rock nems baby?

ReefQueen · Mar 24, 2016

I had a turbo snail knock a zoa frag onto the sand today and I saw this little guy on there.

It's looks like a miniature version of my rock nem with the same colors. But I don't know how it would have gotten there. As far as I know rock nems only reproduce sexualy, and I only have one! Or am I completely wrong and it's not a rock nem at all? I dont tjink its a Mojano, the only one I've ever had was pink, and it looks like no other aiptasia that I've had in my tank. But I just got a new bottle of Joe's juice so I can give it a squirt if it's a bad guy. My nem is closed up in his rock right now, but I will try and get a pic of it when he opens up.

Kawasaki213 · Mar 25, 2016

That's aiptasia

tankstudy · Mar 25, 2016

It depends on when you received your rock anemone. Gestation period is around 2 months.

ReefQueen · Mar 25, 2016

Kawasaki213 said:
That's aiptasia

I am pretty sure it's not. All the aiptasia I've ever had has been a light tan color with much longer tentacles. Here is the pic of my rock nem. The lights just came on so it's not fully open yet.

ReefQueen · Mar 25, 2016

tankstudy said:
It depends on when you received your rock anemone. Gestation period is around 2 months.

I have only had it for a little over a month.

tankstudy · Mar 25, 2016

Yes, then its more then likely a baby rock flower, looks like one anyways

. Means you have an adult female rock flower for sure.

Slickrick · Mar 25, 2016

Yeah not Aptasia. Congrats!

ReefQueen · Mar 25, 2016

tankstudy said:
Yes, then its more then likely a baby rock flower, looks like one anyways . Means you have an adult female rock flower for sure.

Awesome! Thanks

I wonder if there are any more of these little guys in there.

ReefQueen · Mar 25, 2016

Slickrick said:
Yeah not Aptasia. Congrats!

Thanks! Isn't it great when we find something new that isn't a pest?

joshkirkland83 · Mar 25, 2016

tankstudy said:
Yes, then its more then likely a baby rock flower, looks like one anyways . Means you have an adult female rock flower for sure.

I didnt know you have to have an adult female to have rock nem babies.

Psiber_Syn · Mar 25, 2016

You have all the luck queen congrats

Mirya · Mar 25, 2016

Yup, baby RFA. I wonder if shipping causes the female RFAs to drop babies, as two times when I've ordered RFAs, I've seen babies a few weeks later. (I also have about a dozen adult RFAs in my tank, so it could just be that they are getting it on even though I've never seen a spawning event.)

If you look under the skirt of your adult RFA, look for more babies. At the size they are, it will be easier to pick them out if you use a blue flashlight to look for their fluorescence.

The babies do wander a ton though. I've found them several feet away from the rock with all my adults.

When they are this size, I target feed small particle foods like oyster eggs and rotifers 2-3 times a week to encourage growth. In a few months they will be able to take on larger foods.

Slickrick · Mar 25, 2016

ReefQueen said:
Thanks! Isn't it great when we find something new that isn't a pest?

Yes! It's rewarding

ReefQueen · Mar 25, 2016

Mirya said:
Yup, baby RFA. I wonder if shipping causes the female RFAs to drop babies, as two times when I've ordered RFAs, I've seen babies a few weeks later. (I also have about a dozen adult RFAs in my tank, so it could just be that they are getting it on even though I've never seen a spawning event.)

If you look under the skirt of your adult RFA, look for more babies. At the size they are, it will be easier to pick them out if you use a blue flashlight to look for their fluorescence.

The babies do wander a ton though. I've found them several feet away from the rock with all my adults.

When they are this size, I target feed small particle foods like oyster eggs and rotifers 2-3 times a week to encourage growth. In a few months they will be able to take on larger foods.

Good thing I have both of those already in my freezer

I picked her up at lear, but she did have a long drive back home so that's a possibility, or maybe the stress of going in a new system?

ReefQueen · Mar 25, 2016

Psiber_Syn said:
You have all the luck queen congrats

Haha thanks, but I wouldn't say that. I think just this one time I got lucky, apparently my nem did too hahaha

tankstudy · Mar 25, 2016

joshkirkland83 said:
I didnt know you have to have an adult female to have rock nem babies.

Yes they need to be a certain size from my observations, most likely because they spit out an entire baby rock flower from their mouth.

Baby Ray · Mar 25, 2016

ReefQueen said:
I am pretty sure it's not. All the aiptasia I've ever had has been a light tan color with much longer tentacles. Here is the pic of my rock nem. The lights just came on so it's not fully open yet.

I have this same RFA and I hope that I get some babies

joshkirkland83 · Mar 25, 2016

tankstudy said:
Yes they need to be a certain size from my observations, most likely because they spit out an entire baby rock flower from their mouth.

Hmmm. Mine just had a baby and i missed all that i guess.

ReefQueen · Mar 25, 2016

Baby Ray said:
I have this same RFA and I hope that I get some babies

The guy I got her from had some really awesome ultras. I'm hoping that's the daddy and I find some babies with daddies colors lol. She is very pretty when the light his her right though

does anyone know how many babies they can pop out in one go? Or is it a one and done sort of thing?