Sexual reproduction of corals

[oceanarium]

What species have you had successful planula settlements from ?

Personally I have Nepthia, Euphyllia glabrescens and pocilliopora.

I believe Serriatopora are a likely candidate but even though we have 100's of colonies I have never had one settle?

Also wondering about hybridization, till now I have only seen replicates of the colors I already have though have started keeping mixed premium colors in the torch coral with the hope of some freak new color.

 

[mattwils71]

Generally the sexual reproduction of corals is very rare due to the lack of moonlight so lots of reef keepers Know near to nothing about this category. But from the sounds of things your doing alright how long does it take you for the eggs to turn into colonies?

 

[oceanarium]

The corals i have success with to date are known as brooders, they only release male gametes that find their way to other corals of the species. The gametes fertilize the eggs within the coral, so the coral latter releases mature planula that can quickly settle to form a new coral. 1/4 of all corals are known to be brooders.

The larger percentage of corals release eggs and male gametes in those mass spawning corals do every year. I have never heard of any success within the normal aquarium from broadcast spawners, they spawn but the eggs and male gametes must be collected and fertilized external from the corals. Then they must be kept for several days in a larva rearing tank till they settle.

Brooders are the ones I am interest in that people would find settling in their DT. Its very common with pocilliopora, a lot of SPS keepers wont put it in their DT for fear of it becoming dominant.

Anthony Calfo at one time suggested I should feed Heliofungias well as a strategy for reproducing the species, though as yet I am to have any success. A while back there was also a lot of effort and chat (I think it was on on the old MOFIB site) about Serriatopora with Eric Borneman, not sure what success was achieved.

I know i certainly have heaps of serri's probably a 1000 but have seen none naturally settle.

 

[whatcaneyedo]

I have had Pocillopora successfully spawn and settle in my modest system. In fact the frag that I originally started from was a result of a spawning event in another persons tank. I've also had people that I have sold frags to state that they have spawned in their own systems so I guess its pretty common.

 

[a.browning]

I've had this occur with pocillopora and torch coral as well. My rocks are covered in pocillopora. It is more powerful than most sps, only my millepora wins against it. I ended up with about 12 torch corals throughout the tank. I actually had sold my original torch colony, then about 6 months later is when the small ones started showing up. I regretted selling the colony so it was a nice surprise to still have that coral in a way.

 

[xroads]

Have you thought of setting up a dedicated system to spawn & collect broadcast breeders?

 

[chris melb]

I have had Euphyllia glabrescens, and poccilipora produce young. However, not sure if this was via brooding as with Euphyllia I only had one in the tank. Interestingly, it has not produced young since. Wonder wether this reproduction was via budding/asexual reproduction or Euphyllia had stored sperm from when it was collected- I have read that this is possible.

Pete, with your Serris how have they reproduced, via brooding or have you been busy making 1000 frags?

 

[oceanarium]

Have you thought of setting up a dedicated system to spawn & collect broadcast breeders?

Its not really worth the efforts asexual works fine and on a working coral farm you can control your stock levels to suit the market trends. Having a huge mono cultures might work on a big wholesaler, we just retail direct to the hobbyist so need a big mix of species and colors.

If it could be done easily and quickly on a smaller scale then it would be great for premium colours of scolly's or nems. Certainly beyond my ability or experience.

I have had acro, colt and hammer at least spawn in my tanks, as have seen them in the act. I am not normally in the fish rooms after dark so miss most the spawning events, just find the mess in the morning.

On a side note the colt coral (Cladellia) spawn was very toxic to sea horses. It happened two years in a row the colt spawned and we lost all the seahorses in the system (Slow learner) clowns etc were all fine. It was very rapid seahorses were dead within minutes.

Pete, with your Serris how have they reproduced, via brooding or have you been busy making 1000 frags?

No I have never seen a settlement just the old fashioned chop chop.

I have had Euphyllia glabrescens, and poccilipora produce young. However, not sure if this was via brooding as with Euphyllia I only had one in the tank. Interestingly, it has not produced young since. Wonder wether this reproduction was via budding/asexual reproduction or Euphyllia had stored sperm from when it was collected- I have read that this is possible.

I think they can possibly self fertilize I have clones asexual fragged from the one colony breeding within themselves, so they are hermaphrodites.

 

[oceanarium]

I caught one of the torch coral releasing today at 10am. These ones have been reliably producing settlements for 18 months but first time I have seen them releasing.

 

[sabo]

I've got babies from one of your torches around my tank. Had to kill a couple as they were stinging others. Didn't want to, but they are impossible to remove without damage when so small.

 

[oceanarium]

That is interesting i wonder how much the genetics play in the propensity for certain strains to be more viable to reproduce in captivity.

 

[reefwiser]

Might want to watch this MACNA talk from last year.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4PDxw36lKx0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[oceanarium]

Might want to watch this MACNA talk from last year.

:thumbsup: Thanks, one thing i do do mentioned is let my tanks temps cycle throughout the year cooler in winter and warm now during our Aussie summer.

 

[Reefvet]

I believe Serriatopora are a likely candidate but even though we have 100's of colonies I have never had one settle?

I had one Serriatopora in a 8'x 3' X 10' frag tank for a couple of years and every few months it would send out a few planula. They grew slowly but they all grew.

 

[Reefvet]

I have had Pocillopora successfully spawn and settle in my modest system. In fact the frag that I originally started from was a result of a spawning event in another persons tank. I've also had people that I have sold frags to state that they have spawned in their own systems so I guess its pretty common.

You'd have a hard time stopping a Poci from reproducing.