eclipse522 Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Last week I discover a new colony of bird nest growing randomly on the back wall of my aquarium. , a few days afterwards I found another tiny colony growing on this rock. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share. All this time I was trying to get my rock flowers anemones to reproduce. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Do they look like this? This is pocillopora and they spread easily. I had a large colony that died a few months ago, but I now have about a dozen that started showing up in random places in the tank. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimusprime3605 Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Do they look like this? This is pocillopora and they spread easily. I had a large colony that died a few months ago, but I now have about a dozen that started showing up in random places in the tank. So, that's what they are...I have the same thing popping up in different places. They're nice to have on an isolated rock, I guess, but not on rockscape, imo.Now, to get in there and remove them... Sent from Atlantis 🤙 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 This is odd to me. I have had birdsnests start growing when a loose frag (even a tiny one) lands on a rock and starts growing into its own colony. But, I have never had a colony spontaneously pop up in random areas of my tank. Also, John's picture doesn't look like a birdsnest or pocillopora to me. I could totally be wrong, but it looks like it is more of an LPS-type coral. Am I missing something? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 1 minute ago, Gil&Fin said: This is odd to me. I have had birdsnests start growing when a loose frag (even a tiny one) lands on a rock and starts growing into its own colony. But, I have never had a colony spontaneously pop up in random areas of my tank. Also, John's picture doesn't look like a birdsnest or pocillopora to me. I could totally be wrong, but it looks like it is more of an LPS-type coral. Am I missing something? Holly, I got a pocillopora from you last year. When my tank was suffering a bunch of coral losses, that was one that died in a matter of days, but during the process it was shedding flesh that floated around the tank. I think it’s a bailout survival mechanism. About a month later is when I started noticing all the new growths taking hold. I have macro photos of the original colony and the polyp structure matches these tiny refugees perfectly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 I found the old photo. On the left was the original mother colony that died: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Wow, ya learn something every day. I would not have guessed that shedding flesh of an SPS coral could spontaneously attach itself and start growing. I've killed many-a SPS colonies in my life, and occasionally in a way that flesh came off, but I've never been lucky enough to have a Walt Disney pop up randomly. 😂 Do you have a picture of the left hand side one that is farther away so I could see what the colony looked like? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 26 minutes ago, Gil&Fin said: Wow, ya learn something every day. I would not have guessed that shedding flesh of an SPS coral could spontaneously attach itself and start growing. I've killed many-a SPS colonies in my life, and occasionally in a way that flesh came off, but I've never been lucky enough to have a Walt Disney pop up randomly. 😂 Do you have a picture of the left hand side one that is farther away so I could see what the colony looked like? Here are a couple of the original colony, under day lights and at night with a blue flashlight: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 You take amazing shots! Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 My guess is I think it's less likely that shedding flesh caused that, as opposed to reproduction. Corals, like the two you've mentioned, are widely known to spawn and new frags will appear all over the place. It's really fascinating... But also really annoying at the same time. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse522 Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 The coral that is grow does not look like the first picture. It has the coloration of the birdnest that I have. It is possible that the thing I call a bird nest is not a birdnest. I will try to get a decent picture of it tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 19 hours ago, Higher Thinking said: My guess is I think it's less likely that shedding flesh caused that, as opposed to reproduction. Corals, like the two you've mentioned, are widely known to spawn and new frags will appear all over the place. It's really fascinating... But also really annoying at the same time. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk It is fascinating to me that SPS could spawn. Biologically, how could that happen? Any biologists out there? Maybe Sid has some insight? @IntoTheMystic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 13 minutes ago, Gil&Fin said: It is fascinating to me that SPS could spawn. Biologically, how could that happen? Any biologists out there? Maybe Sid has some insight? @IntoTheMystic Many organisms have both asexual and sexual forms of reproduction and will switch between them depending on environmental conditions so wouldn't be completely unheard of - that said, I don't really know the details on coral spawning (not my area of biology). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 Pocilipora is one of the notorious in tank "spawners" that can just pop up in all the wrong places, like your circ pumps or overflows. I used to have a bunch that settled in a tanks skimmer out put... At first it was cool, until it started restricting flow, and other daughter colonies started competing for space and calcium. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 A good and straight to the point quote from the net- Most Pocillopora spreads through planuation -- release of live larvae. This is different from spawning, which is the release of gametes. The prodigy produced in this manner by Pocillopora are 100% genetic clones of the mom... Although I have seen sexual reproduction in the home aquarium that does settle out in "variants" of the parent colonies, such as pueple/pink bases with green polyps. A pink lemonade pocilipora mixed with a classic green Damicornis. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntoTheMystic Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 27 minutes ago, badxgillen said: A good and straight to the point quote from the net- Most Pocillopora spreads through planuation -- release of live larvae. This is different from spawning, which is the release of gametes. The prodigy produced in this manner by Pocillopora are 100% genetic clones of the mom... Although I have seen sexual reproduction in the home aquarium that does settle out in "variants" of the parent colonies, such as pueple/pink bases with green polyps. A pink lemonade pocilipora mixed with a classic green Damicornis. 2 hours ago, Gil&Fin said: It is fascinating to me that SPS could spawn. Biologically, how could that happen? Any biologists out there? Maybe Sid has some insight? @IntoTheMystic As I hoped and expected, Bert came through with some information and personal experience on this. Don't know much about SPS spawning in closed systems but I believe the Australian Institute of Marine Science continues to have success spawning SPS and other corals under different conditions. Never been but Dr. Tim has and when came back from that trip he was really impressed with this facility and the work they're doing there. I've seen images of their SeaSim lab, where a lot of this really interesting science is taking place. Wotta place! Tim said they pitched a staff exchange idea when he was there. I'd be all over that opportunity if it comes to pass. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse522 Posted August 24, 2019 Author Share Posted August 24, 2019 So I finally had the time to take some pictures but my lens were not good enough. I have a picture of the tiny new colony and the mother colony. I really tried. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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