I'm pregnant!!!!

picoreefguy

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i'm pregnant!!! (insert fat joke here). not really but my sun coral did spawn yesterday so.... same thing right? so a couple months ago i got a medium sized colony of sun coral with approximately 30-40 heads on it. i knew it was an NPS so i made sure to start a feeding routine for it.

i fed it in a glass bowl about 3 times a week it wouldn't open much for a couple weeks, the polyp bodies would bulge but you couldn't see much of the tentacles. after i had it for about 2 weeks i went ahead and fragged a smaller section that was separated by from the rest of them because i planned on moving it to my pico one day. once they got used to the feeding routine they started to come out when i would feed them and then after a while they started coming out randomly, you would see the whole colony open.

i started leaving them in the tank to feed. then this past week or so i noticed they didn't open for feedings so i went back to the glass bowl where i could more easily target each individual head. yesterday i was trying to feed them so i put them in the glass bowl and put some food in it and left them alone for a little while to see if they would open any. i came back about 15 minutes later and saw a bunch of little orange balls floating around. i had a carnation coral in there with it so at first i thought it was going through a polyp bail out or something. but upon closer inspection it didn't look like polyps. so i did a little goggling and found out that it was in fact sun coral eggs.

i haven't gotten the chance to do any real research to see if the eggs are even viable yet. i'm not sure if sun corals are hermaphroditic or not but if they are then maybe some of the heads released some sperm to fertilize the eggs. but i went ahead and siphoned the eggs into a little container so i could place them where i wanted them and give them a better chance to stick and grow if they are viable. i took a little deli cup and put some calcium reactor media in it and rinsed it out with tank water to get rid of any dust and then i put a good bit of the eggs in there. after that i placed a bunch in to nooks and crannys in my pico to give them a shot there and the rest of the eggs got broadcast in my friends 29 biocube. now its a waiting game to see if anything comes of it.

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rdnelson99;1018075 wrote: Afraid to respond to this one based on the title. Hehehehe

man, what a disappointment, i put the "(insert fat joke here)" just for you

dball711;1018080 wrote: Congratulations!!! Any weird cravings?
not yet but i just found out yesterday so time will tell. unless you count wanting thai food as a weird craving but thats been going on for a few months now
 
thanks steven.

so ive been reading a little more and apparently sun corals are what are known as brooders meaning that the female makes an egg and signals via pheromones for the male to release sperm. the sperm somehow makes its way into the female polyp and fertilizes the egg and she holds it till it develops into a sort of larva then all at once the female polyps release the larva. they settle onto a rock and start to develop into a polyp and lay down a skeleton. very interesting stuff.
 
Wow that's cool! That's the first time I've heard of Tubastrea spawning in captivity!

Do you suppose any of the larvae will settle?
 
Do you think that's what this is?

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Wow, I had no idea!

Mine often has those orange balls on it and on the ledge under it. I thought the ones on it were just babies spreading and particles of its tentacles that it had shed.
Can't wait to hear if any make it!
 
JennM;1018175 wrote: Wow that's cool! That's the first time I've heard of Tubastrea spawning in captivity!

Do you suppose any of the larvae will settle?

from what ive read its not an uncommon occurrence, but then again i hadnt ever heard of it either.
and theres no way to be sure but i certainly hope so. thats why put them in a few different tanks and set up that little deli cup with the calcium reactor media in a low flow area so they would have a good chance of grabbing hold of something. i did notice that some of the larvae got sucked into the filter media of my pico after i turned the return pump back on so i made sure not to rinse it and instead removed it and put it in a low flow area as well.

Camellia;1018183 wrote: Do you think that's what this is?

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Wow, I had no idea!

Mine often has those orange balls on it and on the ledge under it. I thought the ones on it were just babies spreading and particles of its tentacles that it had shed.
Can't wait to hear if any make it!

debbie, its hard to tell but if youre pointing to the little orange blob then it might be the same thing.
 
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