Coral ID

[azureus]

Hello! Saw this in a tank at a local fish shop. The worker at the time couldn’t tell me what it was. Anyone recognize it? Super interesting!!

[Tiki_Reef]

That is a rock anemone/flower anemone

[azureus]

18 hours ago, Tiki_Reef said:

That is a rock anemone/flower anemone

Ah another anemone. Thanks for the reply! 

[Tiki_Reef]

57 minutes ago, azureus said:

Ah another anemone. Thanks for the reply! 

No problem anytime.

[less than bread]

Beautiful rock flower. Not like other anemone. Hardy and they don't move much. One of my favorites

[ryans.salty.crew]

23 hours ago, azureus said:

Ah another anemone. Thanks for the reply! 

Hello!

 

I just want to clear up that this anemone is completely different from your average bubble tip. Rock flower anemones find a spot they like and usually stay there, unlike bubble tip anemone, they will not wonder around. They're SUPER hardy in my experience and do well in low light or high light, as well as most flow areas (provided at least some flow). They come in so many colors and are fun to watch feed. They're also cheap / my fav part / and will most likely outlive your tank. 

[azureus]

3 hours ago, 10g4Me said:

Hello!

 

I just want to clear up that this anemone is completely different from your average bubble tip. Rock flower anemones find a spot they like and usually stay there, unlike bubble tip anemone, they will not wonder around. They're SUPER hardy in my experience and do well in low light or high light, as well as most flow areas (provided at least some flow). They come in so many colors and are fun to watch feed. They're also cheap / my fav part / and will most likely outlive your tank. 

Interesting that’s good to know! Do they do any of the splitting or stinging of other corals like btas? They’re super pretty but I don’t like dedicating another spot to a coral like that hence I have a bubble tip in my tank. 
 

If my bta doesn’t go well (since everyone says they don’t in new tanks) I might go with a flower nem

[LazyFish]

Dont split dont cut damaging them or cutting them almost allways results in death. Have to be carefull when re.oving it from stuff torn foot usualy kills it. They reproduce easily in the home aquarium about 50/50 male to female get yourself a few. They get along with each other and even will snuggle up to one another get about 4 to 5 inches across some as big as 7 reportedly but I've never seen one that large in person. Very tolerant dont move much once settled great first nem. Come in a wide array of paterns and good color variety most are red green variations but there are also plenty of oranges and purple even yellow and pinks to be found. have a 20g with a bunch of them. 

I actualy have one identical to this.

[ryans.salty.crew]

28 minutes ago, azureus said:

Interesting that’s good to know! Do they do any of the splitting or stinging of other corals like btas? They’re super pretty but I don’t like dedicating another spot to a coral like that hence I have a bubble tip in my tank. 
 

If my bta doesn’t go well (since everyone says they don’t in new tanks) I might go with a flower nem

They reproduce actually when you have a male and female in the same tank BUT can also split by themselves. It takes a lot longer to split on its own. I do know they sting, but if you put them in a spot you want them to stay in, they'll usually stay as long as their getting fed. You don't have to put them on a rock either, they don't mind burring their foot in the sand.

 

They also ship pretty well making them a good piece to get offline. Make sure your LFS is giving you a good price. 

[LazyFish]

I have to disagree with the splitting thing ...I've been keeping these things consistently probly since about 2009 The only split I've ever seen was a dammaged one that budded when it repaired the tissue. I dont think this is a common occurence. Not saying they cant but I dont beleive its there usual or prefered reproductive method. If it did it with no dammage I think it would have to be from something bad in the enviroment or lack of reproductive partners and as a last ditch effort to reproduce. Physicaly damaging the foot of these nems usualy but not allways results in death it is not recomended to cut them. Usualy when they reproduce the female broods the eggs then spits out fully formed tiny baby nems where they usualy start out gathered near her before moving off.

They do sting but it is prety weak. Usualy they are a mild irritant to any corals they touch and usualy only damage them with repeated or constant touching. I have some right ontop of leathers with no dammage. It's very rare for them to sting or kill fish aswell. There are some stories but most of the time the fish was extreamly small or alredy on it's way out.

Occasionally conjoined twins are born but it's rare I have one now with two heads and one body that I'm growing out that was born in my tank. One head is dull green with lighter grey arms the other is a brownish green with an orange streak and darker tan arms. Too bad they didnt have better colors. It was born like that and shows no signs of splitting.

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Let me clear up some information in this thread, that is incorrect. 
 

