RFA - mouth expansion for weeks now!

[bReefedBaker]

I have two Rock Flowers that seem to be a bit unhappy. Not exactly sure why though because I have numerous RFA’s and these two are the only two exposing themselves in this way. It’s been a few weeks now, easily 2weeks that they’ve been this way.

My only uneducated thoughts is this;
1.) Is the area (rock their on) just not deep enough to settle in nicely?
2.) Are they expelling their waste? (If they’re expelling waste, why haven’t they retracted or closed their mouth?)

I personally wouldn’t mind making an attempt to remove them. RFA’s were the start of the aquarium, but have since taken over. I could use some more real estate for corals. Any thoughts R2R?

 

[dyami2001]

I have two Rock Flowers that seem to be a bit unhappy. Not exactly sure why though because I have numerous RFA’s and these two are the only two exposing themselves in this way. It’s been a few weeks now, easily 2weeks that they’ve been this way.

My only uneducated thoughts is this;
1.) Is the area (rock their on) just not deep enough to settle in nicely?
2.) Are they expelling their waste? (If they’re expelling waste, why haven’t they retracted or closed their mouth?)

I personally wouldn’t mind making an attempt to remove them. RFA’s were the start of the aquarium, but have since taken over. I could use some more real estate for corals. Any thoughts R2R?

how long do you have those in your tank and/ore did you do anything new in your tank?

 

[New&no clue]

Do you feed your RFA?

 

[bReefedBaker]

Do you feed your RFA?

Not directly, but I would assume via. broadcast feeding my fish the RFA’s are taking in some food.

 

[bReefedBaker]

how long do you have those in your tank and/ore did you do anything new in your tank?

They were added to the aquarium guesstimating around the second month mark. Aquarium is 1yr. 1mo. young.

My only big change; I had to readjust the rockwork slightly to accommodate a new coral purchase. Adjusted rock in a different angle, but it’s within the same area it’s always been.

 

[New&no clue]

Not directly, but I would assume via. broadcast feeding my fish the RFA’s are taking in some food.

I was going to suggest that you might be feed it too big of chunks of food. However, that doesn't seem the case.

 

[Duncan62]

Not directly, but I would assume via. broadcast feeding my fish the RFA’s are taking in some food.

Have they reproduced?

 

[bReefedBaker]

Have they reproduced?

I can’t truly pinpoint if the two we’re discussing have reproduced, but yes I do have some baby RFA’s. I just wouldn’t be able to know if they’re from these two or from others.

 

[Duncan62]

I can’t truly pinpoint if the two we’re discussing have reproduced, but yes I do have some baby RFA’s. I just wouldn’t be able to know if they’re from these two or from others.

While spitting out babies mine will be open for a while but not quite like that. Will they take food?

 

[dyami2001]

are they fully opened up?

 

[bReefedBaker]

While spitting out babies mine will be open for a while but not quite like that. Will they take food?

I haven’t attempted a feeding directly.

 

[Duncan62]

I haven’t attempted a feeding directly.

First I'd check salinity and alk. I'm puzzled that not all look that way. Do you know which ones are frmale?

 

[bradleym]

First I'd check salinity and alk. I'm puzzled that not all look that way. Do you know which ones are frmale?

I was thinking this too, my most sensitive anemones respond this way when the alk or salinity is off, and they shrivel when nitrates or phosphates are high. Way cheaper than testing weekly!

 

[bradleym]

I was thinking this too, my most sensitive anemones respond this way when the alk or salinity is off, and they shrivel when nitrates or phosphates are high. Way cheaper than testing weekly!

Oh! And they do this for high temps too, although it's been a long time since I had a heater stuck on without a safety shutoff.

 

[Duncan62]

Oh! And they do this for high temps too, although it's been a long time since I had a heater stuck on without a safety shutoff.

female? A one degree rise will induce spawning in my 30. I can't count the babies. Females look weird during and after. Hope they are fine.

 

[bReefedBaker]

First I'd check salinity and alk. I'm puzzled that not all look that way. Do you know which ones are frmale?

I’ll proceed to check all the levels and update momentarily. All my levels have been in check w/ my weekly tests, but I’ll still do it again now. I didn’t think it was levels of anything b/c of the nature of all the other RFA’s surrounding it.

I do NOT have any idea to which are F and which are the M. I don’t believe there’s any true way to tell as I’ve done a lot of research on sexing RFA’s. Maybe I just haven’t found the right link?? (I have attached a pic. of one when I first brought it home.)
- The biggest change I see from its original placement, is it use to lay flat. Then as stated I tweaked rock a little, so it’s now technically sideways.

 

[bReefedBaker]

are they fully opened up?

No.
Certain times the smaller of the two (orange one) almost looks completely inside out. I won’t see any of the disc, but then it will return to the stage it’s in now (as seen in OP photo). That’s why I was taking a punch at expelling waste.

 

[SlugSnorter]

They were added to the aquarium guesstimating around the second month mark. Aquarium is 1yr. 1mo. young.

My only big change; I had to readjust the rockwork slightly to accommodate a new coral purchase. Adjusted rock in a different angle, but it’s within the same area it’s always been.

how different? the change in lighting or flow could be annoying them. Have they moved at all?

 

[bReefedBaker]

First I'd check salinity and alk. I'm puzzled that not all look that way. Do you know which ones are frmale?

@Duncan62 - Results
(If I should test anything else right now, just tell me) Note: My weekly Wed. WC of 5g on the 29g aquarium here.

Salinity: 1.025
Temp. 76.8°F (typically hovers at 77°F)
Alk: —— please help me out here, please!
(I just don’t get the whole Salifert conversion chart) Feel like I’m wasting $20 on this test if I don’t even understand how it works or if I’m doing it correctly, lol.

Here’s a pic. of the results according to the directions. ‘sorry for my lack of here’

*Thank-you so much to the R2R members chiming in and helping out here.

 

[bReefedBaker]

how different? the change in lighting or flow could be annoying them. Have they moved at all?

The orange one moved that location from quite a ways down underneath. The neon green disc one has never moved from that location. Only difference is the tweaked rock I performed. The RF went from laying flat, to now a more sideways hang.