Cassiopeia question.......galleon?

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to figure out what the blue things are.....

 

[Len]

Do they move? Looks like some species of flatworms to me if they do.

Have you been watching Serendipity?

 

[Anonymous]

Nope. They're definitely a part of the jellyfish, I thought they were a reproductive structure or something.

Don't ever accuse me of watching that movie again. John Cusack movies are almost always cool, but that one sucked.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt, you're very close. They aren't the gonads, but pouches for brooding fertilized gametes. They will swell quite large and eventually release planula larvae.

 

[Anonymous]

Sweet, that's what I was hoping. Thanks for the info.

Are they hard to rear? The tank is just run by a air pump, can I just leave them in there and see what happens?

 

[Len]

Don't ever accuse me of watching that movie again. John Cusack movies are almost always cool, but that one sucked.

Don't tell anyone, but that's a guilty pleasure movie for me. shhhhhhhhh

Swelling gonads, huh? 8O

 

[Anonymous]

Well, Kate Beckinsale is hot, but not hot enough to overcome the absurd cliches.

You know what, though? The music video of her fiancee is absolutely hilarious. The vikings that are running away, while he says "I don't get it, are they scared of the music?" So I guess I like one scene in that movie.

 

[Anonymous]

Sweet, that's what I was hoping. Thanks for the info.

Are they hard to rear? The tank is just run by a air pump, can I just leave them in there and see what happens?

Not hard to rear. A tank run by airstone is hard to beat actually, as long as you do waterchanges, feed regularly (cyclopeze are hard to beat) and have plenty of light. Periodically, turn off the circulation and check the meniscus for tiny white specks swimming around. These are planula. They will only settle on decaying mangroves leaves. For settling, your best chance of success is to use a transfer pipette (or turkey baster) and move the planula to a petri dish or plastic cup filled with system water and with a decaying mangrove leaf inside. Once settled (and the mangrove leaf they are on is transplanted back to the tank), they will become polyps (they are actually pretty big for Scyphozoan polyps). When fed (feed the polyps well with frozen cyclopeze or live Artemia nauplii), they will divide by pedal laceration and form more and more viable polyps asexually. If iodine is plentiful via food and periodic dosing of Lugol's Solution or potassium iodide, they will become strobilating scyphistoma (strobila look like pancake stacks on top of the polyps) and strobilate into ephyra (each "pancake" swims away as a larval jelly, but in medusa form, almost all exactly 1.5 mm in diameter). The medusa carry zooxanthellae and will almost immediately assume the upside down position, even though tentacles and bell have not fully developed from the radial mass. From there, they grow up quick.

Be warned, these are weeds. Depending on how much the polyps divide, you may be up to your ears in baby Cassiopeia.

 

[Anonymous]

i just wanted to add that i love galleon. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Cool, thanks. The hardest part is going to be finding a supply of decaying mangrove leaves

Can they settle immediately after they've been released from the parent? And how long does it take for them to settle while in the petri dish with the leaf? Do you think Golden Pearls in the right size range would be captured by them as food?

Oh yeah, I was also curious how the planula are fertilized...does a male release sperm and it's captured/attracted to the female, or is there a more direct transfer?

 

[Anonymous]

Cool, thanks. The hardest part is going to be finding a supply of decaying mangrove leaves

Can they settle immediately after they've been released from the parent? And how long does it take for them to settle while in the petri dish with the leaf?

Yes and minutes to hours.

Do you think Golden Pearls in the right size range would be captured by them as food?

Dunno. Never tried it. Scyphozoan cnidarians generally rely on amino acid queueing (rather than sight or physical interaction) to sensitize cnidocytes to fire, feeding something like copepods (Cyclopeze) or live nauplii release these signals very readily. I don't know about golden pearls. Cyclopeze are usually pretty readily available (frozen) and will last you a long time, and they are tried and true.

Oh yeah, I was also curious how the planula are fertilized...does a male release sperm and it's captured/attracted to the female, or is there a more direct transfer?

Cassiopeia (both species) are dioecious. Sperm are broadcast and taken up through the female's manubrium (mouth) via oral tentacles. Once inside the gastrovascular cavity, they fertilize the eggs. The planula embryos are brooded in the blue pouches.

 

[Anonymous]

Coralshrimp:

 

[Anonymous]

*sigh*

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks again. I've actually got cyclopeeze and artemia nauplii readily available, just curious if you had ever tried GPs.

Man, I have a degree in marine biology and I've never even heard the term "amino acid queueing" or "manubrium"....if I didn't know any better I'd swear you were making this stuff up as you go. Very impressive, thanks for the great info.

 

[Anonymous]

No problem

Oh, and from what I've found, the leaves of the Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle work the best for settling rate/number.

 

[HClH2OFish]

Galleon,

I got a smallish chunk of LR and it had the hydroid form on it..these have been popping up like popcorn ever since.
I don't have any mangrove anything near my tank, so why do they keep appearing???

They've also spread in one of the main tanks along with standard hydroids to other decorations, glass, etc. Not a heck of a lot, but about 5% of the hydroids in the tank develop into medusae (which I then transfer into my jelly tank w/a turkey baster)

TIA for the info

 

[Anonymous]

They prefer mangrove leaves, but they will settle on other stuff as well. I got some decaying mangrove leaves for them but they ended up settling on the tank glass as well. So it definitely helps if you can get some...but not absolutely necessary.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have a picture of the whole setup, Matt? I'm curious...

Peace,

Chip

 

[Maya_nl]

Hi,

last year I've breed this beautiful blue Cassiopea spp.
It was a great succes, I started with 6 juveniles and after 4 months I've got more then 80 pieces.
you can find some pics on the link below
gr.
Maya

http://www.zee-aquarium.nl/contents/nakweek.html

 

[Anonymous]

Chip, unfortunately I don't. It's just a bare tank with a very small powerhead. It has a huge foam filter attached to it, and the flow is diffused by going down under the sandbed. Another easy way to do it is to just use an airstone.