Succesful spawning and rearing of Torch Coral, Euphyllia Gla

[dvmsn]

I notice these little guys on my rock two to three months ago. I initially thought that these guys were majano anemone's. I even tried to eliminate them via the kalk method. Last week I was looking at them closely again because I was planing to zap them again. That is when I noticed that one had slightly receded and I noticed several septa on its side. Upon closer inspection of other colonies, I noticed that I could see the corallite and septa located in the tissue of several other individuals. The mother colony has about a 14 inch diameter when fully expanded. Unfortunately, I didn't notice any "spawning event" and can't really pin down the exact time that I noticed them. I found several instances of Euphyllia type coral spawning in reef tanks, but haven't found any instances of them actually surviving. I f anyone has knowledge of any other instances, I would love to hear about them. The photos I enclosed show clearly the corallite and septa in some of the babies. There are 10-15 individuals located throughout my tank. If the planula have any settlement preferences, they are not apparent to me.

 

[dvmsn]

THIS ONE SHOW THE SEPTA CLEARLY

 

[playfair]

I believe what has happened is the Euphyllia's version of "polyp bailout"...
For some reason the tips of the tenticles come off and if they land in a good spot it has the ability to create a new colony.

My 8" dia torch came to me about the size of the babies in your picture from a friends tank who periodically witnessed the event.

Congrats!

 

[dvmsn]

I have witnessed that on many occasions. I thought that polyp bail out was usually a result of stress?

 

[jamesw]

That is awesome! I had one of those way back when but he didn't make it.

I think it's a form of polyp bailout as well. In order to have "spawning" I think you need to have two individuals in your tank to do the spawning, right? If you do have two, it may be possible, but not reported yet.

Cheers
James

 

[RustySnail]

Nice pictures!! Congrats on the self-fragging!

I had something similar happen to a frogspawn; it developed a calcium nodule in one of it's heads and then 'dropped' it down onto the rock beneath it. Another form of 'polyp bailout' I guess...

-Russ