• Rock Flower anemones do not split. 
• There are male, and female rock flowers. You need a spawning event in a tank by males, and the females in the tank to catch the gametes released by the male. 
• There is no way of telling which are males, or females unless you see them releasing gametes (males), or spitting out the baby rock flowers (females). 
• While most rock flowers don’t move much, they will move. Roughly 10% of ours are wanderers, and never seem to find a happy spot. If you only have a few, you may not have any that walk much. (This is anecdotal based on my experience, with over 50 of them in a species only tank.)
• I have seen new heads bud off the stems, under the “mothers”. Eventually these will fall off. I’ve only ever seen them be exact copies of their mothers this way. 
• They do have a sting, but it doesn’t seem strong enough to really kill anything. They seem to annoy the surrounding corals, rather than kill them like a bubble tip anemone will.  

[ryans.salty.crew]

1 hour ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

Let me clear up some information in this thread, that is incorrect. 
 

• Rock Flower anemones do not split. 
• There are male, and female rock flowers. You need a spawning event in a tank by males, and the females in the tank to catch the gametes released by the male. 
• There is no way of telling which are males, or females unless you see them releasing gametes (males), of spitting out the baby rock flowers (females). 
• While most rock flowers don’t move much, they will move. Roughly 10% of ours are wanderers, and never seem to find a happy spot. If you only have a few, you may not have any that walk much. (This is anecdotal based on my experience, with over 50 of them in a species only tank.)
• I have seen new heads bud off the stems, under the “mothers”. Eventually these will fall off. I’ve only ever seen them be exact copies of their mothers this way. 
• They do have a sting, but it doesn’t seem strong enough to really kill anything. They seem to annoy the surrounding corals, rather than kill them like a bubble tip anemone will.  

What does "I have seen new heads bud off the stems, under the “mothers”. Eventually these will fall off. I’ve only ever seen them be exact copies of their mothers this way." mean? I assume that is what I am referring to

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

6 minutes ago, 10g4Me said:

What does "I have seen new heads bud off the stems, under the “mothers”. Eventually these will fall off. I’ve only ever seen them be exact copies of their mothers this way." mean? I assume that is what I am referring to

I have no idea what your intent was, but they don’t split like we think of with bubble tips. 
 

They will sometimes form new buds/rock flowers that are really small, along the foot/stem of the “mother” rock flower. Eventually these will fall off, and if they survive, will become new rock flowers in your tank. They look like a carbon copy of the rock flower that they grew from. 

[LazyFish]

That's also that I was thinking. Maby just the wording.

Ive only ever seen one of mine bud once and it was after dammage. Ive seen it in a few others tanks but only rarely. Usualy occurring after some kind of stressor. It seems to be far less common than the normal spawning.

In my expearance it usualy happens from some kind environmental stress or physical trauma but this may not allways be the case.

Now I'm curious.

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

3 minutes ago, LazyFish said:

That's also that I was thinking. Maby just the wording.

Ive only ever seen one of mine bud once and it was after dammage. Ive seen it in a few others tanks but only rarely. Usualy occurring after some kind of stressor. It seems to be far less common than the normal spawning.

In my expearance it usualy happens from some kind environmental stress or physical trauma but this may not allways be the case.

Now I'm curious.

That certainly could be. The one I had that did it regularly was 7”-8”. So I’m sure it was very old. It might be something that take a lot of years/maturity to get to, or trauma/stressors. 

[ryans.salty.crew]

19 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

I have no idea what your intent was, but they don’t split like we think of with bubble tips. 
 

They will sometimes form new buds/rock flowers that are really small, along the foot/stem of the “mother” rock flower. Eventually these will fall off, and if they survive, will become new rock flowers in your tank. They look like a carbon copy of the rock flower that they grew from. 

Yes I believe this is what I was talking about. I don’t know if it’s necessarily Asexual I guess. I just know I’ve heard of new ones forming alone. 

[LazyFish]

Nice dont see too many 7+ inch ones. I have one that's probly 6.5 now I've got  a few in my tank probly 8 or 9 years old or older. Most of mine are between 4 and 6 inches across the disk I wonder how long they live.

[ryans.salty.crew]

15 hours ago, LazyFish said:

Nice dont see too many 7+ inch ones. I have one that's probly 6.5 now I've got  a few in my tank probly 8 or 9 years old or older. Most of mine are between 4 and 6 inches across the disk I wonder how long they live.

That's awesome! I've heard they can live to be decades old. @NoOneLikesADryTang What's the oldest one you've had?

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

I got the aforementioned one from a buddy, that got it in on live rock when he started his tank 10+ years ago. I had it for a couple years, but decided it was just too big for our 17 gallon tank, so I rehomed it. 

[azureus]

Sorry to bump the thread but after reading everyone’s responses and thinking about it I went ahead and purchased it from the lfs! Traded my bubble tip for it, which was just causing problems. This guy hasn’t moved since I got em! Appreciate the help everyone 🤘🤘

[LazyFish]

That's a nice looking one good find!

[quiddmobile]

that rfa has beautiful colors