Rhodactis Spawning?

[rooster426]

So I have many, many, unkillable Rhodactis mushrooms. They have released thousands of little red balls, almost crashing my entire system. I'm assuming this is a spawning event. What I don't know, and this could be the dumb question of the day, is this- are the little red balls eggs/gametes, or actually fertilized eggs/embryos/not sure on the terminology. Are Rhodactis hermaphroditic? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[oceanarium]

I had my superman rhodactus release the little red balls a month or so back, so far no sign of baby's.

I think they are likely to be broadcast spawn, just based on size of the eggs so not viable unless fertilized but not sure.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Hmm....I think they could be eggs, as sperm is usually released as a white cloud. Now, if you noticed a cloud of sperm in the water being released, you can probably safely assume that the eggs have been fertilized.

I bet you could try feeding those to some of your fish, and see if the fish like them....

 

[rooster426]

The fish certainly do like them. The sheer volume just overwhelmed the system (110 gallon). So the thought is they are unfertilized eggs? I'm having no luck finding out if "rhodactis" are hermaphroditic, or only certain kinds are, etc. Thanks for the input.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Try checking with a microscope? I know that urchin eggs show that they're fertilized 15 minutes post fertilization.

Alternatively, if you saved some eggs in the water try setting them up in a bowl or something for them to hatch and settle in.

Finally, if all else fails, and you see tiny rhodactis months after the spawning event, and they're somewhere you never expected to see them far away from the mother colony, you can know that they were fertilized.