Thought that the female RFAs were also larger than the males.
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maybe, but right now all of the "original" 3 are the same size.. and started out as the same size... so it is difficult to tell from that. also, there are a lot of "rumors" and little evidence or research done on these guys that really supports what I see going on in the tank. I am documenting everything I see, so at some point I may be able to write a comprehensive paper on reproduction.
also, these flowers are about 2" (myth- they need to be 3 to reproduce)
130+ babys from one flower/ one spawn (myth- 40 flowers born max)
flowers born with full color (myth- takes 2-3 weeks for color to appear)
flowers are spit out, land on the disc, and are usually deposited under the skirt by the female (Myth- flowers are born under the center of the foot and climb up to the surface)
other myths- flowers can be Hermaphrodites.. there is no biological study to support this
they can reproduce thru petal laceration- fact: kills the flower
they can clone themselves- nothing supports this statement
Flowers can also "hold" flowers thru the next spawn and release them with the next batch of newborn. this was also confirmed by another reefer.
another bit of interesting research: flowers do not have a genetic dominant gene.. what this means is you will get genetic variations from generations and not mother/father traits. this becomes significant when it seems like a good idea to buy Ultra breeding stock- and then being disappointed when you breed 1 ultra flower out of 100.
in my tank: 3-5% born are brown and have not shown any color after 2 months. some are now showing signs of blue- the rarest of colors (these also started out brown)
even rarer, I have 1 flower that is 75% green and 25%orange on the disc.. looks like is was cut out (no color blending)
that's about the start of it.. I know, long and drawn out
