Scoly reproduction

stewart1019

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So scolys have always been my favorite type of coral, and I've had a few in the past years. Mine were always healthy and big, but I've always wondered, how do they reproduce? Has anyone ever had a scoly that did reproduce?
 

Alpha Aquaculture

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I haven't heard of them giving off babies like acans. I don't think anyone has gotten them to sexually reproduce. Probably sexual reproduction will happen in captive reefs sometime far in the future. I think sexual reproduction depends on the size of the coral. So people will have to get them real big and happy to get them to release gametes. The most realistic current way of reproducing scoly's is asexual fragmentation. People have cut them up into quarters and them let them heal into whole scoly's again. Apparently it takes a long time and they do not regain their perfect shape after the cut. You should try it and post progression pics for all to see.

hth :)
 
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stewart1019

stewart1019

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Interesting. Unfortunately I no longer have mine. I had to take a break from the hobby and am just getting back into it. But I may have to try it sometime in the future.
 

kthehun89

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I have done some research. Unfortunately, the news is not good. Scoly's rarely reproduce in captivity. I have located several "double scolies", which are scolies with 2 mouths, so logic would reason that they reproduce by budding. ALL of the doubles are imported, aka not a result of captive care. According to Will @ AquaSD, scolies reproduce like this in aquariums rarely, maybe once in several years of care. I'm happy with my 2 as is =)
 
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stewart1019

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Guess that's why they're sooo expensive. But you gotta love em, definitely my favorite type of coral
 

Bio-nut

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I am not 100% sure ut I would think that they reproduce like clams and many sps. They produce gamites and spem. usually this happens in massive events. Cross germantaion between two different color specimen could be an explaination for the color variation that we are getting in the imports.
 

condor

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id have to say that they reproduce both ways. i have a 1/4 scoly growing in the midst of some zoas
 

ree F elipe

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i´ve had the same doubt, could be a dream the result of a sexual reproduction in the tanks where there are many super beatifulls scolys.

the bad point always will be the slow growth!!

other doubt i´ve had is if i cut two diferents Scolys of similar size but diferente color by half and paste one half whit one half of the other scoly, it might be?

we can buy a comun and "cheap" scoly and after a (injerto?) we have a very special scoly, faster and cheap!!!

regards!
 

nano reef

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I haven't heard of them giving off babies like acans. I don't think anyone has gotten them to sexually reproduce. Probably sexual reproduction will happen in captive reefs sometime far in the future. I think sexual reproduction depends on the size of the coral. So people will have to get them real big and happy to get them to release gametes. The most realistic current way of reproducing scoly's is asexual fragmentation. People have cut them up into quarters and them let them heal into whole scoly's again. Apparently it takes a long time and they do not regain their perfect shape after the cut. You should try it and post progression pics for all to see.

hth :)
I was wondering the same so I googled it and took me to this. someone is offering a huge bleeding heart for 250.00 and since they grow big and round I wondering how that happened. Do they move around the tank like mushrooms, leaving footprints of them selves?
 

xinyan

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they do not. there is an article out there somewhere of a guy who raised scoly corals from larva. they mainly reproduce sexually. the big downside is it took many many years of growth to get to a dime size. meaning any large scoly you find should be decades old and definitely isn't sustainable in the long term to collect them. prices will all ways stay high due to limited amounts of coral as well as the extremely slow reproduction of wild or captive scolys
 

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There have been post in the past on R2R ,, people have cut them in half's and quarters to see if they would regain their round shapes ,, the post's went away over time ,, I have never seen anyone come back with one of these scoly's to show the end result ,, I am guessing it didn't work out so good,,
 

sawdonkey

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I have a buddy that fragged one up into a bunch of pieces. He gave me a piece about three months ago. It’s looked good for quite a while and I even saw feeder tentacles on it a few times. I moved it from my grow out area to my display and it’s shriveled a bit, but seems to be doing ok.

35E1376D-CB2D-4521-8D90-1A7A73536F33.jpeg
 

Smarkow

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I have a buddy that fragged one up into a bunch of pieces. He gave me a piece about three months ago. It’s looked good for quite a while and I even saw feeder tentacles on it a few times. I moved it from my grow out area to my display and it’s shriveled a bit, but seems to be doing ok.

35E1376D-CB2D-4521-8D90-1A7A73536F33.jpeg
Any updates? Thanks for sharing
 

AcroNem

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Homophyllia australis (Formerly in the Genus Scolymia) can reproduce by splitting, and rarely if ever forms new polyps at the base of mature polyps. Their main method of reproduction is sexual, spawning into the water column. I had some success cutting a few years back, and a few other keepers have documented as well but it's very risky and rare to have them regrow fully or be round again. They theoretically can live a very long time so your best bet is to care for ones you have for the next hundred years, collect many of them and potentially spawn one day :)
 

Smarkow

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Homophyllia australis (Formerly in the Genus Scolymia) can reproduce by splitting, and rarely if ever forms new polyps at the base of mature polyps. Their main method of reproduction is sexual, spawning into the water column. I had some success cutting a few years back, and a few other keepers have documented as well but it's very risky and rare to have them regrow fully or be round again. They theoretically can live a very long time so your best bet is to care for ones you have for the next hundred years, collect many of them and potentially spawn one day :)
Did some reading in the interim related to scoly reproduction and found this in the peer review lit (although old):
Reading this leads me to believe it could he possible to induce spawning in these corals in captivity in the same manner as Craggs, et al, did:
And of course:

Something to add to my coral dreams
 

AcroNem

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Did some reading in the interim related to scoly reproduction and found this in the peer review lit (although old):
Reading this leads me to believe it could he possible to induce spawning in these corals in captivity in the same manner as Craggs, et al, did:
And of course:

Something to add to my coral dreams


It would be possible, there are many institutions working with captive coral spawning. The issue is just getting enough of them and properly inducing it. The other challenges likely come with settlement and raising offspring after, same with other captive coral spawning projects
 

Smarkow

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Looking for a paper which describes the size at which a scoly would reach sexual maturity... found one stating the average adult size in wild is 10cm (4”) but nothing specific to reproductive size...
 
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