coral sex?

[Cheeser]

ok so i was watching that documentary on animal planet called "the great barrier reef" ...
at one point on the show they show some acros i think... and theyre like, releasing spores...or "sperm" or something that gets carried away and will become a new acro colony wherever it ends up.
they were saying that the corals use the lunar cycle to know when to release this stuff.
is this possible in an aquarium? like instead of the coral just growing or spreading they can release spores thatll settle somewhere else in the tank?
also i always wondered how some retailers sell aquacultured "designer" zoas and stuff. and i was wondering if they use this process to like "mate" two types of coral...
if not then how can i go about making my own "strain" of zoas or whatever else...?
i was thinking about maybe if i upgrade to ai sols, which can b programmed to follow the lunar cycle so my corals can have that sense of the moon?
any advice?

 

[Mattyice008]

I asked something like this to the guy at my LFS. He says that he's done it before, like there's a specific time when all the corals and shit in his tank just release tons of it, and there's white shit everywhere

 

[Bifferwine]

I've heard of it happening in home aquariums (if the tanks have the proper lunar lights), but I've never witnessed it myself. It is not unusual for an individual coral to let out a poof of sperm now and then. But mass spawning isn't nearly as common.

 

[Cheeser]

do u think if i set up a frag tank with only acros, or only zoas that they could cross breed?

 

[bjohanson1234]

if they are under the same species, or closely related, it might be possible. Like a donkey and a horse will produce a mule. However, it might be difficult to get all of them to spawn at the same time. Each type might have different triggers for reproduction and to get them all to release at the same time would be a challenge.

Then you have to figure out how to prevent the gametes from getting eaten by the filter feeders, sucked into your filter media and sump where they will have no opportunity to grow.

But if you do figure it out, let us know. It would be interesting to read about.

 

[RockStacker]

I have had a toadstool leather attempt to spawn in my tank before.
At first I thought I just had sand blowing all over the place but realized that they were tiny spheres and saw the toadstool chuck hundreds of them in a span of two hours.
They were popping out of the leather's skin through it's pores.

It was the only toadstool leather in the tank at the time so no eggs were fertilized.
I do not know what triggered the spawning, but it was very cool to watch.

 

[cvcdrk]

It would be awesome if there were practical ways to cross-breed zoas. There's so many cool ones!

 

[Bifferwine]

It would be awesome if there were practical ways to cross-breed zoas. There's so many cool ones!

If only I was a genetic engineer with a free lab and too much time on my hands...

 

[cvcdrk]

If only I was a genetic engineer with a free lab and too much time on my hands...

Agreed! I would have a whole lot of fun playing with various color combinations and effects. :D

 

[bjohanson1234]

I would sooooo splice in the jelly fish gene like they did with run of the mill Dinos and turn them into Glo-frags :mrgreen: