Plate Coral Babies Lots of them

kjord97

kjord97

Member
So, yesterday while i was performing about a 40 gal water change on the 125 gal reef I noticed something strange with my Plate Coral. Just so everyone knows, it is about 9 inches across and is a beautiful green with a purple mouth. It is a short tentacle plate neon green (Fungia sp.) and as some have personally seen it, they have said that it is the largest plate they have ever seen. I have had this plate coral since I started saltwater in a 20 gal 3 years ago. So on to the good part. When I was cleaning the tank I noticed something funny with the plate. I picked it up and turned it around. I was kind of disappointed to see that about 1/3 of the plate had disappeared and there was kind of a white skeleton. I was sad. But then after better examination of the plate, I counted 14 baby plate corals: shock: attached to the area where the plate had receded. So now i have lots of baby plates. I will be taking a picture tonight, I am also going to be sending the picture to Steven Pro and Anthony Calfo to see what they say about it. I know last year at MACNA Anthony said plates tend to create bulges and split, or you can take a saw and cut them like a pizza. I don’t know if anyone has seen babies growing on top of the area where the plate died.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Baby Plate corals often start to appear where a Plate coral has been damaged. The even better news is that if you keep feeding the Plate well it will produce babies pretty much forever.
Come Springtime I'd love to take a few off your hands
 
kjord97

kjord97

Member
Well right now they are all about the size of a pea. Some of them are smaller and 1 or 2 of them are a little bigger. None of them have formed any type of hard base yet. They just look like the parent, just no base. So when is it a good time to try and pluck off some of these guys.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
They'll jump off on their own when it's time. They'll grow faster if you individually feed each one.
BTW - I think that's really really cool and I'm quite envious.
 
kjord97

kjord97

Member
Yes I will be up for trade when the time comes. Some of my club members may come first, but it looks like i will have plenty. Also i like to make sure there new tank will be a great home. I do that with all of my corals that I frag. Our whole club is based on fragging. www SMMAS org is our club and i also belong to CMAS and WAMAS all clubs in our area. Maybe I will bring one or two of them with me to MACNA in pittsburgh this year. This will be my 3rd year in a row going to MACNA. ok well here are the pics
1 pic is of the 3 plates that I own, it was taken in NOV 2005
the other 3 pics are taken today. 1 st pic is them all open and the other 2 pics are of them eating some cyclopeeze that I used to syringe to spot feed them.



 
kjord97

kjord97

Member
Just wanted to bump this back up to the top so everyone gets a chance to see the pics.
Just some history on the tank. it is 125 gal reef. i have a small protein skimmer, and a 5 gal CPR hang on tank refugium. 2 SEIO 800gph powerheads, one on left side and one on right side, creates a nice swirl effect. coralife lighting fixtures 2 150watt 20k HQI's and 4 65 watt powercompacts ( 2 are 10k and 2 are actinic) I perform a 15-20 gal water change every week to 2 weeks. depends on what is going on. I add about 2 gals of fresh water daily. the water is well water and is not filtered. on a TDS meter it reads 120ppm and it is about 61F out of the ground. Tank has been up and running for 3 years, i still have my original corals, coral banded shrimp, cleaner shrimp and fish. Fish include a yellow tang, salifin tang, hippo tang, mated maroons, 3 strip damsel, purple faced goby, mandrain, and a blue damsel. I also have a bubbletip anenome that likes to split about every other week, but i give most of the bubbletips to my club members. I still have 11 bubbletips in 4 different tanks, but i am keeping all of them.
 
kjord97

kjord97

Member
Steven Pro just told that the babies are called anthocauli just in case anyone would like to know there names.
 
sharkbait9

sharkbait9

Active Member
when they are ready for trade let me know i have some baby bubble frags and other coral i'd trade when ready. give me an email @ rzuko94 at optonline.net
 
cowfishrule

cowfishrule

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
BTW - I think that's really really cool and I'm quite envious.
:scared:
i never thought i'd hear those words out of his mouth....
 
kjord97

kjord97

Member
Originally Posted by COWFISHRULE
:scared:
i never thought i'd hear those words out of his mouth....

Believe me I took a 2nd read of that line. I have been reading all his post for years, and I find that that comment was really cool. :joy:
 
ginarox

ginarox

Active Member
that is awesome, i didnt even realize that they did that,,,i just learned something new today, and i love it....thanks for sharing that ,,,that is the neatest thing i have seen in a long time, have a great day.
 
kjord97

kjord97

Member
Here is pic from another poster
He was showing me what his plate babies looked like as they were growing.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Very nice! Don't want to horn in on your thread here, but seems there are some of you who know plates pretty well, and I am wondering if anyone has seen one with 2 mouths? I thought mine was splitting, and that was how they reproduce :notsure: Anyone know if they reproduce both ways? Here's a pic of mine.
 
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