Asexual Elegance Reproduction

[RPBel]

Well, I have found the article on this site after the same occurance happened in my tank. I am wondering how long the cuttings took to build a new skeleton when the old one tore away.

I had a damsel push my elegance (which I have had for 6 years) into high current and some flesh tore away at each end. One end had a daughter colony developing for about 6 months. The skeleton had ripped away from that. So out of worry for the main section of the coral itself I cut of each end making sure there were two mouths at least on each. Now only one end had a skeleton originaly.

It is one month since I made the cut. After one week they had no signs of the cut. Fully healed. Each day they seem to be getting heavier and larger.

The big breakthough in this that I see is the fact that they look identical even though only one had developed as a daughter colony. If they both make it and develope skeletons, we may have a way to propigate the healthy older elegances that have a higher survival rate. Lowering the need for harvesting in the wild. It would be a great thing as a hobbyist to be able to do. So many horror stories of the current collections that I would love to be able to share the older ones that have come from shallower depths and can handle a captive reef life.

I think the key is having a well established large elegance. This will more likely have mouths away from the skeleton that can be cut. Place them in low current or build them some sort of protection. I took broken pieces of dead plating coral and sectioned off along the glass like a fence. Holding the two cuttings in their own space in the front corner of the tank. It has been an exciting experiment.

Just my two cents.

Ryan

[original-reefland]

Originally posted by RPBel
Well, I have found the article on this site after the same occurance happened in my tank. I am wondering how long the cuttings took to build a new skeleton when the old one tore away.

Sadly, I've since lost my 8 year old elegance as a result of a tank move so they never had a chnace to develop a new skeleon. The parent colony released from its skeleton over 2 months in several large sections. I tried to save portions of it in low flow area but any efforts failed, they eventually got blown away and I was unable to find them.

I tried using crazy glue to attach them from the bottom but they released in a few days. I tried using fishing fine to attach but the skin would spit long before any skeletal mass developed and it would get blown away. I tried keeping them in a specimen container with holes drilled to allow for water exchange but they simply rotted away within 2 weeks.

I've had portions lift off before, but nothing like this. Fully expanded healthy looking flesh seperated.

It is one month since I made the cut. After one week they had no signs of the cut. Fully healed. Each day they seem to be getting heavier and larger.

I noticed the same thing before I had to move the coral to the new tank. Rapid healing within days. And this wasn't the corals first move. It has survived three moves during the previous eight years.

I think the key is having a well established large elegance. This will more likely have mouths away from the skeleton that can be cut. Place them in low current or build them some sort of protection. I took broken pieces of dead plating coral and sectioned off along the glass like a fence. Holding the two cuttings in their own space in the front corner of the tank. It has been an exciting experiment.

Excellent, do you have any pictures? When my parent colony started to have problems I moved the daughter colonies out to other tanks with other reefers and all but one of them have since died off as well. Only a single remaining daughter colony is left of a 8 year old elegance and nearly a dozen daughters.

[RPBel]

Yeah the main colony had so much excess flesh hanging out over the skeleton that it caught current and tore away. Therefor I made my cuts as close to the main colonies skeleton as possible. I am not going to attempt to tie down or glue the daughter colonies. The live rock "fence" I have made around them has proven to work well. It allows alot of slow current to go past the coral cuttings but not so much that they float away. That was a balance that took days to find.

As far as the pictures go... my camera went on the fritz shortly before all of this came about. I have yet to go get a new one. As soon as I do, I will take some pictures for you.

Ryan