Rock Flower Anemone Spawning Help

[ApoIsland]

About twenty years ago, I had four RFAs in my reef tank. For two or three days, the largest started to swell and was shaped like a volcano. One day, it started to shake and contract. Poof, three or four babies shot out of the mouth, about three inches into the water column. It did this until there were over a dozen. The babies were mobile and were moving immediately. Mom was pale green and they all matched her color. They were a quarter inch across.

Yours is different than any birthing event I have ever had. 99% of my baby rfa can be found under the mother. Never shot into the water column. Mine are also a lot smaller. The biggest being 1/8'' while most are smaller. Could be my constantly fluctuating and mostly low Alk level has something to do with that.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'm 30 days from the last spawn (7 nems at once) and no babies yet. But I do have a file fish which could be the problem. Soon I'll be moving my RFAs to a safer tank with more local stuff.

Good luck and I wish a lot of babies in your future!

 

[tld91181]

1 of my RFA spawned last night. I have 3 in my tank all close to each other. Something I did notice was 1 of the others mouth was open during the release. I’ll start counting now and see if any babies show up. Where would I find the babies? Under 1 of the anemones that didn’t spawn?

 

[Ron Reefman]

1 of my RFA spawned last night. I have 3 in my tank all close to each other. Something I did notice was 1 of the others mouth was open during the release. I’ll start counting now and see if any babies show up. Where would I find the babies? Under 1 of the anemones that didn’t spawn?

It could be there if you have light flow in the area. If your tank has higher flow, they could end up almost anywhere... including in your filter system. Then mom lets them go, they are pretty much free floating and just go with the currents.

I'd love to here how long it is from the time your RFA spawned and when you first see babies... if you get any. BTW, that is not a given. I've had several spawns and never saw a single baby. But the times I have, it's always been in the evening, like the spawn, and it seems to happen between 25 and 35 days after the spawn. But I'd love to hear how long yours take.

Good luck!

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Is there any obvious difference between the sexes? How do you tell which are which, just by who releases sperm and who doesn't? I love my rfa, and would love them to reproduce.

 

[homer1475]

Is there any obvious difference between the sexes? How do you tell which are which, just by who releases sperm and who doesn't? I love my rfa, and would love them to reproduce.

Not that any of us are aware(least nothing physically we can see between the sexes). I have over the course of the years, and a few spawns, seen my males "smoke", while the females stretch and make their skirts into a cup(I would assume to catch the sperm).

Only way I have ever been able to tell the difference.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Not that any of us are aware(least nothing physically we can see between the sexes). I have over the course of the years, and a few spawns, seen my males "smoke", while the females stretch and make their skirts into a cup(I would assume to catch the sperm).

Only way I have ever been able to tell the difference.

Well I only have 2, so chances are better that I have 2 of the same sex, so I'm planning on adding more when I can find them. The first place I ordered from I won't order again, I wasn't a fan on the shipping technique and one was doa. Then the next place i got one from they haven't had any more. Any good online retailers you recommend? My local store doesn't have them.

 

[homer1475]

I've always had good luck with AAF(Austin Aqua Farms). I think most of my RFA's that aren't babies were from them.

They don't always have them in stock, but when they do, they are usually pretty nice. And they know how to ship corals.

 

[homer1475]

Well I only have 2, so chances are better that I have 2 of the same sex, so I'm planning on adding more when I can find them. The first place I ordered from I won't order again, I wasn't a fan on the shipping technique and one was doa. Then the next place i got one from they haven't had any more. Any good online retailers you recommend? My local store doesn't have them.

Of my original 10 that I purchased over the years, 1 is female.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

They are just so cool, even if I just bought and collected I'd be happy, but to have spawing would be the coolest

 

[ahiggins]

It could be there if you have light flow in the area. If your tank has higher flow, they could end up almost anywhere... including in your filter system. Then mom lets them go, they are pretty much free floating and just go with the currents.

