Rock Flower Spawning!

[CierraBeckwith]

https://youtu.be/2DACKYqMXf8?si=fdu3kbMSnSt4USg7
So excited!!! And the images are pictures of what the now indentified as male nem was doing before I saw the spawning actually start to happen! I had a feeling when I saw it start to stand up and fold in and out and got my phone out! Sorry for the dirty glass, currently battling Dino's so trying not to clean the glass as much. The spawning happened on February 29th, after lights out, at about 9pm PST.

 

[CierraBeckwith]

So excited!!! And the images are pictures of what the now indentified as male nem was doing before I saw the spawning actually start to happen! I had a feeling when I saw it start to stand up and fold in and out and got my phone out! Sorry for the dirty glass, currently battling Dino's so trying not to clean the glass as much. The spawning happened on February 29th, after lights out, at about 9pm PST.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Yay! That's super cool and exciting! Congrats!!

 

[Pistondog]

Take that as a big complement to your tank husbandry.
They must be happy.

 

[kevgib67]

Pretty cool it when you could be there to see and record it!

 

[CierraBeckwith]

Take that as a big complement to your tank husbandry.
They must be happy.

Thank you!!! I am kinda surprised cuz like I said I'm kinda battling Dino's, luckily I got on it as soon as I noticed it and there almost gone after a few weeks. But I was so excited!!

 

[CierraBeckwith]

Pretty cool it when you could be there to see and record it!

I know right! I can't tell you how many times before this I saw a RFA doing something different and I stood by the tank hoping it was going down, so this time it was really exciting! And I have probably 30 mins of video before it actually happened of it opening and closing too.

 

[homer1475]

Thats what we call "blowing smoke". Obviously that one is a male, the females will stretch out and form a "cup" to catch the "smoke".

Do you have any more? And did they cup up while the male was doing his thing?

I have several, around 30, but only 2 are female, and are the same color. All my offspring look like some color form of the momma(all white/cream color), and daddy. I typically end up with all white ones, or white skirts, with a colored body, or colored body and white skirt.

I haven't been on the forums in a while, but there used to be a thread started by @Ron Reefman all about RFA spawning.

 

[OrionN]

You are going to be a grand father to a bunch of tiny anemones.

 

[CierraBeckwith]

Thats what we call "blowing smoke". Obviously that one is a male, the females will stretch out and form a "cup" to catch the "smoke".

Do you have any more? And did they cup up while the male was doing his thing?

I have several, around 30, but only 2 are female, and are the same color. All my offspring look like some color form of the momma(all white/cream color), and daddy. I typically end up with all white ones, or white skirts, with a colored body, or colored body and white skirt.

I haven't been on the forums in a while, but there used to be a thread started by @Ron Reefman all about RFA spawning.

Yes I know what it is! And yes I have more in the tank, not pictured. I have maybe 10 in the tank. I turned off flow too for a little and sort of helped the "smoke" into the ones I noticed were cupped up

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Really neet you to be able to see it and get pictures/videos of it!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Yes I know what it is! And yes I have more in the tank, not pictured. I have maybe 10 in the tank. I turned off flow too for a little and sort of helped the "smoke" into the ones I noticed were cupped up

I hope that turning off the flow (especially flow that goes through any kind of filtration or skimmer) should help. I even went as far as using a turkey baster to suck up some 'smoke' and deliver it to other anemones. Unfortunately, I didn't see any babies from that attempt.

Keep a close eye on the tank from about 3 to 5 weeks from the spawn date. That's about the outside range of then babies are released from the females (likely between 25 to 35 days). But just to be sure, use the wider time frame.

I kind of got out of the hobby... well, almost. But a year ago I expanded my 40g breeder tank to be an aio tank and then set up a 40 cube (home made) as an aio as well. The breeder has been a 'local' tank that is mostly for things I collect here in southern Florida.

Now I'm re-arranging the local tank and making room for the 7 RFAs , 2 BTAs and 2 maxi-mini anemones I currently have spread around both tanks. Then I'll consider getting some more RFAs to add to the collection.

The RFA thread I started that @homer1475 mentioned, has a link in my signature below.

 

[CierraBeckwith]

I hope that turning off the flow (especially flow that goes through any kind of filtration or skimmer) should help. I even went as far as using a turkey baster to suck up some 'smoke' and deliver it to other anemones. Unfortunately, I didn't see any babies from that attempt.

Keep a close eye on the tank from about 3 to 5 weeks from the spawn date. That's about the outside range of then babies are released from the females (likely between 25 to 35 days). But just to be sure, use the wider time frame.

I kind of got out of the hobby... well, almost. But a year ago I expanded my 40g breeder tank to be an aio tank and then set up a 40 cube (home made) as an aio as well. The breeder has been a 'local' tank that is mostly for things I collect here in southern Florida.

Now I'm re-arranging the local tank and making room for the 7 RFAs , 2 BTAs and 2 maxi-mini anemones I currently have spread around both tanks. Then I'll consider getting some more RFAs to add to the collection.

The RFA thread I started that @homer1475 mentioned, has a link in my signature below.

Yes! That's what I did too with my turkey baster too! I had watched another video a while ago and a guy did that so I felt comfortable doing the same! And also turning off the flow! And that's super helpful, Thank you so much for that info, I was wondering what I should do next as far as waiting for the females to release the babies. And luckily I'm home a lot to be able to keep a close eye on the tank. I was just super thankful to be able to watch it happen, so even if there are no babies this time it still was pretty amazing. And I will check out the thread you mentioned! Thank you!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I know for a fact that RFAs spawn in the early evening and I'm not sure it's based around the tank lighting as much as the actual time of day. I'm much less sure about the timing of the release of babies as I've never seen it happen. But my guess would be they get released at night... but that's really just a guess.

 

[Seansea]

This was fall of 2023. Mine spawned as well. Maybe a fall/spring thing with these guys?

 

[Ron Reefman]

This was fall of 2023. Mine spawned as well. Maybe a fall/spring thing with these guys?

Not in my history with them. I've had summer and winter spaws as well.

In the wild it may be affected by seasons or moon cycles, but that doesn't seem to hold with RFAs in an aquarium.