Fishurama, a friend (Peace River here at R2R) and I are running RFA breeding tanks and trying to document some of what we find. There is VERY little scientific data about RFAs other than marine biologists cutting them open to see inside.
In my 16g RFA breeding tank we have had 5 spawning events like you just witnessed. They always seem to happen between 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm. The spawning seems to last about 15 minutes to half an hour or a bit longer. You were observant to notice the RFA stretched up as it was getting ready to spawn. It's just my best guess, but I think this is to try and get the spawn up higher off the sand or rock surface and into the water current. So it can be carried off to other RFA females.
In your post you didn't say how many RFAs you have in your tank? RFA come in male and female and there is no way to tell them apart from outside. It's even possible they could be hermaphrodites or able to change sex. The scientific literature is unclear (to me). ;Hilarious;Hilarious
If you have more RFAs in the tank, it's possible you may have a female. We have absolutely no scientific data, and only very sketchy anecdotal data about how long gestation is for the female. My best data is that it could be as short as 35 to 40 days, or as short as 10 to 15 days. This is the one piece of data I really want to pin down. But the first time my RFAs spawned, I had 3 spawning events over 18 days, spread evenly apart by 9 days. Then I had a few babies delivered just about a month (I'd have to check my data) after the first spawn. But there is no way to tell which of the 3 spawns was responsible for the babies and they were the only babies I got.
The other data point that we are working to get is the number of babies per female. I had several releases of babies in my DT before I started paying close attention and started the RFA breeding tank. I had numbers like 10, 15 and 20 when they were in the big DT. But the event in the RFA breeding tank only delivered 3 babies. And there is some anecdotal evidence that members here have seen releases of many more than I have seen, possibly as many as 50 or more!
You might find these threads of interest and you are more than welcome to join in and offer your evidence and data.
Yesterday 2 members reported RFA spawning. There has always been some conjecture that RFA spawn at the Solstice, which is tomorrow. And maybe even at both Solstices (summer & winter) and some even suggest at both Equinoxes (spring and fall). This is all very sketchy data and your info would be...
www.reef2reef.com
and
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ron-reefmans-rock-flower-experience.409436/
