Can Stray Polyp Heads Be Nurtured

[DaleInCincy]

Agu,

Loved the article. I have had a Frogspawn in my 75gal tank for awhile and I really love it. It has grown quite a lot and what started out as a small single head on a skeleton branches out into several heads.

My coral seems to have a perhaps natural propagation method of releasing these heads lose into the water flow from time to time. As of now I have found three of these heads and moved them into a protected hangover style netted refuge basket. This allows for them to stay put which is what I most struggled with in leaving them lying among rubble or the sand bed. In the present position the polyps are extending and the animal is surviving. Now I wonder if it will grow a skeleton eventually or if I need to do something else to encourage it to attach to something. Presently these coral polyp heads are sitting in opened clam shells with some same inside .

Have you any experience with this? Do you have any best guesses or hunches you would like to pass along?

TIA - Dale

[Agu]

It's suspected that polyp bailout by euphyllia is in response to stress, not actual reproduction.

I've had the same polyp bailout but have had no success keeping them alive long term. The biggest problem was keeping them from floating around the tank until they ended up face down in an inaccessible spot in the tank. Sounds like you've found a solution to that problem so all I can say is good luck.

[DaleInCincy]

Well it isn't exactly an ideal solution as the basket is now an algae magnet and the netting isn't holding up too well to the grazing habits of my Foxface.

I'm not so sure stress was completely at work or perhaps unless you were talking about a localized momentary stress event. The remaining central Frogspawn colony is doing very well post bailout. It does not seem to be weak or stressed. It is located in a place that tends to become the center ring of my Foxface vs. Sailfin Tang battle royale territory squabbles. All the quick motions and whipping actions have found there way towards anything nearby including the Frogspawn. This is when I've observed the heads detaching.