Rock Flower Anemone spawn

Brandon Smith · Sep 14, 2019

I have found a lot of information on RFA's spawning. What I can't find is if any genetic traits pass down from parent to the spawn?

Peace River · Sep 14, 2019

Brandon Smith said:
I have found a lot of information on RFA's spawning. What I can't find is if any genetic traits pass down from parent to the spawn?

Great question! Let's see if we can get some help...

@Ron Reefman

reef lover · Sep 14, 2019

When mine spawn some come out looking like the mama and some are different from all that are in my tank....

Brandon Smith · Sep 14, 2019

reef lover said:
When mine spawn some come out looking like the mama and some are different from all that are in my tank....

Thank you. I am wondering if there is anyway to selective breed or not.

reef lover · Sep 14, 2019

Im assumming from the variations in color that they may retain genetic material within them until theyre ready to release eggs again...just my theory. But if u could determine the sex by watching them spawn maybe isolating the two for a long period of time would eventually lead to just the two nems genetic material being available...

Brandon Smith · Sep 14, 2019

I just found this thread, which is so informative. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ron-reefmans-rock-flower-experience.409436/

Ron Reefman · Sep 15, 2019

Brandon, I think RFA are like most other animals when they reproduce. They share DNA between the parents so some may look like one, some may look like the other and some will be a mix of sorts. That's been my experience with the 3 reproductive events I've had in my tank so far.

I think I've only had 2 or maybe 3 adults responsible for the kids in my tank and they do look similar. But another point to remember is that it appears they all come to the reproduction at the same time. So if you have more than one male spawning and only one female taking in the sperm and creating babies, you could get a RFA that look like either father.

In order to do specific cross breeding you would need to isolate the two specific RFA parents you want to use. So far I don't think any of the offspring from the first batch of kids in my tank are old enough to breed yet. They are still only about half the diameter in size as my full adult RFA's.

How old do they need to be before they can breed? Excellent question. I wish I knew.
And is spawning strictly on a lunar or seasonal time schedule? Another good question I can't answer. And I'd love to know scientific or even anecdotal answers to these questions.

Brandon Smith · Sep 15, 2019

Ron Reefman said:
Brandon, I think RFA are like most other animals when they reproduce. They share DNA between the parents so some may look like one, some may look like the other and some will be a mix of sorts. That's been my experience with the 3 reproductive events I've had in my tank so far.

I think I've only had 2 or maybe 3 adults responsible for the kids in my tank and they do look similar. But another point to remember is that it appears they all come to the reproduction at the same time. So if you have more than one male spawning and only one female taking in the sperm and creating babies, you could get a RFA that look like either father.

In order to do specific cross breeding you would need to isolate the two specific RFA parents you want to use. So far I don't think any of the offspring from the first batch of kids in my tank are old enough to breed yet. They are still only about half the diameter in size as my full adult RFA's.

How old do they need to be before they can breed? Excellent question. I wish I knew.
And is spawning strictly on a lunar or seasonal time schedule? Another good question I can't answer. And I'd love to know scientific or even anecdotal answers to these questions.

Thank you so much for your response. It is almost impossible to Google this information. I did find a thread of your on this exact subject also. I haven't read all 21 pages yet, but I am very excited to read all of it.

My wife and I breed clownfish, well starting to, and I was thinking that genetics would probably pass down to offspring in RFA's as well. I am not sure that it would be worth it to try selective breeding with RFA's or not, but I do find the idea of it very interesting. Maybe one day in the future I will be able to convince my wife to setup an experiment of sorts.

Ron Reefman · Sep 15, 2019

Brandon Smith said:
Thank you so much for your response. It is almost impossible to Google this information. I did find a thread of your on this exact subject also. I haven't read all 21 pages yet, but I am very excited to read all of it.

My wife and I breed clownfish, well starting to, and I was thinking that genetics would probably pass down to offspring in RFA's as well. I am not sure that it would be worth it to try selective breeding with RFA's or not, but I do find the idea of it very interesting. Maybe one day in the future I will be able to convince my wife to setup an experiment of sorts.

I think the reason you are finding RFA info hard to find is because there is very little of it out there. And most of it is experience and anecdotal rather than scientific. I'm hoping to meet with a marine biologist getting his Phd and studying anemones in general. He is visiting family in Tampa and is driving down to meet a couple of people, one of them being me! He loves RFA and I'm hoping I can get a few factual answers from him.