I'd love to here how long it is from the time your RFA spawned and when you first see babies... if you get any. BTW, that is not a given. I've had several spawns and never saw a single baby. But the times I have, it's always been in the evening, like the spawn, and it seems to happen between 25 and 35 days after the spawn. But I'd love to hear how long yours take.

Good luck!

Hey Ron! Fun fact, I went to move a rock to get to a dead snail (don’t ask lol) and I had a mama spit out a fully formed pea sized baby. I couldn’t believe she held onto it for so long! She spit 3 total and the other two together were about the size of half a pea. Weird little things….

 

[reefrubble]

My RFAs are spawning right now! The Spring equinox is in only two days from now.

 

[Ron Reefman]

My RFAs are spawning right now! The Spring equinox is in only two days from now.

What??? The Spring equinox is the 3rd week in March. The Summer solstice is the 3rd week in June.

Besides, RFA do not necessarily respond to things like this. I've had them spawn as many as 3 times in a year and with no relationship to anything like phases of the moon.

 

[reefrubble]

What??? The Spring equinox is the 3rd week in March. The Summer solstice is the 3rd week in June.

Besides, RFA do not necessarily respond to things like this. I've had them spawn as many as 3 times in a year and with no relationship to anything like phases of the moon.

Haha yeah I realized that a little after I made that post. I do have and LSM and lights setup on a solar schedule so it wouldn't have surprised me however.

 

[Wolf89]

both of mine just spawned. Both looked to be releasing sperm though, and I don't have any others that could be female.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Wildly enough, I too, witnessed a spawing event last night as well. I first saw one of my rfa looking weirdly extended and cupped, then I witnessed it expelling sperm for at least 30 minutes. I have 3 othe rfa's that didn't seem to change during and after. I turned off my UV, removed fine foam for filtration, I only left blue coarse foam so hopefully my mechanical filtration doesn't stop the fertilization.

I'll try to add a video.... maybe it'll work lol

 

[cpschult]

Just had a spawning event last night, 9/6/23. Autumn equinox is 9/23/23. I did a 10 gallon water change this weekend. I do feed fairly heavy. Will be checking 10/1-10/6 to see if we have babies!

 

[cpschult]

Just had a spawning event last night, 9/6/23. Autumn equinox is 9/23/23. I did a 10 gallon water change this weekend. I do feed fairly heavy. Will be checking 10/1-10/6 to see if we have babies!

I have noticed 1-2 more small anemones but I did not see a spawning event like when I had 50+ in my other tank.

 

[darrick001]

From My experience over the last 7 years in a stable system without any temperature , or Salinity fluctuations. I normally get 4 spawns a year march 18-25, June 18-25, Sept 18-25 ,and Dec 18-25. 25-35 days later babies start to appear. I Have seen as few as 2 and as many as 70. Spawning Almost always happens between 5-6 pm. When one starts the others seem to respond and follow. I feed heavy 30 days before and program my pumps to turn off from 5-6pm. Survival rate is very low. I normally have 2-4 survive. The spawn from March 20th is starting to appear, Yesterday I had 11 today 17. If im home when they spawn I collect the sperms and place it on the females. The times I was able to do this the number of babies was much higher. My females are larger than My males. Im Not sure this is always true but I have 4 females and 13 males. The males have stayed smaller even with the same amount of food. These are observations and with the various people who had differnt observations there seems to be a lot of things that can influence spawning behavior. It could be that it's random
. Due to the fact that I'm feeding heavy 30 days before and turning my pumps off maybe I'm actually controlling the spawn without realizing it.

 

[darrick001]

My anemones spawned again tonight. A little later than normal 10 pm. This is their 2nd spawn this year. The females exhibited a response. They adjusted their tentacles into a V shape to direct flow over their mouths. They didn't open their mouths but stretched them along the crease of the V rolling the edges to almost form lips after collecting some of the sperms 5-10 min their mouths returned to normal.