Marine Depot Forums / TEAM Marine Depot / Corals and Coral Reefs - by Eric Borneman / Another tank spawn !!! / Latest Posts

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Umm_fish — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:32:42 GMT

Lovely photos! Congratulations!

Do you mind if I put a link to your thread on my website (in progress)? I like to try to encourage people to reproduce corals sexually, and your thread is very inspiring.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:57:24 GMT

Hey Eric, Check this photo out, It doesnt seem right .

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:50:45 GMT

Here is some shots from today!!!

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:50:52 GMT

Ok, All i can do is say WoW,Not only is there tons af larvae still! There is another spawn today, and there is alot of eggs again!! I have no clue where they came from.All 3 are releasing eggs again I think im going to cry. ..

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:39:52 GMT

[quote]Eric Borneman (11/9/2009)

Hi Cory,

First, sorry for the delays on this thread. As I mentioned by email, I would get back to you so look for emails today.

Second - the smell. I wish I could have you describe it more. Coral spawn contains DS - dimethylsulfide - and has a distinct smell. But, some coral eggs are known to be toxic, and a friend of mine had his tank poisoned twice by reproducing zoanthids. I don't know of toxic larvae but this being a soft coral, it wouldn't surprise me. DMS inhalation can cause headaches.

Third - the amazing reproductive output and settlement. I am going to take you up on your offer and have you send some to the researchers we discussed as well. Do you need a place to start to get rid of some - i.e sell?[/quote]

Eric, the smell is kinda hard to explain,It was like a waste type smell mixed with a sweet smell,Like Muriatic acid If that makes ant sense.I have poisened myself with zoanthids after fraging , I was drinking a cup of water and must have got some toxins on my cup, my mouth tasted like metal.(for days)Same as i woke upthe other day. Also all my snails are dead,Crabs are fine,and my chromis is fine.
Eric we can talk E-mail about selling, i have some questions.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:17:07 GMT

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:26:45 GMT

All i can say is wow!! There is so many larvae its sweet, 2nd day straight, there is a cloud of larvae in the tank.I woke up this morning and i could taste the smell that the larvae put off, and i had a pounding headache, my snails look like there poisoned. I had to do a water change and replace carbon to reduce the smell.It was almost like i put pennies in my mouth.weird.Is my health in any danger from this smell ? Well here is a few photos from today, my Memory card took a crap and i lost a bunch of good pictures..

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:24:17 GMT

Here is a few more photos.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:19:59 GMT

sltloser (10/30/2009)

wow things are going great!! i can't believe all the spawning you get. How are the polyps on the substrate doing, have they grown much?

The polyps in the sand are about gone, and the Polyps on the squares are doing wonderful . I have found out the best Substrate for settlement is Ca reactor media.The Larvae really flock to it, and settle faster then the tile/plastic squares.It takes up to 10 days for Plastic/marble tile and 3 to 5 days for the Ca media. I'm going to have sooo many larvae this time, Eric if you want some of these shoot me a PM.
The colony's are still going strong today lots more eggs, and this time i have a slick ontop of the water...

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

sltloser — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:23:40 GMT

wow things are going great!! i can't believe all the spawning you get. How are the polyps on the substrate doing, have they grown much?

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:43:25 GMT

More eggs today!! This is sick, 3 Colonys loaded with eggs.This one about brought tears to my eyes.I will get more photos, My batteries are dead..Wow this is like the super spawns of all spawns...

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:56:47 GMT

I came home to larvae today!! the rest of the colony should show larvae over the next few days..thats a bummer im going to loose alot of larvae due to work.. Here is some photos from today..

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:29:01 GMT

Here is some photos from today, the sun on the tank was very bright, lighting up the eggs inside the coral..and another weird polyp..

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:13:19 GMT

Here is the recruitment at 21 days, some of the chips are filling out nicely.you can see they are getting some color to them also.

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:00:12 GMT

10-6-09 Cloves started to show eggs again!!! I only took a few photos. They let eggs out until the next morning,but others are still fat and full of eggs.

Eric do you think its wise to remove the rock to chisle the piece off ? or should i wait untill the larvae is settled ? i have tried a few thing from inside the tank without moving the colony, and no luck..

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:15:14 GMT

They sink, theres one spot in the tank, where the ones i lost land. I have small amounts of larvae today also=)..

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:39:19 GMT

Cory, do the individual balls sink or float?

