DOES RFA(rock flower anemones) FROM BELIZE OR DR EVENTUALLY DIES?

[Trueruby]

It’s been over a year since these nems took place of FLorida nems after devastating bleach event at bays of FL.

There has been many argues about these nems that they eventually dies around 6 months or so on. Belize or DR nems incredibly colourful in comparison to FL’s

In April I got around 30 of them where as I also have FL nems around 20.
12 of them died of just with in 2 months where were they all seem healthy. After 5 month 3 more died. At the moment I am at month 6 3 more died. So I have some left but kinda sure they will be wiped off soon as well. During this time non of my FL ones neither died nor shrinked.

So, the question is that should this nems stay in trade eventhough it is clearly known they will die off?

Please put your comments. I think that nems should never be collected again.
See below before and after pics.

 

[banik]

That's actually really interesting. I'm keeping a couple dozen torches. I've had about 30% mortality from RFAs I got over about 4 months. I thought I had a jerk peppermint shrimp plus bacterial issues, but others are happy as are other things in the tank.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Wow I’m not the only one then. I used to consider RFA bulletproof but I’ve had 3 different orders in the last 6 months from 3 different vendors (who all sell quality corals) and I’ve lost at least half or more from each order. Keep in mind that in the previous 3 years I’ve bought probably 30+ Florida RFAs and maybe lost 1 or 2.

Something is seriously off with them. Do they want colder water? Less light? Have infections? I’ve got 2 right now that were part of an order from a month ago that look worse and worse each day and are sitting amongst all my Florida RFAs who look perfect.

 

[Trueruby]

That's actually really interesting. I'm keeping a couple dozen torches. I've had about 30% mortality from RFAs I got over about 4 months. I thought I had a jerk peppermint shrimp plus bacterial issues, but others are happy as are other things in the tank.

Pepermint shrimps are predators no doubt. But besides that this rfa’s not adapting to reeftanks. Unlike FL rfa nems.

 

[Trueruby]

Wow I’m not the only one then. I used to consider RFA bulletproof but I’ve had 3 different orders in the last 6 months from 3 different vendors (who all sell quality corals) and I’ve lost at least half or more from each order. Keep in mind that in the previous 3 years I’ve bought probably 30+ Florida RFAs and maybe lost 1 or 2.

Something is seriously off with them. Do they want colder water? Less light? Have infections? I’ve got 2 right now that were part of an order from a month ago that look worse and worse each day and are sitting amongst all my Florida RFAs who look perfect.

Absolutelly the same case. All my Florida rfa’s are thriving! Had babies over 450+ no jokes! There must be a community knowledge that this rfa’s should not be collected! Vendors are fine because they won’t host it much, just comes and goes. But we should not buy it! Beside that it is pitty for this creatures that they can not survive! I tried different water conditions as well but I am at month 6 now and around 8 still alive. We will see how long will it last..

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Here is a photo of a yellow disc one I got about 2 months ago. It’s like it’s slowly falling apart. To the right is a perfectly healthy red one form Florida in the exact same spot. All parameters are normal, food offered once every week or two. They don’t respond as aggressively to food and I don’t expect it to live for more than a few more weeks.

 

[Trueruby]

Here is a photo of a yellow disc one I got about 2 months ago. It’s like it’s slowly falling apart. To the right is a perfectly healthy red one form Florida in the exact same spot. All parameters are normal, food offered once every week or two. They don’t respond as aggressively to food and I don’t expect it to live for more than a few more weeks.

This is how they start to die, unfortunately it is already dead

 

[mch1984]

This is interesting. I have been out of the hobby for a few years and am assembling a tank. RFA was one of my favorites, and I am including a rock just for them in the tank. Is there any way to tell the difference when shopping online? I know of a vendor who lives in Florida. I assumed that he was harvesting locally. But now I don't know.

 

[Devaji]

this is good to know.
wonder if more people are experiencing the same?
prob. is if we has hobby stop buying them the FL. RFA will double in price & I bet vendors will just label them a FL.
IDK just seems like how it goes.

I had a little RFA nano peninsula a while back loved that tank.

 

[Trueruby]

This is interesting. I have been out of the hobby for a few years and am assembling a tank. RFA was one of my favorites, and I am including a rock just for them in the tank. Is there any way to tell the difference when shopping online? I know of a vendor who lives in Florida. I assumed that he was harvesting locally. But now I don't know.

