Cynarina lacrymalis spawning project & setup.

[afrokobe]

Love that red and yellow one.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Here they are after an hour or so settling in. They are so much bigger than they were at the show! For reference, this dark red one is about 5" right now. Insane!


@afrokobe That's a contender for my favorite too. What's neat is that the skin seems to be red, but the insides are green and yellow which gives it this super neat orangey-gold effect!


And here are the others:

 

[afrokobe]

Here they are after an hour or so settling in. They are so much bigger than they were at the show! For reference, this dark red one is about 5" right now. Insane!


@afrokobe That's a contender for my favorite too. What's neat is that the skin seems to be red, but the insides are green and yellow which gives it this super neat orangey-gold effect!


And here are the others:

absolutely gorgeous. Cant wait to see if we get some hybridization when the babies come! Love that nuclear green too

 

[DeniseAndy]

Those are amazing pieces. I laughed at easy on the wallet part though. Never heard that said about cynaria corals.

I cannot wait to see how your project goes. I love those corals.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Those are amazing pieces. I laughed at easy on the wallet part though. Never heard that said about cynaria corals.

I cannot wait to see how your project goes. I love those corals.

I meant easy on the wallet for what they were lol Typically big reds and oranges like that are in the $400-$600 range, and none of these were over $350. Still a lot, but I'm glad I was able to get such great corals at that price!

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Finally getting some diatom growth in the tank, it's a good sign. Next time I'm at the LFS I'll get the first fish.

Here's a photo dump.

On a side note. I'm starting to see some differences in feeding habits & morphology between the polyps, besides simple shape. It's been normally thought that Indophyllia (Cynarina macassarensis) is only really distinguished by the iconic orange/red on blue/green color scheme, like this one from CherryCorals:

And this one from Reef Raft:

Very pronounced, but sparce, warm-colored vesicles with cool-colored concentric wrinkles, which seems to hold firm among all of the indos I've seen. However, compare these to the first C. 'lacrymalis' I shared in this post:


Visible, though not as strong, sparce vesicles with very pronounced concentric wrinkles. This one, and my other red one, both show these traits in addition to having the typical swirling patterns you find with indos.
All of this to say that I think these two, and maybe even the green one, might be Indos as opposed to true C. lacrymalis. All descriptions of C. lacrymalis that I've found talk about very large, always clear vesicles through which the very thick septo-costae can be seen. Meanwhile, C. macassarensis has very numerous, small septo-costae that curve inwards, making the skeleton a bit muffin shaped. So, I'll be doing some close observation when the corals shut in for the night.
A lot of this information comes from this article by Julian Sprung, 2003:

Aquarium Invertebrates: Doughnut, Cat’s Eye, Knob, Beaker, Flat Brain, Or Modern Meat? A Review Of What Are Scolymia And Cynarina, With Comments On Their Relatives And Taxonomical Status

Julian takes an in-depth look at Scolymia and Cynarina corals.

reefs.com

Other observations come from my own conversations with fellow reefers.
So yeah, that's a lot to think about! If it turns out to be true, that I have indos mixed in with my lacrymalis, I may have to relocate them to prevent hybrid spawn.

 

[CryptoNautical]

Holy cow those are some amazing animals you have there. Super stoked to see how it goes!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Hello there! I' preparing this thread for a project I plan to start this spring, which will be a spawning attempt for the coral Cynarina* lacrymalis.
C. lacrymalis is a broadcast spawning species that begins oogenesis & spermatogenesis in August-September, after which they release eggs & sperm in April-May. They release upwards of 2000-3000 ~0.2mm eggs at once. and that is where my data ceases.
This aquarium is planned to be a Red Sea biotope tank, as that is where my spawning data comes from.