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:42:51 GMT

Eric Borneman (9/30/2009)

Cory, a couple things on the Mithrax crab. First, I have seen vendors selling all sorts of green-ish crabs, perhaps even Mithrax sp., as the ones that eat bubble algae. Second, the desired emerald crab is not coral safe but seems to eat the bubble algae preferentially over most corals, but once gone, I too have watched them move straight to coral and just start eating. My puffer tank gets bubble algae in a few places from time to time, and I can't use the crab because the puffer would just have an appetizer, so I use fine-tip forceps to remove clumps and have a small brine shrimp net handy fro any the drift away.

I have your email and will respond in an hour or so as the subject might be related to the algae.

Thanks Eric, i do use pointed tweezers being very carefull not to pop them, normaly they detach with out any issues. Almost never clumped, just a single bubble(s) all over the tank. I need to do a search on the crab.The Emerald crab is a Mithrax crab or no ? i will do a search after this post.. That was a long hour=)

If anyone reads my post in the lighting section, Help picking between the two would be great ?

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:50:57 GMT

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:00:51 GMT

Thanks guys! There will be many more updates ahead, i hope. As for the larvae, i am going to be introducing a few types of substrate to see what works best. From this spawn it looks like my larvae likes the undersides and sides of the marble squares. Im guessing they must loose the toxic compounds they carried as larvae. If that's not it..Then I'm still confused at why the pick the undersides vs a nice sunny spot on the reef (while there's still room)=).

Eric, i was afraid you where going to say Mithrax crab..The last one i had was a terror, It had one of my riccordia in his massive claw, waving in the water.. Like it was in a parade..i think i will do it by hand a little while longer..but thanks anyway.

Oh yhea, my bulb decided to shift spectrums today, i hope its not the ballast. The tank is pinkish looking..Isnt there a way to check the ballest with a ohm meter or something like that ?

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:01:09 GMT

The grooves in the CSD's are derived from SECORE tiles. They are important and almost all settlement occurs in the grooves except in very dense settlement tanks or with gregarious species. As to whether they prefer undersides, that depends on the species.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:59:04 GMT

Cory, congratulations on a great settling effort! That is beautiful!

On the algae, use an emerald Mithrax crab. That should do it.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

jtremblay — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:56:21 GMT

In today's edition of "Ron's Journal Articles", there's a piece on reef restoration. In one Japanese project, the researchers are using "custom-made ceramic discs with grooves on the undersides that coral larvae can nestle in while avoiding algae that foul the disks' tops." It's fascinating to see your coral larvae settle out in the same way as the larvae in the ocean.

Keep up the good work!

Link to Ron's post: http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic102287-11-1.aspx

The article itself: http://forum.marinedepot.com/Attachment2980.aspx

Jason

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

REEFSTOCK — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:34:35 GMT

Woo hoo. This is what it is all about! Thank you so much for posting the progress!

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:04:02 GMT

Here is the photo of the algae, i work this stuff once a week, pointed twezzers and a syphon hose, i can't seem to keep up with it.

Here is some photos of the settled larvae.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 06:37:22 GMT

What kind of bubble algae? - show a photo, because that's something that can be dealt with.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:20:46 GMT

sltloser (9/25/2009)

Wow the tank is looking awsome. I'm amazed at how your corals have been spawning so much! do you feed them at all? If you do what do you use? thanks!

I dont add much to the tank at all, Iodine and a two part. Im not even sure what these corals feed on. I do baste the rocks and stir up detritus within the rocks every few days. and thats about it. Thanks for the comments, im amazed myself.

Eric, if i had not taken out those rocks a while back, i think they would be 100% covered, and i almost wish i did leave them, it would have helped keep this bubble algae under control.

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:30:48 GMT

Yes, this is unreal. That tank will be nothing but the blue soft coral, soon, and the reproductive output is like nothing I have ever seen in a tank....at least for desirable attractive things, not pests.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

sltloser — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:53:41 GMT

Wow the tank is looking awsome. I'm amazed at how your corals have been spawning so much! do you feed them at all? If you do what do you use? thanks!

