new hammer coral looks like its got eggs??!!

[errand]

My hammer coral has been going really well, I've had it only 2 weeks however; today when I came home from work it looked extremely odd - its mouth is closed and its tentacles are back and its mouth area and some tentacles look like they have hundreds of little pink eggs under the skin??! Is this a parasite? 

it literally was normal this morning, I didn't know coral had eggs - does anyone know what to do?? both branches  have the same look but this main branch has way more eggs in it.

[Ratvan]

I could be wrong here, but maybe it is spawning? Do you have any other Hammers?

I've read that it is fairly rare but will release the spores after lights are out, maybe try and film it 👍

I'd get ready for a water change as well, do you have a protein skimmer? It might be getting busy

[errand]

This is the only hammer I have, its the first one I got. Oh that would be awesome if it is spawning - I'll have to research that I didn't realise it happened in aquariums. I have a protein skimmer and i did a water change a couple days ago. Oh I hope I get baby hammers I love them so much - I will hang around tonight and watch it like a hawk. 

I have 2 clownfish they might probably eat the eggs 😞 i'll give them a feed. 

[Ratvan]

Have a look here, looks fairly similar to me

https://reefs.com/2014/06/05/hammer-corals-caught-accumulating-eggs-tentacles-preparation-spawning-event/

[errand]

That looks exactly like it except the eggs in mine are spreading out from the mouth up through some of the tentacle arms. Thankyou, i'm so glad it [likely] isn't some horrible parasite!!

[MainelyReefer]

Awesome, the article ratvan linked states they didn’t see theirs release.  I wonder if parameters have to be met in order to achieve release?  If it were my hammer I would put it in a tank with zero filtration(think reef bowl) so in the event it did release the eggs would be circulating rather than accumulating in filter media.  Perhaps they still need sperm for those eggs though and you would need to have more hammers?  And you would also have to initiate gamete release in those hammers.   Awesome find please update when the eggs are no longer visible!

[errand]

I turned out the lights for past while and peeped with a flashlight, its changed now, its got it's mouth open in a mound and the eggs seem to have moved toward the mouth.

If I see anything i'll take a video!

 

 

[Tamberav]

I had coral spawn before....my tank looked like it was snowing. Nothing grew from it though.

[errand]

This morning the hammer looks back to normal, all fully fat and fluffed out, I can still see a few eggs in some hammer heads 😞 so I probably missed the spawn event. I stayed up till 1.30am. 

Hopefully the clownfish didn't eat all the eggs if any were released. [Clownfish seem to be a bit greedy actually, mine always seem to be hungry for food].

If i discover any baby hammers I will photo and post!

 

 

[errand]

Oh I spoke too soon.

It was all fluffy and normal like this most of the day, then again this evening it shrank back and I saw the eggs were all still there. It started releasing one or two at a time! The clownfish ate them immediately. Then after I turned the main lights out, it really went off - I managed to get a video!!! It's being going on like this for a couple of hours, I captured some of the eggs in a  plastic tub which is now floating in the tank, I'm going to research what to do with them. 

The clownfish pigs ate soo many but there were so many released I'm hoping some managed to make it into a crack in the rock somewhere??!! 

 

video!! sorry its blurry I took so many waiting for something to happen, as soon as something started happening I rushed it.

 

 

 

[Ratvan]

That's really cool that you managed to video it, I wonder what sperm release looks like

[errand]

I saw that too!!! it looked like a wisp of mist and it dispersed pretty quickly - same kind of puffing and then yeah, grayish mist up into the tank, but it was over before I could get the phone. It was a bit like a mushroom cloud but it got dispersed really quick and then disappeared.

[uwdanno]

Amazing! Even though it was accidental this is a really cool accomplishment!

[VT4Me2]

Really cool - great share.

[yoshii]

Very cool! Glad you were able to get pics/video!

[SmolReef]

Mine is doing the same thing, did you ever find any babies?!

[errand]

Hey mate, I have never found any babies sadly; it was a new tank back then [relatively new]. I have never seen the back of the rockwork  and keep hoping one will turn up one day. If I was more confident at the time and had more gear i would have saved as many of the eggs as possible in another tank. Hopefully next time.

[Elephant999]

 Wow, I never realised they did that, excuse my ignorance. Fascinating, thanks for sharing.

[Tired]

Corals reproduce by broadcast spawning, usually. They release eggs or sperm, and those mingle in the water to fertilize the eggs. With a single hammer only releasing eggs, you're not going to get babies, because they aren't fertile yet. It's not like in animals that have internal fertilization (think snakes, livebearer fish, humans), where the eggs are fertilized inside the egg-creating animal and then laid. 

[Clown79]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing this, not something you see on a regular basis.