Do you have anemone?

[spiraling]

My RBTA has killed a coral. I had an encrusting coral on the rock, and the nem took up residence about 6" away. As the nem grew it started touching the other coral and stung it to death over a course of many weeks.

If you keep corals out of there way while they settle in, then give them a wide enough safe zone as they grow, then they are fine with corals.

 

[xRAWRx28]

I've got 5 bubble tip anemones in my 75 lucky they've all stuck together on the rock I place them on I've been looking with them not moving much at all

 

[Sk8r]

The chances it will devastate your tank are directly proportional to your experience level in maintaining a reef. The chance it will do so by blind luck and a bad break like a powerout is still there even for experienced users.

 

[Ron Reefman]

In term of care, are rock flowers hard to care for compare to bubble tip for a beginner reefer?

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Good question. So here is a 2 part answer.

1. They come in various color forms and I've never heard or read an expert say this, it's strictly my opinion. The more plain or simple colored ones tend to come from shallow water (at least in the Florida Keys) and they do photosynthesis as well as any anemone and therefore are easy to care for. The crazy colorful ones, like the ones in my pics, come from 30 to 40 feet deep and are much less adept at doing photosynthesis. I almost never spot fed the ones I collected snorkeling in the 1' to 4' shallows and they did fine. The colorful ones were collected by a scuba diver friend and they got smaller and smaller over time in my tank. So I started spot feeding them once or twice a week and they have started growing again, slowly. But again, that's just my experience, no science to back it up.

2. Rock flowers will move some when they are new in a tank. They are looking for a good spot to settle. I've found they like good holes in the rocks, or even better, at the edge of a rock at the sand. Once they find their spot, they are just like Sheldon Cooper in the Big Bang Theory and will not give up their spot or ever move unless there are major changes.

In short, and IMHO rock flowers are heartier than BTA's and they are generally easier to care for. They do not divide like BTA to propagate either. If you are lucky enough the get one to propagate, they do it by pedal laceration. Tiny little new anemones will start to grow at the tip of the tentacles and while still very small, drop off and look for a home. I've never seen one do it in my tanks but my friend has seen it a few times... but he has so many of them!

 

[WatDatThing]

Thanks Ron, I'm so fascinate with nem.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks Ron, I'm so fascinate with nem.

They were my first non fish and non coral attraction, and I still love having them. Snorkeling in the Florida Keys let me see some up close and personal in their natural environment and that started to get me hooked. But I have to admit, now I'm kind of hooked on anything other than fish and corals.

I still have fish and I still keep a lot of corals, as well as snails, crabs, sea stars, sea cucumbers, feather dusters, shrimp and clams. But right now sponges are my primary interest. They're so bizarre in the wild and come in so many forms and colors. But most are extremely difficult to keep in an aquarium.