RBTA Spawning Event

[Barbelist]

Evening all,

I stocked a nice big mature RBTA into my system yesterday....absolute stunner bought from a fellow reefer

Nem settled right in and inflated well and looks mighty fine....today my Maroon clown moved in and I couldn't be happier :thumbsup:

LEDs ramped down this evening leaving just the blues on and I noticed that the tank looked cloudy....panic set in because I had never experienced the tank looking like a pint or two of milk had been dropped in before !!

The mouth of the nem was raised like a volcano and spurting loads of milt into the tank....never got any pictures as I was too busy Googling for Britain to find out what I should be doing!!

I have directed two of the power heads more towards the surface to keep plenty of O2 in the system and cleaned the skimmer cup in anticipation of it pulling a fair bit of gunk out overnight....I'm sat here now, baby sitting the tank to make sure nothing drastic happens - although I'm not sure what I can do about it if it does??



Paul

 

[CaliCal]

any other nem in the tank? I'd pull out the carbon if its too much.

 

[addictedreefer]

How big is the tank? Snail/clam/misc live rock critter spawns happen a few times a year in my 210 and 90 gal systems with no perceptible adverse effects. Perhaps mix up some saltwater in case you need to perform a wc, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[Barbelist]

Cheers fellas,

My system is a 5.5ft x 2ft x 2ft closed loop with no other nems in there ....thankfully this morning all is back to normal with no evidence of anything ever happening:dance:

The nem is fully inflated, the water is gin clear and everything else seems normal.

I have some fresh water made up in readiness for the same thing happening again tonight - lunar cycle maybe??


Paul

 

[BPevito]

Great to hear.

 

[m0nkie]

must be interesting to watch. I have seen my stomenella snails climb to the highest peak in my tank and ejaculated... then tiny milk clouds..

 

[Barbelist]

Just got home to find I now have 2 RBTA's....the mother nem has split - both halves looking nice and full and coloured up well too....happy with that !!

 

[D-Nak]

We typically call this a stress spawn -- in this case a spawning event due to change in environment. It's actually quite common and nothing to be concerned about. Nems splitting can also be attributed to stress, and some people actually try to stress their nems to get them to split. I usually don't advise that novices purposely stress their nems because it could lead to disaster.

Glad to hear that your nem(s) are doing well!

 

[Barbelist]

D-Nak, I was concerned that it was a stress reaction to the move and that maybe things would go downhill afterwards....so glad to say that everything seems fine in there with both nems really well expanded and cloured.

Thanks all for your comments.


Paul