Marine Depot Forums / TEAM Marine Depot / Marine Systems and Husbandry – by Anthony Calfo / Anemone Reproduction / Latest Posts

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Anthony Calfo — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 11:48:59 GMT

I do wonder how an anemone "knows" when there's a full moon though...

lunar pull/magnetism.. and miniature farmer's almanacs.

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Mark — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 01:02:38 GMT

My recollection is that the anemone exhibit at Waikki that houses the anemones that spawn utilizes natural sunlight (with supplementation) and ocean water. Despite years of trying different feeding patterns and artificial lighting combinations, I've been unable to induce E quadricolor spawning in my tank.

Turns out, I can get them to reproduce a lot faster by just chopping them in half.

I do wonder how an anemone "knows" when there's a full moon though...

- Mark

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Aguabeast — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 23:05:22 GMT

Anthony Calfo (7/15/2006)

a number ofcnidarian species spawnings can be predicted in advance by measuring their lipid levels.

Makes sense I suppose... Ill check it out

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Anthony Calfo — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 21:24:05 GMT

yep.. IMO you should focus for starters on feeding and fats/lipid. On one hand its a simple matter of conditioning an animal for breeding... but also a number of cnidarian species spawnings can be predicted in advance by measuring their lipid levels.

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Aguabeast — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 20:11:37 GMT

Thanks for that... Ive been searching around online, but hadnt had a lot of luck with reproduction studies in captivity. I should have read my TRA a bit closer

"At the Waikiki Aquarium, the colonies [of E. quadricolor] there spawn each April at 7am, two days after the full moon. Planulae develop within 24 hours after fertilization, and settle out on a variety of substrate. The newly settled anemones are already self-sufficient as they are packed with zooxanthellae." TRA vol 2, pg 383

I know there are a number of sexual breeding strategies recorded even within a given species in the wild. I wonder what different environmental (?) cues might be involved in triggering spawning among those different groups, and if theres any way to work with that in a captive setting to produce 'farmable' stock...

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Anthony Calfo — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 13:12:44 GMT

my technical opinion... schwing!

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Mark — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 22:40:24 GMT

See the captions to images on pgs 112 & 115 of The Reef Aquarium vol. 2 (Sprung & Delbeek).

Summary:

"Entacmaea quadricolor larvae collected after an aquarium spawning event at the Waikiki Aquarium.... planulae develop within 24 hours after fertilization, and settle out on a variety of substrata." (p115)

"The zooxanthellae are clearly visible inside this young Entacmaea quadricolor that was spawned and reared in captivity." (p112) [My emphasis]

- Mark

RE: Anemone Reproduction

AdamC — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 18:59:39 GMT

Anthony,

I am almost certain they were sexual spawns. I will find the reference and report for sure.

Adam

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Anthony Calfo — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:26:55 GMT

do you recall is these were the products of sexual reproduction or asexual (planulation). I was thinking the latter.

RE: Anemone Reproduction

AdamC — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:04:33 GMT

Anthony,

Waikiki has successfully settled spawns of E. Quadracolor. I believe there are photos in on of the TRA volumes. I don't know if they have reared them, although it doesn't seem like it would be that hard.

Adam

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Anthony Calfo — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:04:15 GMT

now that I can help you with, my friend... and I see that you are new to this forum. Let me introduce you to my default mega-source for information: atop this forum is a sticky called "Fav links..." and in it is a years old collection and growing of my favorite reosurces. URLS, books, articles, threads and discussions.

in it you will see a link (reminder really) for folks to use Scholar Google. If you tag that link and enter "actiniaria reproduction" for example... you will see several hundred hits on the subjecvt from the science and academic archives (albeit field work).

Please do make use of that list of "Fav links..." (especially scroll down to the alphabetical list of discussions for current events)

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Aguabeast — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:53:49 GMT

I appreciate the response. Yeah, I had heard of spawning events in tanks, but like you said, nothing as far as successful settlement for anemones. Does anyone know of any research currently concentrated on the captive rearing of actinarians (as advanced or undeveloped as the field may be, I really havent a clue)?

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Anthony Calfo — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 09:55:17 GMT

an interesting thread FWIW on long term care of anemones, lighting issues:

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16565

RE: Anemone Reproduction

Anthony Calfo — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 08:59:57 GMT

cheers, my friend... very good question. There have been observations of the release of gametes more than a few times (understatement). I suspect these were mostly a release of sperm. Decent activity as I recall has been observed in the Carpet anemone varieties and Dr. Shimek has addressed this before too (identifying reproductive structures to look out for in candidates for spawning).

I must admit though that I cannot recall hearing of a successful settlement from sexual reproduction in aquaria. I will note this thread in the archives (anemone links and spawning reports) with hope in time that folks will add more to it. Looking forward to it!

Anth-

Anemone Reproduction

Aguabeast — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 23:40:48 GMT

I know it's easy enough to force reproduction in various anemones by simply cutting them in half (Anthony, I saw your IMAC workshops this year where you split a couple anemones, and have heard rumors that you will be giving a fragging workshop at our local reef club next month- Im looking forward to it!). But, has anyone had any success with sexual reproduction of anemones in captivity? Ive seen some work done with Pocillopora and a couple Favia sp, but cant really find any good info on anemone-centered efforts. Any suggestions about where I might find some good info on whatever work has been done??