Master Scoly Babies?

[Fishbone]

I found five little knobs on my master Scoly I purchased about a month ago and they appear to be baby Scolies. Are these baby scoly or something else? I have never heard of Scoly budding babies like an Acan.

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[bighappybuddha]

Anything that can start to reduce the demand on harvesting...mystery to me but it would be great to eventually see farmed scolymia supporting the hobby. Pretty clear based on the reduced sizes in the market that they have been over harvested.

 

[oceanarium]

Certainly looks like its creating buds, something I have not heard of before in the species. Great find, it would be interesting to know how often this occurs.

It looks like they would be quite difficult to separate at the size they are currently at. I like to tip colonies with these types of buds to try get some light onto the bud and target feed them till they are big enough to safely separate.

 

[Fishbone]

Buds are growing pretty quickly. Might try cutting one off when they get a little bigger.

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[bighappybuddha]

Sweet

 

[jkhchris]

Never heard of a scoly budding babies . They do look a little like zoanthids as well.

Chris

 

[RokleM]

No way they're zoa's. They almost have to be scoly, but I haven't heard of that either. Look at the way the flesh continues down form the main unit, around the mini scoly and back up again. It's very prominent around the right two.

 

[All Delight]

That awesome. Instead of cutting them, I'd rather have a master scoly colony!! Imagine that. :thumbsup:

Great news

 

[Fishbone]

I don't think they are Zoa babies. I have seen a lot of those over the years. Under blue LEDs you can see some green speckles in them that match the color of the potential mother. It also appears they are developing a mini serrated skeleton. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking and my imagination…they are smaller than an eraser and it is hard to really see anything. Whatever it is this is the sort of thing that makes this hobby so wonderful and rewarding

 

[icecool217]

Definitely not Zoas as I have some that are coming back from a piece of rock with nothing on it.

Look at the last bud on the right. It is starting to look like a tiny scoly. Skeleton structures on the bud seems like scolys as well. Maybe prop the scoly up so that the buds doesn't get damaged by the sand?

 

[palyam]

These are new Scoly heads for sure, congrats!

Beautiful scoly by the way...

 

[Fishbone]

That’s a good suggestion. I am going to reposition the scoly so they get more light. I have three different scolies in this tank and I leaned them all up against a rock in a semi-vertical fashion. Upper half touching the rock and lower half touching the sand. I originally didn’t notice the buds and had them buried in the sand. This scoly actually moved itself off the rock into a horizontal position. That is how I noticed the babies. I wonder if it was some sort of instinctive response. The other scolies which are right next to it stayed in the exact place I put them.

 

[Ferguson1977]

For your sake I hope its babies but I'm thinking they look like zoas unfortunately. Do they seem to be irritating the scoly flesh in that area?

 

[CJ 1098]

I have had fungias do the same thing. This is very cool! They look like scolly's for sure to me.

 

[Fishbone]

Ferguson1977-they do seem to be irritating the scoly flesh a bit. They are slightly bigger than the last picture and seem to be looking more like Scolies to my eyes. They don't have any of the Zoas fringe on the outer edge, but they close up like Zoas. Maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see...i do that sometimes

 

[RokleM]

For your sake I hope its babies but I'm thinking they look like zoas unfortunately. Do they seem to be irritating the scoly flesh in that area?

Evenly spread out, in a line with the scoly flesh, attached to the same scoly flesh, single polyp zoa's? Unlikely.

Time will tell, but still look like scoly buds to me.

 

[Cptn Spaulding]

That flesh definitely continues toward and around the babies. This is a first for me too. I would say take extra special care of that tank just for that.. A giant scolymia colony would be nuts, bookworthy even. For science though... maybe once they get big enough take one off to see how it does off of the mother. I hope you continue to do updates, I would love to see the growth rate of baby scolys. :thumbsup:

 

[Ferguson1977]

Evenly spread out, in a line with the scoly flesh, attached to the same scoly flesh, single polyp zoa's? Unlikely.

Time will tell, but still look like scoly buds to me.

I don't see the flesh around the polyps attached to the scoly flesh. In the 2nd pic what I see is 5 polyps in a line with flesh around each and all connecting....looks like typical zoa growth to me. I see a space of rock between the polyps and scoly flesh. They are spreading horizontally because they can't go vertical due to hitting the scoly or sand.

The pic from 5/31 looks like zoa fringes around the edges.

Here's a pic I just took of the underside of my scoly. You can see the edge of the tissue is thick where it connects to the rock. Maybe the OP can get us a clear pic of the underside and we can see if the flesh from the scoly is really connected to the polyps we see.

 

[Ferguson1977]

This scoly is having babies too lol.

Sorry

 

[bunzaroo]

Definitely look like buds to me. Zoas do not spread in that kind of pattern. if the buds have a stony base they can't be zoas. I have seen several multiple headed scolys online so it can be possible.Keep us posted.