Many folks has same issue. I can clearly say last 1.5 years there are almost non from FL. If you can make a search of RFA and check old pictures then you can see difference clearly. Belize and DR has more vivid colours and theyre bigger. They tend to have more yellow colour on oral discs as well.

 

[Trueruby]

this is good to know.
wonder if more people are experiencing the same?
prob. is if we has hobby stop buying them the FL. RFA will double in price & I bet vendors will just label them a FL.
IDK just seems like how it goes.

I had a little RFA nano peninsula a while back loved that tank.

So many people having this issue. It would be better with their contribution.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Salt critters, who I have bought from before, says they have Florida RFA

 

[Trueruby]

Salt critters, who I have bought from before, says they have Florida RFA

I checked the pics and I don't think so. maybe @Ron Reefman can put some comments.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

I checked the pics and I don't think so. maybe @Ron Reefman can put some comments.

I messaged them on Instagram and they said they had Florida. But yeah unclear

 

[Ron Reefman]

I've kind have been out of the loop the last few years. I only bought 1 order of 5 RFAs about 6 months ago. The seller did tell me they were from Belize or Brazil. I had no idea there was an issue. I lost 4 of the 5 within 2 weeks. I was quite upset and couldn't imagine what I had done wrong. The 5th one is still alive along with 5 colorful RFAs, 4 shallow water, B&W RFAs, 2 maxi-minis and 4 Blackwidow bubble tip anemones... oh, and 2 babies from my collected anemones.

I 'd be very interested in hearing anybody offer up possible ways to ID the ones from Belize. And pics comparing them to Florida RFAs would be a HUGE help.

I normally snorkel in the Keys a few weekends over the summer. I only went once this year and I didn't see a single RFA. Now the spots I snorkeled were places where we would only see a few anyway. I do know of a small island that has always had lots of RFAs (the shallow water, much less colorful versions). But we didn't go to that island this last trip due to bad weather. In the summer of 2023 there were still a lot of RFAs and I still have the 4 that I collected there last summer. All 4 of them were pure white when I collected them. There were some there that had some light green and some that were yellow. But they were well attached and I couldn't collect them. The ones I did get have done well in my tank. They do not have any color (the shallow versions almost never do). But they have become patterned with some dark stripes and other patterns and even reproduced.

This is a shot from that island taken a few years ago.

 

[Trueruby]

I've kind have been out of the loop the last few years. I only bought 1 order of 5 RFAs about 6 months ago. The seller did tell me they were from Belize or Brazil. I had no idea there was an issue. I lost 4 of the 5 within 2 weeks. I was quite upset and couldn't imagine what I had done wrong. The 5th one is still alive along with 5 colorful RFAs, 4 shallow water, B&W RFAs, 2 maxi-minis and 4 Blackwidow bubble tip anemones... oh, and 2 babies from my collected anemones.

I 'd be very interested in hearing anybody offer up possible ways to ID the ones from Belize. And pics comparing them to Florida RFAs would be a HUGE help.

I normally snorkel in the Keys a few weekends over the summer. I only went once this year and I didn't see a single RFA. Now the spots I snorkeled were places where we would only see a few anyway. I do know of a small island that has always had lots of RFAs (the shallow water, much less colorful versions). But we didn't go to that island this last trip due to bad weather. In the summer of 2023 there were still a lot of RFAs and I still have the 4 that I collected there last summer. All 4 of them were pure white when I collected them. There were some there that had some light green and some that were yellow. But they were well attached and I couldn't collect them. The ones I did get have done well in my tank. They do not have any color (the shallow versions almost never do). But they have become patterned with some dark stripes and other patterns and even reproduced.

This is a shot from that island taken a few years ago.

I first started gathering rfa’s and having rfa only tank after seeing your thread. Since then I still continue.. however, after FL bleach out I got one huge batch around 40-50 pcs or RFA’s which they also said either Belize, DR or Brasil. Theyre extremely colourful has many colour patterns and I feel like more pastels colours then those FL metallic vibrant colours. If I am not mistaken 20 of them died within a week. At the same time I already had 20 FL rfa in tank which are still thriving and having many babies. Not just me but many my folks also had same issue and they lost all what they got. I kept going with 20 left from first batch. Within 6 months period I kept loosing time to time like 3 or 2 more. I am at month 6 and 10-12 still alive but I highly suspect them to die sooner or later.

