Rock Flower Anemone Sexual Reproduction

[beolson25]

All, I have a couple videos and a few pictures to post but I have 6 Rock Flower Anemones in my 75 gallon along with 3-4 RTBAs(not really of note in this conversation). Recently I saw two of the Rock Flower Anemones(RFA) excrete white goo(yeah ... spooge) ... I will attach the videos in a couple minutes over my phone. I used a turkey baster to squirt it into the others and had the pumps off for hours ...

Now ... getting to my actual question ... I know that if they made babies I could start to see new babies around November so I don't think the little guy I found is from that spawn ... But ... Today I saw a little orange spot in the middle of a bunch of Zoas ... So I cleaned my glass(dirty cuz I'm lazy) and got a few pictures.

I'm interested in opinions if this little orange thing is a new Anemone ... I would be super thrilled if that is the case ...

Please feel free to ask questions and add your thoughts.

 

[beolson25]

Pictures

Pictures

Couldn't upload the video ... file too big and didn't seed a valid file format.

Attached 2 of the little baby and one of the recent anemone spawn

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[beolson25]

Well crap .... Now I am beginning to wonder if it is aptasia ... I've had a recent outbreak but usually aptasia don't look like this ... Longer skinnier tentacles ... Uhhhhh ....

Any thoughts?

 

[OrionN]

I do not keep Rock anemones. However, the first pictures show a male Rock anemone producing sperms. The other two pictures does show young Rock anemone, not aptasia. Congratulations. These anemones have been documented tp reproduce sexually in aquarium before by a few reefers.

 

[beolson25]

I sure hope you are right ... Now the long wait to see what the full color looks like ... I'm pumped.

Interested in any other feedback.

 

[Postal]

They pretty much have their full color immediately. You just need to feed it consistently with size appropriate foods fairly regularly to get it to grow at a decent rate,

 

[beolson25]

Well ... I found a second little baby ... Looks like I'm a Dad(Anemone). This one is under the Mom and pretty obviously a rock flower as well.

 

[BayouCorals]

I have had a few hundred baby rock anemones over the last few years from my original 5. The best way to find the babies is to turn your pumps off and lights off with only actinics. Aptasia don't glow in the blue lights. The babies will look like small bright colored dots. congratulations on the anemones. It was always fun to count the babies with my children.

 

[beolson25]

BayouCorals,
wow ... did you sell them? What % do you think turned out with "Ultra" vs "cool" vs "not-cool" colors?

 

[BayouCorals]

I gave some away. Many disappeared into the sump. I still have a lot of them. I had them in a propagation system with no live rock and just about 1/2" of sand. It had a common sump into a much bigger system. It was much easy to find them and collect them from the sand versus attached to live rock. I moved this year and took down the system this summer. I haven't had any babies in the new system. I would say 20% ultra (better than the parents in my opinion), 60% cool (as nice as the parents), and 20% plain green. I have another thread on here showing the parents.

 

[OrionN]

...... I have another thread on here showing the parents.

Actually the parents and his anemone reproduction.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2255258

 

[HHN]

How long does it generally take for RFAs to produce? Anything one can do to encourage the process?

 

[beolson25]

Response

Response

How long does it generally take for RFAs to produce? Anything one can do to encourage the process?

I think it's important to understand there are many species. You have to be lucky enough(or through large quantities) to ensure you have a male and female of the same species. I think it could take 2-3(best guess) years from being born to be big enough to reproduce. I suspect most you buy at the store are of reproducing age when you buy them.

Then mine appear to have spawned during the equinox in September. Sadly all of the babies I had died or disappeared over time and a small table problem I had when my chiller died. And even worse one of the mating anemones died too ...

Just my $.02

 

[Soluent1]

Not to hijack this thread, but a worker in one of the aquarium stores I go to said that the males stay small and the females get quite large. Is this true?

 

[beolson25]

I'm not super experienced but I've not noticed a difference in size for fully grown rock flower anemones. Something like a 6 inches diameter is typical.

 

[Soluent1]

Beolsen25, thanks for responding. I took the size info with a grain of salt as I have the scoured the Internet and never found any reference to size and sex. I do have one that has never seemed to grow and others that are in the 5 inch range. Would like to see babies sometime.

 

[beolson25]

Beolsen25, thanks for responding. I took the size info with a grain of salt as I have the scoured the Internet and never found any reference to size and sex. I do have one that has never seemed to grow and others that are in the 5 inch range. Would like to see babies sometime.

:thumbsup: