RFA Went into Hiding

TheEngineer · Oct 20, 2018

I moved my RFA from QT and into my DT on Tuesday. It settled in a perfect spot right where I wanted it. Amazing!

Lights came up yesterday and.... gone!

Turns out it’s foot was in a hole and it squeezed through the hole and is now just hanging out on the underside of this rock. Is this normal behavior?

Hitman · Oct 20, 2018

Perfectly normal. Just like larger nems it will move around till it finds where it wants to be. My RFA moved around my 240 for 3 Months before it found its happy spot which caused me to move a few sticks.

pecan2phat · Oct 20, 2018

Can RFA's live with BTAs or will they sting each other?

Hitman · Oct 20, 2018

I have 2 with no issues. If you have a large enough tank they will stay separate from each other.

Amoo · Oct 20, 2018

My experience with the 6 I have, has been similar. Their first few days in a new environment they are all shrunk and hiding and adjusting then next thing you know they're out somewhere fully open and happy as can be.

saltyhog · Oct 20, 2018

All of mine seem to prefer to be on the sand bed but right up against a rock. Probably depends on how deep your sand bed is. Mine have not moved more than a few inches from where they started.

TheEngineer · Oct 30, 2018

Still hiding.... Opened and beautiful UNDER a rock.

Katrina71 · Oct 30, 2018

Funny. At least it's happy and healthy.

Ron Reefman · Oct 31, 2018

I'd consider moving it. I had a purple LTA that was chased off a rock by an invading hoard of Kenya Tree coral. The nem went under a rock. I figured it would come back out in time. But 5 weeks later it hadn't popped out anywhere. So I pulled the rock and it was still there... but it was white as snow and about 1/10th it's previous size (even after several days back in the light). If I hadn't pulled it out, I'm not sure it would have moved out on it's own.

BTW, I keep my RFA in pvc end caps stuffed down in the sand. let the nem set it's foot in the bottom of the end cap and then after a week or so, press it down until you can't see the end cap. I have about 10 that I have done this with and none have ever moved!

saltyhog · Oct 31, 2018

I've done the same thing as Ron with small pieces of rubble/rock. What size end cap to you use Ron? I'm going to try that with my next one.

Ron Reefman · Oct 31, 2018

saltyhog said:
I've done the same thing as Ron with small pieces of rubble/rock. What size end cap to you use Ron? I'm going to try that with my next one.

I've used everything from 1/2" to 2" depending on the size of the foot. I think the 2" may be a bit too big, but the 2 big breeding RFA's in them have stayed put for well over 2 years and have been moved through 3 different tanks! I think for a full size RFA that a 1" or 1 1/2" should be right. I make it a point to let the nem set it's foot before I press the end cap into the sand (just set it on top of the sand). Once it's set they don't seem to mind at all that the end cap also gets sand inside. About 2/3rds of mine that are in pvc end caps are completely under the surface of the sand.

We find them in very similar situations when we go snorkeling in the Keys. There is a hard rock bottom with an inch or more of sand. And every time I try to remove one, it's foot is ALWAYS in a hole in the rock shelf and never just attached to the flat hard surface. That means 99.9% of the time, there is nothing I'm willing to do to try and remove one. Besides, 99.9% of the ones we see when snorkeling are the less colorful ones. The really cool colored ones come from deeper water.

saltyhog · Oct 31, 2018

Ron Reefman said:
Besides, 99.9% of the ones we see when snorkeling are the less colorful ones. The really cool colored ones come from deeper water.

Thanks for the information!

That brings up another question. I have been diving all over the Caribbean and have never seen a RFA. Do they exist there and I'm just not seeing them? Of course most dives are >30 feet. I'm going to actively look for them the next time I go diving.

Ron Reefman · Oct 31, 2018

I can't speak to where they are at depth. I just know that an LFS owner/collector gets lots of them when he dives. All he would tell me is that he dives one reef that is 30-40 feet down and 30+ miles from Key West... my guess is it's in the Marquesa Islands off Key West... but that's just a guess.

I could show you a small island the size of a house less than 1/2 a mile off shore from Vaca Key (Marathon) where the water all around it out 30 to 50 feet is less than 2 feet deep and that there are literally hundreds of RFA's. But they are NOT the fancy colored ones that cost $30 to $100. They are off white, tan, brown, green and black and sell for $5 to $20. Some have very cool patterns and the green ones do fluoresce, but that's about it. I brought one home last time we were there because it was all white. And not off white or ivory, but really white. Six months later it's still all white in my 40g cube.

TheEngineer · Dec 10, 2018

Two months after moving and......

It's still under the rock

So glad I could provide it a wonderfully hidden life </sarcasm>

Ron Reefman · Dec 11, 2018

TheEngineer said:
Two months after moving and......

It's still under the rock

So glad I could provide it a wonderfully hidden life </sarcasm>

Can you see where it is? Is it at all visible under the rock?

I'd be inclined to pull rock and find the nem. I had a long tentacle nem go into hiding after being chased from it's spot by encroaching Kenya Tree coral. The nem went under a rock. I figured it would come back out at a different point after some time, but it didn't. After a couple of months I pulled a couple of rocks and found it. It was only 10% of it's size when it moved and it went from being all purple to being all white. It took almost 3 months to get back it's color and back to 50% of it's size.

TheEngineer · Dec 11, 2018

It is on the underside of a rock I can’t move. I can see it and it looks to be still colorful and the same size as when it went it.

I’m tempted to bother it to try and make it move again.

TheEngineer · Dec 24, 2018

This guys still staying put. I flipped the rock over it is on and it is getting pretty bleached out. I tried to see if I could move it but it retreated completely into a crevice. What are my options to force this to move?

I feel like it will sit there till it dies.

Ron Reefman · Dec 24, 2018

You flipped over the rock it's on? Then can you get the rock out of the tank? That's a $60 to $80 RFA and I'd be willing to move other rocks if I had to in order to get that rock out of the tank. Then you have a lot more options. I'd even be willing to break the rock it's hiding in with a chisel and hammer if I had to in order to get the RFA out. After all it's just a rock. But then that's just me. My anemones are worth a lot more to me than a rock.

Good luck.

TheEngineer · Dec 24, 2018

Ron Reefman said:
You flipped over the rock it's on? Then can you get the rock out of the tank? That's a $60 to $80 RFA and I'd be willing to move other rocks if I had to in order to get that rock out of the tank. Then you have a lot more options. I'd even be willing to break the rock it's hiding in with a chisel and hammer if I had to in order to get the RFA out. After all it's just a rock. But then that's just me. My anemones are worth a lot more to me than a rock.

Good luck.

I can get the rock out. It has other corals on it but I can remove the rock. Would rather not break it apart but I could probably do that as a last resort.