Vendors claim these nems has no issue but they dont really keep them as long as us.

@ronreefman how depth do you think colourful ones are living? Maybe those Belize and Dr ones comes from too deep that they can not tolerate our par levels?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Vendors claim these nems has no issue but they dont really keep them as long as us.

@ronreefman how depth do you think colourful ones are living? Maybe those Belize and Dr ones comes from too deep that they can not tolerate our par levels?

I think it's interesting that the harvested RFAs survive being harvested and shipped to the US. Then survive being displayed by stores and online vendors, but die shortly after being shipped to reef keepers. I wonder if it's the way they are collected that is the problem?

When we snorkel, we are collecting from 2' to 6' deep and the RFAs have VERY little or no color other than off white, tan, brown, black and very rarely some green. A friend of my collects from depths of 10' to 15' and gets RFAs that have some color, but it's mostly all one color (no multi colors) and the color isn't very vibrant at all. An LFS owner/friend who was collecting his own RFAs and getting really nice ones a few years ago, was getting them at 30' to 40' deep. And I had no issues keeping those from 30' or deeper.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

I've kind have been out of the loop the last few years. I only bought 1 order of 5 RFAs about 6 months ago. The seller did tell me they were from Belize or Brazil. I had no idea there was an issue. I lost 4 of the 5 within 2 weeks. I was quite upset and couldn't imagine what I had done wrong. The 5th one is still alive along with 5 colorful RFAs, 4 shallow water, B&W RFAs, 2 maxi-minis and 4 Blackwidow bubble tip anemones... oh, and 2 babies from my collected anemones.

I 'd be very interested in hearing anybody offer up possible ways to ID the ones from Belize. And pics comparing them to Florida RFAs would be a HUGE help.

I normally snorkel in the Keys a few weekends over the summer. I only went once this year and I didn't see a single RFA. Now the spots I snorkeled were places where we would only see a few anyway. I do know of a small island that has always had lots of RFAs (the shallow water, much less colorful versions). But we didn't go to that island this last trip due to bad weather. In the summer of 2023 there were still a lot of RFAs and I still have the 4 that I collected there last summer. All 4 of them were pure white when I collected them. There were some there that had some light green and some that were yellow. But they were well attached and I couldn't collect them. The ones I did get have done well in my tank. They do not have any color (the shallow versions almost never do). But they have become patterned with some dark stripes and other patterns and even reproduced.

This is a shot from that island taken a few years ago.

I’m not sure about reliable ways to ID them, but I have noticed some different color patterns. If you head over to https://www.queencitycorals.com/product-category/anemones/ you will see a long list of WYSIWYG RFAs. They have confirmed to me that they are not from Florida.

Queen City is one of the premier coral vendors and one i have had great success ordering from, but the RFA I bought with my most recent order died like the other non Florida ones. If you look at their page, you will see several color patterns that I don’t think occur (or are very rare) among Florida RFA. Many of them have thick brown/grey tentacles and bright yellow or yellow/green discs. Also common is orange disc with a purple center, again with brown/grey tentacles.

What you don’t see are the common “ultra” Florida varieties. The green tentacles and red disc for example. In general the ones from outside Florida seem to commonly have brown/grey tentacles and bright colored discs. Beyond that, I’m not sure.

 

[Trueruby]

I think it's interesting that the harvested RFAs survive being harvested and shipped to the US. Then survive being displayed by stores and online vendors, but die shortly after being shipped to reef keepers. I wonder if it's the way they are collected that is the problem?

When we snorkel, we are collecting from 2' to 6' deep and the RFAs have VERY little or no color other than off white, tan, brown, black and very rarely some green. A friend of my collects from depths of 10' to 15' and gets RFAs that have some color, but it's mostly all one color (no multi colors) and the color isn't very vibrant at all. An LFS owner/friend who was collecting his own RFAs and getting really nice ones a few years ago, was getting them at 30' to 40' deep. And I had no issues keeping those from 30' or deeper.

It is obvious that they do not live under same conditions.
Perhaps those which are not from FL are gathered from deeper points? This could be issue of having high par values could damage them?
In my case, I have not seen any foot damage. At first it starts to shrink on it size. Then loosing some color on the center of their oral disc. Then tentacles decrease, eventually zero tentacles remains.. Then within 2 months starts to peel off.