Bta breeding? - Or pooping?

[chriscurtis]

[My bta did something he never has before - he got real tall and expelled a milky tan fluid. Was he trying to breed or just cleaning out the pipes? Has anyone else seen or read about this behavior?

http://www.dfwmas.org/gallery2/My-little-mess-30-gal-reef/bta02
http://www.dfwmas.org/gallery2/My-little-mess-30-gal-reef/bta03
http://www.dfwmas.org/gallery2/My-little-mess-30-gal-reef/bta04
http://www.dfwmas.org/gallery2/My-little-mess-30-gal-reef/bta05
http://www.dfwmas.org/gallery2/My-little-mess-30-gal-reef/bta07

It only took 15 or 20 minutes, then he shriveled up and the next day he was back to normal. No offcolor jokes, please; there are women and children reading this - ]



Edited By ChrisCurtis on 1101452152

 

[chriscurtis]

[Here's a picture if the links don't work:]

 

[southernreefer]

[bta will reproduce through pedal laceration, which means the trearing of the foot and leaving behind a small piece of itself, to grow into a new bta, or through fission, were the anemone splits down the center and becomes 2 individual anemones.
the pictures that you posted, shows your anemone to have expelled waste.
hth!
:cool grin:]

 

[Jacob]

[Observations on Sexual Reproduction in Entacmaea

Check out this article. The bulk of the article discusses lighting and BTAs but if you scroll to the bottom you will find the section titled "Observations on Sexual Reproduction in Entacmaea".

He discusses that they reproduce both asexually by splitting and sexually. I don't know if what you saw was waste or sperm but it is possible it could be either.]

 

[chriscurtis]

[Thanks for the info and the link. I think it's 90% likely it was just waste but it seems the possibility exists it was sperm. Although in the article it said those observed did so just after a full moon in April and May and mine did this in October. It's interesting that there are both male and female bta's; I wonder how you tell them apart.]

 

[melev]

[Your BTA just spawned. Mine did that about a year ago:

http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/tank/spawning.html

And it happened to Steven's a few months later, and was included in this newsletter:

http://www.dfwmas.org/newslet....04.html]