper than even most small frags.

Great price for how colourful it is. 

 

 

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NoOneLikesADryTang
2 minutes ago, Fisker said:

Thanks everyone! I know that they're known for doing weird things and being cranky sometimes, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything!

 

They are incredibly interesting. I'd actually love to have a few more, now that I've got this one - it's got a very interesting appearance, and great colors, and was cheaper than even most small frags.

You must have gotten a pretty good deal on it - at most of my LFS around here (Phoenix), it'd be anywhere from $50-75. 

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28 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

So do I - it's actually going to become a combo tank, with a smithii mantis, and rock flower garden - but I'm still working on the den for the future mantis. Currently I think I have around 85-90 Rock Flowers... So I'm really hoping I can start propagating them, and find new loving homes for the babies, once they've reached a decent size.  

That's a lot of rfa's! What size tank? 

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NoOneLikesADryTang
6 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

That's a lot of rfa's! What size tank? 

It's an ADA 60-P. 17 gallons. Seems like the biggest struggle, is keeping the water clean because these guys are dirty! 

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2 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

It's an ADA 60-P. 17 gallons. Seems like the biggest struggle, is keeping the water clean because these guys are dirty! 

Ya my phos is at .021 in a 10g. Everything is happy so I am not doing anything besides regular waterchanges.

 

I can't believe so many fit in there.😁

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NoOneLikesADryTang
Just now, Clown79 said:

Ya my phos is at .021 in a 10g. Everything is happy so I am not doing anything besides regular waterchanges.

 

I can't believe so many fit in there.😁

A lot of them are little, so I'm sure as they grow the numbers may have to go down and only keep the best looking ones in this tank. 

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Chris's Fishes

Whoa! I'd love to have that tank! Sounds pretty amazing.

 

This morning, he's a bit open and situated a tiny bit differently than before. Seems like he came out of his hole a bit, and squished himself back in at a different angle (less towards the light, and more towards the front panel), Still not presenting every bit of himself, but I'll give him time!

 

Do you guys ever feed yours? I assume that it'd be similar to other nems - meaty foods on a sparse schedule. I had thought about maybe a small hunk of shrimp every two weeks.

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NoOneLikesADryTang
4 hours ago, Fisker said:

Whoa! I'd love to have that tank! Sounds pretty amazing.

 

This morning, he's a bit open and situated a tiny bit differently than before. Seems like he came out of his hole a bit, and squished himself back in at a different angle (less towards the light, and more towards the front panel), Still not presenting every bit of himself, but I'll give him time!

 

Do you guys ever feed yours? I assume that it'd be similar to other nems - meaty foods on a sparse schedule. I had thought about maybe a small hunk of shrimp every two weeks.

Sounds like he's getting settled in, which is a good thing! 

 

I feed mine every few days... Usually it's frozen cubes of something meaty I picked up from the LFS. It's really fun to watch them grab the food with their tentacles and take it to their mouth. 

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5 hours ago, Fisker said:

 

Do you guys ever feed yours? I assume that it'd be similar to other nems - meaty foods on a sparse schedule. I had thought about maybe a small hunk of shrimp every two weeks.

They don’t need a lot of food to flourish. I don’t even feed my adults any more since they get enough particulate food when I feed my baby ones. 

If you felt like you needed to a little mysis shrimp every once in a while would do the trick. Also, if you avoid the bigger chunks of meaty food you’ll eliminate the long poop strands that come after the fact.

There’s an RF appreciate thread in the inverts section where you’ll find a ton of good info.

And like the others said - yours looks completely normal to me! 

Good pick-up! 

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