ID Please

[daaznmofo]

what are the polyps on the right side? babies?

 

[KathyC]

If they are growing off the side of a healthy live coral..then babies would make sense

 

[daaznmofo]

cool. others have mentioned that hammers grow by splitting. i wanted to make sure.

 

[MikeyZO]

I have a branching hammer, and thats what it looks like when mine starts to bud. Small heads like that form out of the skeletal stalk and start growing.

 

[daaznmofo]

i wonder how it's gonna grow out when that's the back side of it and rock behind it.

 

[KathyC]

I'd recently read about the same thing you ask ..just went & dug this out..
first I have to give credit to Wet Web Media for the info, and Bob Fenner in particular as he was the one answering the question..

My second question is about Euphyllia propagation. We
have two corals (E. paradivisa and E. glabrescens) in our 24g nano-cube that continuously form
buds around the base of the larger polyps. They eventually float away never to be seen again...
<?>
<<the coral forms these buds on healthy colonies and
if the large polyp head above it is damaged or chomped (often so in the wild), then there are ready and
waiting buds to grow if/when they are exposed to more light and water flow. But when the polyps above it are
large and healthy, the buds abate (wax and wane really) or get aborted>>
but I'm starting to feel guilty about letting all these polyps go to waste!
<I don't think these are Euphyllia polyps>
What would be the proper way to collect and mount these?
<<some aquarists carve them off with a paring knife
and let the tiny polyps settle in cups with tiles or reef plugs). If the polyp is large enough, you can also
handle it with tweezers and super glue it with a dab upon rock>>
There is no skeleton on any of them that I can tell,
so I'm not sure if they would glue down very well.
<<cup settlement for these>>
My other thought is some netting over a simple plug of
some sort. I consulted Anthony's book but wasn't able
to find any specific information on them.
<I will cc him here re>
The frogspawn alone puts out 6-8 polyps a week or so,
and I think these would be excellent candidated for
aquaculture if I can figure out a method to save and grow them.

Hopefully that gives you the info you want

 

[daaznmofo]

hmmm. i think fragging it would be a challenge.

 

[KathyC]

I tend to agree and was going to suggest you either only attempt it on one or two heads.

But..you possibly have another option
Can you tilt the coral slightly to the side so these little guys get more light and a better chance to develop further?

 

[daaznmofo]

i don't know if i can tilt the coral anymore. there is some light going between the main polyps and rock. so maybe it has a chance of growing. don't know how big though. i think there are maybe about 10+ baby polyps growing.