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:05:16 GMT

Here are some photos where eggs are! Ill try to get macros before the eggs hatch.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:13:39 GMT

Eric, Eggs again!! Im almost sure its just a partial spawn, as others look fat with eggs.also there is still larvae in the tank coming from the main colony, i have seen them now since the latest spawn,17th and 18th,but not in huge numbers like the first few days. Is there anything known about this white band the coral gets before a spawn ? Thats how i know when the the polyps are going to spawn, But not sure if its a muturity thing or mabie this is the substance that hold the eggs at the base ? So much more to ask but, i need to get a photo of the larvae crawling on the eggs =)

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:29:51 GMT

That does sound like a bad day. Here are some photos, ill move some squares around to get better pics later.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:59:49 GMT

Hi Cory - good questions - going to take awhile to answer and would love to see photos. Thing is, I spend 16 hours typing yesterday, got four hours sleep, and woke up to thunderstorms. We had a rook leak, and a numbnut roofer had driven 3" nails into the side of our roof to tarp it, puncturing the plywood, which proceeded to allow a torrent of rain into the attic and then collapse the ceiling in a bathroom and hallway. So, I am going to take a pass on this until later or tomorrow morning when I can answer and discuss fully. Not been a good day! I'll be back on this one.

PS - Carl, if you are reading this, I would like to talk to you.

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

biksky — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:37:49 GMT

can' see the picture:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:07:47 GMT

Today, i came home to A1 at the bottom of the tank,when i pulled it out i figured i might as well pulled the squares out,most larva is on the sides and bottom. Why are the going to the under sides ? does the larva do this with your pocillopra ? Im thinking of putting a small layer of sand/reactor media on the bottom then the squares, for the next spawn.

In A3, i found most larva on the Calcium reactor media, some chips have 25 or more that have settled! Mabie this is also a option, then glue to bigger squares for grow out..idk..Any thoughts on this ?

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:48:49 GMT

I just want to share a few things i see in the settlement containers, lets call em A1 A2 A3.

A1, The smallest container,9 chips.The larva is still larva, some have settled but not many, the larva is starting to disapear from the sides of plastic.No longer moving to the light.

A2-This container has 15 chips in it, and recived just as much larva as A1, But where are they ? this container had me wondering what's going on, there is about 25 larve on the tops of the chips..I pulled two chips up and wow! inbetween each chip there is a bead of settled larva, on two sides and some on the undersides!

A3, large container, 22 chips, ca reactor media, 2 small fiji branch rubble. i almost cant see larva anymore,larva has settled on the undersides of rubble, and all over the branch rubble, The settled larva is very hard to see on the chips,this one on a guess, got about half the larva then the the other two.

There is no larva on the outside of containers, and the main colony is still releasing larva!!i stoped collecting it,yesterday also.Lack of equipment, and im tired of doing water changes 5 times a day to each container..im going shopping in a few days.

i now have another colony that is going to spawn,you can see the eggs in a few polyps, and its to large to fit in the collector. I do have another small colony im going to move, its about 3x3 inches, its kinda shaded, if i move it to the brighter light i bet it will spawn shortly,the poyps are several months old.And im not sure if i have ever shared a pic of this.

My candycane coral is done for,every square inch is covered in recruitment from the last spawn, ill get pics up later

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:11:31 GMT

Eric Borneman (9/20/2009)

Did you get the second video I sent by email? That is the sort of crawling behavior you will see - but remember it is time lapse so it appears faster than it is. There are, however, crawling larvae in some species. The preference for plastic is something I found last year experimentally but had noticed anecdotally for years. I'm not sure what to tell you on that but to minimize the available plastic area. Or, you rear them to a decent size and remove them from the plastic and reattach them (a laobrious and not very productive way) or you use plastic as the settlement tiles (which is what I am moving towards).

That smell is pretty typical, and it very well may be that they are high in secondary metabolites. As a soft coral and surface brooder whose larvae are not eaten I suspect they are. We discussed some water quality solutions by email, and it is surprising just how many larvae come from a coral. We calculated how many 1 ml of eggs is and it is more than enough to supply the entire ornamental trade of any species if they had 100% survival - which they don't, but brooders have pretty high survival. So, as you can see, you have thousands and thousands of potential corals every time you see them brooding. In other words, your tank could theoreticallly supply the world demand for this coral. This, and the fact that you are recording the reproductive habits of this coral for the first time, and the fact that as you saw, the world's experts in soft corals are unsure what it is.

Yes i did get the video, Mabie it is a crawling behavior, that would explain the sticky larva ,no ? After the larva settles i will place the containers in the water, wait another week and pull the chips, then cut the container.

''your tank could theoreticallly supply the world demand for this coral'' That sounds great..i need a new job!

Cory:

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

Eric Borneman — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:27:41 GMT

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:49:02 GMT

Here is a few more pics..

RE: Another tank spawn !!!

corysreef — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:42:41 GMT

Hey one more thing, Im still not convinced the larva swim, after shutting down the water pumps none where swimming around, only crawling around the rocks, same for the containers.