spawning branching hammer coral

G.T. Rags · 09/13/2011, 01:42 PM

wassup everyone, been in the hobby for about 4 years now and I'm still a young padawan...

i was wondering if you guys could help me out here, it appears my branching hammer is, well, branching out again...

i've never seen this happen, and was wondering if any of you actually have pictures of something like this going on....

right now the coral had two heads, and it looks like it's going to have 4 by the time its done.... it's been going on for about 4-5 days now, and i'm also curious as to how long this process is going to take as well.

any pictures posted would be awesome, or even if you could point me in the direction of a past thread in which something like this has happened. i used the search feature but turned up several different things but didn't quite get a def answer

wood0691 · 09/13/2011, 02:16 PM

not sure if this will help, but this is my frogspawn that started with 2 heads 4 years ago and has 9 heads now. the pic maybe to far away from it for you to get a good look. i have lost 3 heads on the back side due to power outage and my neglect of the tank, but they just split and sepperate. the candy cain does basically the same thing as you can see it at the top, it started with 2 heads also and now there is ALOT of them, so many i had to brake them in half

lordofthereef · 09/13/2011, 02:21 PM

Some split faster than others. One of my frogspawns went from 5 to 12 heads in just over a year. It was growing faster under PCs than it was under halides in the tank I got it from. That said, my alk, cal, mag levels were always spot on. Not sure if that's the case for the tank it had been in.

Sugar Magnolia · 09/13/2011, 02:21 PM

It usually takes a few days for the spilt to occur. The first thing that happenes, is the coral develops a second mouth, then it begins to spilt into two separate heads. I've got a caulestrea that was three heasd when I got it a few years ago, now there's more than thirty.

lordofthereef · 09/13/2011, 02:31 PM

Just thought I would add a bit here. Not to nitpick, but I always like to be gently corrected if I am using improper terminology.

Spawning implies sexual reproduction, when a male's and female's gametes meet. What we are discussing here, splitting, is a form of asexual reproduction, which shouldn't be confused with spawning.

Sugar Magnolia · 09/13/2011, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordofthereef

Just thought I would add a bit here. Not to nitpick, but I always like to be gently corrected if I am using improper terminology.

Spawning implies sexual reproduction, when a male's and female's gametes meet. What we are discussing here, splitting, is a form of asexual reproduction, which shouldn't be confused with spawning.

Correct. My clove polyps spawn, way to often for my liking, and my caulestreas and frogspawn split.

G.T. Rags · 09/13/2011, 09:48 PM

09/13/2011, 01:42 PM	#1
G.T. Rags Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 2	spawning branching hammer coral wassup everyone, been in the hobby for about 4 years now and I'm still a young padawan... i was wondering if you guys could help me out here, it appears my branching hammer is, well, branching out again... i've never seen this happen, and was wondering if any of you actually have pictures of something like this going on.... right now the coral had two heads, and it looks like it's going to have 4 by the time its done.... it's been going on for about 4-5 days now, and i'm also curious as to how long this process is going to take as well. any pictures posted would be awesome, or even if you could point me in the direction of a past thread in which something like this has happened. i used the search feature but turned up several different things but didn't quite get a def answer

09/13/2011, 02:16 PM	#2
wood0691 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Birmingham Alabama Posts: 329	not sure if this will help, but this is my frogspawn that started with 2 heads 4 years ago and has 9 heads now. the pic maybe to far away from it for you to get a good look. i have lost 3 heads on the back side due to power outage and my neglect of the tank, but they just split and sepperate. the candy cain does basically the same thing as you can see it at the top, it started with 2 heads also and now there is ALOT of them, so many i had to brake them in half Last edited by wood0691; 09/13/2011 at 02:19 PM. Reason: left out info

09/13/2011, 02:21 PM	#4
Sugar Magnolia Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Northern VA Posts: 17,691	It usually takes a few days for the spilt to occur. The first thing that happenes, is the coral develops a second mouth, then it begins to spilt into two separate heads. I've got a caulestrea that was three heasd when I got it a few years ago, now there's more than thirty. __________________ Adrienne The only thing to fear is fear itself....and spiders.

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09/13/2011, 02:21 PM	#3
lordofthereef One reef to rule them all Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Leominster, MA Posts: 5,299	Some split faster than others. One of my frogspawns went from 5 to 12 heads in just over a year. It was growing faster under PCs than it was under halides in the tank I got it from. That said, my alk, cal, mag levels were always spot on. Not sure if that's the case for the tank it had been in.

09/13/2011, 02:31 PM	#5
lordofthereef One reef to rule them all Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Leominster, MA Posts: 5,299	Just thought I would add a bit here. Not to nitpick, but I always like to be gently corrected if I am using improper terminology. Spawning implies sexual reproduction, when a male's and female's gametes meet. What we are discussing here, splitting, is a form of asexual reproduction, which shouldn't be confused with spawning.

09/13/2011, 09:48 PM	#7
G.T. Rags Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 2