https://www.tau.ac.il/lifesci/departments/zoology/members/loya/documents/118.pdf

Due to the very little data on the species' spawning, this project will be mostly experimental for the first few months to the first year, to try and figure out rates of spawning and determine the sexes of my broodstock. After which, I will set up more egg collectors and follow a similar system setup, though far smaller, that CoralSpawningLab.org provides to biological institutes. The initial broodstock tank will be a 40g long tank that I will run at 74f during most of the year, spiking to 76-77 in the spring, and dropped back down to 74 in late august at the beginning of oogenesis. These corals are found at least 15 meters below the water's surface, so not only are temps much cooler but I hypothesize that moonlight may not reach consistently enough at that depth for the corals to base their spawning schedule off of it. I will of course still run moonlights at some point, but I wonder if they will be effective.
This project is 100% self-funded and not associated with any organizations, vendors or outside entities. This is a pure passion project and something that I am willing to put my own time & money into. If any vendors or organizations would be willing to partner to provide broodstock, I would be eternally grateful, as on my budget I've got to stick with low-end brown and green Cynarina, which would most likely produce the same color offspring.
If I find success with this project, I will soon after tackle either Cynarina (=Indophyllia) maccassarensis or Acanthophyllia deshayesiana, whichever proves to be more accessible. I run on limited space so I will only be able to tackle one at a time.
Again, this is a passion project of mine as is not associated with any outside entities. As of now, I have the 40g tank, rock, general equipment (lights, heaters, pumps, etc.). I need to make a stand for the aquarium & get a sump (or make one more likely) that can house a kriesel for eggs later on. I plan to get most of my broodstock from local fish stores and the upcoming MACNA Aquatic Expo in Atlanta, about 1 1/2 hours south of my home.

Thank you everyone for tuning in! This thread may run stagnant from time to time, but rest assured that something will always be in the works behind-the-scenes. Thanks again for following along and God bless!

*Pronounced Kin-uh-ree-na, after the Latin Kinara (artichoke) and ina (like).

Oh this is cool! Following along!

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I can't wait to see this happen!

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Babies Babies babies

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Babies Babies babies

That's what my family has been saying xD My family has a long track record of breeding animals, my parents breed dogs for a living and my grandfather started out selling rabbits as a teen in California. I guess it runs in the blood!

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Wow. Diatoms appeared this morning, and now there's snot all over the tank! Super crazy how fast this stuff grows. Hoping it'll die off soon and be replaced by more normal algae.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I actually recently bought one of these as well. Wish me luck. Lol
-d

 

[Kerbash]

my cynarinas literally just spawned ~ 3 minutes ago! The tank they are in is next to the window and like ~10 minutes after sunset the tank was super cloudy, I though a nem died but when i looked closer, there were white clouds coming out of all 3 of my cynarinas!

Pretty sure Im not gonna get any babies though .

 

[TheOldSalt]

Acro-Pora all the way. From what I've come to understand, the pora in Acropora is meant to be pronounced like pore, because that's what it is describing, the pores in the skeleton. It's funny when I hear people say it the other way lol I see how it could be mis-interpreted though.

Nope!
It does not refer to the pores.
It refers to crops.
More specifically, it refers to the lack of one.
The name means "lacking a crop," in reference to the body shape of the polyps.
The "A" means "without."
Acrop = without crop.

Next, when pronounced, Latin names get the emphasis on the second syllable from the end. This can be a hard thing to get used to, because to an American it just sounds wrong.
I learned this lesson the hard way at a MACNA when I humiliated myself when trying to "correct" some guru types who kept "mispronouncing" Am-pfi-PRY-on as amp-FiP-ree-on.
I was the wrong one. Whoops.
Go ahead and try it. Look at the names of several dozen various species, and apply the rule. You might be surprised by how much different they sound from how you previously thought they did, and you might figure out their meaning, too.
NOTE:
Sometimes there are exceptions to the rule, and sometimes the rules change in certain situations. It's a real headache.
For example, Lepidoptera means "scale wing." We don't pronounce it lepido-TEERA, though, which would make more sense. No, it's lep-i-DOP-ter-a, which follows the rule but makes less sense. Names named for people and places are also common rule breakers, and the the names of plants can get really screwy.


It's not a-cro-PORA-a.
It's a-CROP-or-a.
Sorry to be so pedantic.

Anyway, yeah; don't put the emPHASis on the wrong sylLABble, and you'll be sounding like a professional in no time.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Nope!
It does not refer to the pores.
It refers to crops.
More specifically, it refers to the lack of one.
The name means "lacking a crop," in reference to the body shape of the polyps.
The "A" means "without."
Acrop = without crop.

Next, when pronounced, Latin names get the emphasis on the second syllable from the end. This can be a hard thing to get used to, because to an American it just sounds wrong.
I learned this lesson the hard way at a MACNA when I humiliated myself when trying to "correct" some guru types who kept "mispronouncing" Am-pfi-PRY-on as amp-FiP-ree-on.
I was the wrong one. Whoops.
Go ahead and try it. Look at the names of several dozen various species, and apply the rule. You might be surprised by how much different they sound from how you previously thought they did, and you might figure out their meaning, too.
NOTE:
Sometimes there are exceptions to the rule, and sometimes the rules change in certain situations. It's a real headache.
For example, Lepidoptera means "scale wing." We don't pronounce it lepido-TEERA, though, which would make more sense. No, it's lep-i-DOP-ter-a, which follows the rule but makes less sense. Names named for people and places are also common rule breakers, and the the names of plants can get really screwy.


