Dendrophyllia Spawning

[RadReef]

So this morning when I finally got out of bed, around noon, I came to my tank first like I normally do and peeked in. I noticed right away that my dendro looked abnormally huge. It wasn't 30 seconds later it contracted it's tissue and shot a stream of what I would guess to be around 100 white balls. Afterwards, my fish just went nuts swimming to catch all of the "food" and did a pretty good job of it. I did notice some of it went into my live rock. I wish I would have videotaped it but I didn't expect to see something like that happen. Here are some pics though. The first is a few minutes after contraction and in the second shot you can make out some of the white balls in the water.

 

[RadReef]

 

[RadReef]

Over the last three days I have changed the tank for the dendro quite a bit. I moved him into his present location, added a ton of broadcast food (dry coral food, phyto, oyster eggs, and herbivore diet), and added a eco-mod to my maxi-jet pump which really increased the flow. I don't know if it was a combination of these elements or a single one, my guess it was the flow and food.

 

[gilmour01]

i've notice that things tend to spawn when there is an increase of flow. that said, i've never seen my dendros spawn before.

 

[RadReef]

i've notice that things tend to spawn when there is an increase of flow. that said, i've never seen my dendros spawn before.

Maybe they did and you weren't home or didn't see it occur. Unfortunately, my fish just decimated the gametes numbers in under a minute. I'm hoping though that some might crop up from my live rock, that would be sweet!

 

[dtpollard]

I have found several babies growing in my tank well away from the parents. Sometimes upside down on the bottom of overhangs. :) I have never seen any spawning though. :(

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Awesome, congrats!

If you witness this again, you can collect the eggs and let them settle onto frag disks in a low flow area of your sump or a "breeder net" type set-up.