Rock Anemone ate my Kole Tang

[ShepherdReefer]

Wow.

 

[Ron Reefman]

ant believe their are this many posts about WHY an Anemone ate a fish :O ........ your fish could have swam right into it ?? they are anemones , big or small that's what they do ,they eat !! ANYTHING That falls into them ... story over

Not exactly true. RFA do catch things to eat. But almost any healthy fish that is roughly the size of the anemone will be able to escape. The RFA tentacles are not strong enough to hold a healthy fish unless it's quite small.

Rfa spawn about 6 times a year, during new/full moons. Usually 8pm or thereafter. Babies are about the size of a pinhead when first found.

A reason they are not grown for sale is the length of time to get them big enough to sale. Babies do not have to look like a parent.

I've kept them for about 30 yrs, and i sell the Ultras. They spawn in my tanks and I have babies growing all the time. Attaching pics of males spawning. I've seen the females release eggs but can't find in my pictures.

Improbable that they will eat a healthy fish. They do not hunt for food. Even a sleeping fish would wake up and would get away before being eaten as long as it was strong enough to swim away.

I'd be happy to discuss RFA reproduction with you. I may not have as much experience as you, but I think some of the points you made are questionable and one is just wrong.

1. Rfa spawn about 6 times a year, during new/full moons.
It's possible as a species they may breed that often or even more, I'm not sure. But I don't think any individual RFA can breed that often. I haven't seen any scientific information that full or new moons have anything to do with RFA reproduction. And there is plenty of anecdotal info that has them breeding at times not even close to full or new moons. But these are all in tanks. I have not found any scientific data that says anything about how often or when they breed in the wild.

2. Usually 8pm or thereafter. Babies are about the size of a pinhead when first found.
I agree spawning is usually in the evening. My 3 most recent spawns all happened a bit before 8pm (6:30 to 8:00pm) but that's close enough. And you are absolutely right that the babies are extremely tiny.

3. A reason they are not grown for sale is the length of time to get them big enough to sale.
Again, I agree completely.

4. Babies do not have to look like a parent.
Agreed. Some do, some don't.

5.I've kept them for about 30 yrs, and i sell the Ultras.
30 years? Really? I'm not saying you are wrong, but I don't know of anybody who knew about the colorful version of RFA (Ultras) before about 8 to 10 years ago.

6. I've seen the females release eggs but can't find in my pictures.
This is the one I think is just completely wrong and maybe it's just that you miss stated what you meant to say. Females do not release eggs. They take in the spawn and the babies grow inside the female for some length of time. To the best of my knowledge, there is no scientific data on just how long that gestation period is. Anecdotal evidence suggests somewhere between 2 and 5 weeks. But babies are released by the female, not eggs.

I'm not claiming to be an expert or a marine biologist or scientist here. I'm just a reefer who has kept Ultra RFAs for the last 5 to 6 years and the more ordinary looking RFAs for a few years before that. I've had 4 reproduction cycles in my tanks over the past 4 years. And I'm not saying my information is 100% right. It's mostly just been my experience. If you have any scientific info presented by marine biologists who have studied RFAs, I'd love to read it. I have only seen a couple of papers and they are more about the anatomy of them than the actual reproduction.