Rock flower nems

[AoD]

Just curious on what everyone is feeding their rock flowers. I just got my first four a week ago and they set up in perfect positions for feeding. I watched them catch a few pieces of mysis during fish feeding. Is that enough? They’re so cool!

 

[homer1475]

I spot feed my nothing, but when I feed all my fish, they certainly catch floating particles.

 

[Uncle99]

Nothing except what they catch floating.
Although when my shrimps molt, they love to ingest that molt.

 

[lapin]

I feed mine mysis. They also get some of anything else they can catch. They wipe out all the pods in their tank in no time each time I add the 1000. While light alone is prob enough they will do better and grow with food. Maybe even reproduce.
The tank they are in has some NPS so they also get baby brine, rotifers, calanus, small fish eggs, phyto and oyster feast.

 

[Peace River]

Just curious on what everyone is feeding their rock flowers. I just got my first four a week ago and they set up in perfect positions for feeding. I watched them catch a few pieces of mysis during fish feeding. Is that enough? They’re so cool!

@Ron Reefman; @ahiggins; @Brandon Smith - what and how do you feed your RFAs?

 

[mbmax]

I don't feed them at all and they are doing great.
I have them for 2 years and they double in size and multiply.
I just feed the fish.

 

[AoD]

Has anyone ever tried pellets? I’m sure a few pellets from time to time will make it their way. I’d guess it would be safe for them to eat.

 

[AcroNem]

Mysis is great, I feed mine a mix of mysis arctic copepods and 800-1000micron golden Pearls.

 

[btmedic04]

I don't feed regularly, but when I do its either LRS or mysis. My big RFA loves to eat my cleaner shrimps molt too

 

[Ron Reefman]

When they were in my DT (all but a couple are now in a RFA breeding tank) I would broadcast feed the tank a wide variety of food every other day. But once every 2 or 3 weeks, I'd shut down all the flow in the tank and spot feed the RFA individually. Usually with a mix of small shrimp (frozen and some wild collected) and other meaty foods and roe or fish eggs. They all did well and over 3 years I had 3 rounds of babies.

Now I have 35 RFAs in a 16g breeding tank along with some sexy shrimp, porcelain crabs, ceriths and a macro algae (Flame Tip). I only broadcast feed a very small amount of extremely fine food which is primarily for the shrimp and crabs as they are filter feeders. And now, once a week I shut down all flow and spot feed the RFAs small shrimp, meaty frozen food and fish eggs. After the RFAs open back up I start the pumps again which is only about 5 to 10 minutes after feeding.

I think this is more than anybody should have to feed their RFAs, I'm doing it because I'm trying to encourage breeding in order to learn more about when they breed, how long they spawn, how long the gestation period is, to see how many baby RFAs are delivered. I also hope that over time I can identify which ones are male and female and how big they are when the males spawn or when the females deliver.

This tank has only been set up and running for about a month. But the RFAs (range from full grown to less than 1 year old juveniles) have been in my bigger DT for up to 5 years. Last Friday evening (3/27/2020) at 7pm we had 2 males spawn. The full size adult spawned on and off for close to an hour. The 1 3/4" RFA spawned for about 20 minutes.

I turned off the HOB filter and the in-tank skimmer during the spawn and for 30 minutes after the end of the spawn. The water in the 16g tank got quite hazy or foggy with spawn. I left the 2 small powerheads running until 10 minutes after the spawning ended, then turned them off for 15 minutes in case some of the spawn would settle and/or the females could collect it better with no flow. Then I turned bot the pumps and filtration back on.

Birth announcements, if any, will be in my RFA experience discussion thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ron-reefmans-rock-flower-experience.409436/

 

[Brandon Smith]

We feed a couple times a week with mysis shrimp. They are in a 25 AIO by themselves now. I usually put some phyto and Zooplankton in with the mysis shrimp while it is thawing as well. Sometimes we spot feed and sometimes we broadcast feed.

 

[AoD]

Sounds like just about anything that is reef and fish safe is fair game for them. Good to know.

 

[unitedaf]

Just curious on what everyone is feeding their rock flowers. I just got my first four a week ago and they set up in perfect positions for feeding. I watched them catch a few pieces of mysis during fish feeding. Is that enough? They’re so cool!

I target feed it krill, raw shrimp (cut into smaller pieces), frozen mysis/brine.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Pics of your first four @AoD ?

 

[Peace River]

Mysis is great, I feed mine a mix of mysis arctic copepods and 800-1000micron golden Pearls.

I have used the various sizes of the golden pearls so I am familiar with them. Do you pre-soak the pellets?

 

[AoD]

Pics of your first four @AoD ?

I didn’t filter out the blue light but you get the idea.

 

[ahiggins]

@Ron Reefman; @ahiggins; @Brandon Smith - what and how do you feed your RFAs?

I’ve found they eat pretty much whatever lands on them lol but that being said, you want quality meaty food so they don’t get mad and poop after every feeding.
When I’m not actively trying to breed them, they get leftover calanus that my fish don’t eat that happen to blow onto them. When I’m trying to breed I broadcast very little food to the fish and feed them directly once a week. I usually feed *cleaned* mysis but the chunkier pieces in the cube, no tails/heads just the meat. The bigger guys (4-5”+) will take 2-3 pieces a week, smaller ones maybe one or two. For babies, I broadcast feed roids. Be careful with this though as the smaller the food, they harder it is for the bigger guys to eat/more effort exerted in their end. When I say clean-it means triple rinsed, ish. I don’t like any oil, excess gunk that irritates/makes them poop.
I don’t feed anything bigger than mysis because it takes effort/energy for them to eat. They aren’t like the big nems that eat whole or cut up table shrimp.
As for the “how”, with mysis, I target feed, it’s with tongs because I want the big meaty ones and its easier to target feed that way. Calanus I will sometimes broadcast over them and they fish get the extra. Depends on how I’m feeling that day lol
You really can’t go wrong when you feed based on observation. If you notice they’re pooping more than once a month or so, cut back. If you never see them poop, increase feeds. And have fun with it!! Show your friends and family their feeding response! Lol
I fell in love with rock nems the first time I fed them! They have such an amazing response to stimulus and they’re so fun!

 

[ahiggins]

@Ron Reefman; @ahiggins; @Brandon Smith - what and how do you feed your RFAs?

Oh, they go ape for fish eggs by the way. Which is true for just about any living thing in our tanks lol that’s a real treat for them with that, I could do every other week feeding because it’s such high quality, low waste.

 

[jgvergo]

Mysis and chunks of

 

[oldbob50]

Once every three days mine RFA gets a 1/4 inch piece of frozen fish or shrimp. I place it on its tentacles with a wooden pair of tweezers I made from chop sticks. Takes about 30 seconds to have it all gone. My Condi is on the same schedule but being larger it gets a bigger piece. Usually takes it 30 minutes to finish it off so I have to keep the fish from stealing the piece. Both are doing great and since I started the regular feeding that Condi stays on the rock it has been on for the last 18 months.