It's not a-cro-PORA-a.
It's a-CROP-or-a.
Sorry to be so pedantic.

Anyway, yeah; don't put the emPHASis on the wrong sylLABble, and you'll be sounding like a professional in no time.

wow, that's very good to know! Thanks for the correction, I always appreciate more knowledge. I'll start putting this to use right away, it seems like a fun exercise!

 

[Mr_Knightley]

my cynarinas literally just spawned ~ 3 minutes ago! The tank they are in is next to the window and like ~10 minutes after sunset the tank was super cloudy, I though a nem died but when i looked closer, there were white clouds coming out of all 3 of my cynarinas!

Pretty sure Im not gonna get any babies though .

IS THE WATER STILL COUDY????!!!?!!?!
IF IT IS, COLLECT A SMALL SAMPLE AND WATCH IT CLOSELY! IF YOU HAVE A MICROSCOPE THEN PLEASE PUT THE SAMPLE UNDERNEATH AND TRY TO GET A SHOT! THIS IS REALLY COOL!
What's amazing is that your corals spawning lines up *perfectly* with the data I had collected! As the temps rise in late spring, they release gametes. When the temps *drop* in early autumn, that signals them to begin generating gametes. So cool to see that at least one part of that is right! I wonder if my polyps will release soon too??

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

IS THE WATER STILL COUDY????!!!?!!?!
IF IT IS, COLLECT A SMALL SAMPLE AND WATCH IT CLOSELY! IF YOU HAVE A MICROSCOPE THEN PLEASE PUT THE SAMPLE UNDERNEATH AND TRY TO GET A SHOT! THIS IS REALLY COOL!
What's amazing is that your corals spawning lines up *perfectly* with the data I had collected! As the temps rise in late spring, they release gametes. When the temps *drop* in early autumn, that signals them to begin generating gametes. So cool to see that at least one part of that is right! I wonder if my polyps will release soon too??

I'm curious how this works in our aquariums.

In theory, our heat cycles are run on controllers So unless we change the temperatures over those time frames, they stay the same.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I'm curious how this works in our aquariums.

In theory, our heat cycles are run on controllers So unless we change the temperatures over those time frames, they stay the same.

That is true. though he also had his tank directly next to a window, so it's possible that the temps outside the window influenced the changes. It is also very possible that moonlight phases and photoperiod changes had an effect!

 

[Chrisv.]

Nope!
It does not refer to the pores.
It refers to crops.
More specifically, it refers to the lack of one.
The name means "lacking a crop," in reference to the body shape of the polyps.
The "A" means "without."
Acrop = without crop.

Next, when pronounced, Latin names get the emphasis on the second syllable from the end. This can be a hard thing to get used to, because to an American it just sounds wrong.
I learned this lesson the hard way at a MACNA when I humiliated myself when trying to "correct" some guru types who kept "mispronouncing" Am-pfi-PRY-on as amp-FiP-ree-on.
I was the wrong one. Whoops.
Go ahead and try it. Look at the names of several dozen various species, and apply the rule. You might be surprised by how much different they sound from how you previously thought they did, and you might figure out their meaning, too.
NOTE:
Sometimes there are exceptions to the rule, and sometimes the rules change in certain situations. It's a real headache.
For example, Lepidoptera means "scale wing." We don't pronounce it lepido-TEERA, though, which would make more sense. No, it's lep-i-DOP-ter-a, which follows the rule but makes less sense. Names named for people and places are also common rule breakers, and the the names of plants can get really screwy.


It's not a-cro-PORA-a.
It's a-CROP-or-a.
Sorry to be so pedantic.

Anyway, yeah; don't put the emPHASis on the wrong sylLABble, and you'll be sounding like a professional in no time.

I hate to be pedantic back, but I'm honestly curious if you can provide a reference for this etymology.

Acro-pora have tall pores as a distinguishing feature of the genus and Anacropora (Greek prefix an = without) lack the tall coralites that acropora have.

And what about all the other -pora species. The fact that -pora is shared suggests that it's the root word. It's not only the "-ora" as would be the case if the root were "crop."

I've spent some time looking for documentation that supports your claim and I just haven't found anything. Happy enough to be wrong, but not willing to concede on hearsay.