Caught acro releasing eggs

[Santoki]

around 2.5 hours after lights went out the night before turkey day, I happened to still be awake and noticed eggs protruding from the largest branch of the A. Formosa. I didn't want to miss it so I grabed my camera, slapped the auto lens and set everything to full auto with flash and captured this:

I managed to suck up one of the eggs and put it under the scope...
not much to see since it's only back lit. You can however make out the soccerball like channels.

400X:

This same area photographed when the lights are on:

I don't believe the whole colony released eggs. I only noticed eggs protruding from this area. It seems to make sense the largest branches were well nourished and therefore released eggs.

In hindsight, I wished I had turned the pumps off and lit the area with a flashlight and taken a video...

-Robert

 

[mc-cro]

that is awesome, congratulations. you must be doing something right

 

[dnguyen1]

Whoa, what.... man I'm a newbie w/ everything and didn't know ACROS released eggs??? Is that how they grow?

 

[reefD]

Nice! Great to see in home aquariums


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[reefD]

Nice! Great to see in home aquariums


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[joeogio]

Whoa, what.... man I'm a newbie w/ everything and didn't know ACROS released eggs??? Is that how they grow?

not how they grow but it's how they spawn they can grow just fine and never spawn like they do in the wild


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[sponger0]

Spawning eggs is a way for the corals to spread through the ocean. Very very cool stuff. I wasnt sure if this was possible in home aquaria.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Very cool indeed! My clove polyps use to spawn regularly.

 

[ojonas81]

Extreamly cool and a good confirmation that you are doing something very right in your tank. I was also under the impression that this "could not happen" in an aquarium.

Congratulations!

 

[ACBlinky]

That is extraordinary, congratulations! Great job photographing it, the egg under the microscope is amazing to see.

 

[atomicpile]

That's great! Anytime something spawns in a home aquarium I get all excited, it shows that everything is healthy

 

[Ostara]

This is awesome! I've been meaning to make a post asking about SPS spawning in the aquarium. A local store has about a million little stylophoras all over one of the display tanks from two pieces that spawned, which I didn't think was possible in an aquarium. It's great to see another example of it.

 

[jasin401]

great pics!

 

[Tyrenlds]

Wow. Pat yourself on the back Santoki... this is a real accomplishment. Thanks for the photos.

 

[Buzz1329]

Interesting that your incredibly healthy acro, i.e. one that has enough energy to spawn, is brown. Is it possible that striving for the technicolors we want has a cost?

 

[maysorum]

Thanks for sharing! Very nice photo skills, too.

Can you tell us about your system?

 

[Santoki]

Thanks for the kind words.
I don't recall any captive acro spawnings documented and I thought it would be of interest, especially to sps nuts.

Interesting that your incredibly healthy acro, i.e. one that has enough energy to spawn, is brown. Is it possible that striving for the technicolors we want has a cost?

I don't think any conclusions can be drawn. This acro happens to be brown.

Thanks for sharing! Very nice photo skills, too.

Can you tell us about your system?

thank you maysorum.
It is a standard 4 feet 75 gallon display plumbed into a 100g sump. Total system volume is 160 gallons. I use a variation of the Balling method for the essentials such as alk, cal, and mag. I have an oversized downdraft skimmer rated for up to 800 gallons. I have been running custom DIY LEDs for 3 years now.
I don't want to start another general tank thread so if you are interested, you can check out my "after 2 years" thread, in which I am documenting general tank progress.

thanks,
-robert