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Goniophytes (Baby Goniopora):
 As
mentioned in the Species
Info section, the stokesi species of Goniopora
are referred to as “Free-Living” and can
reproduce asexually by dropping multiple buds or “Goniophytes”.
Once the goniophyte has become detached from the mother
colony, it falls to the substrate and is left to fend
for itself. The picture at your right is an example
of what a mother colony looks like when its polyps
are retracted and its "babies" are still
attached. (Click on the picture to see a close up).
When a new bud begins to form, from what I can tell,
it appears as a small bump on the colony surface between
the adult polyps. The catalyst that causes the goniopora
to begin its asexual reproduction cycle is currently
unknown, but it probably has to do with the intrinsic
complexities of spherical geometry when applied to
Intelligent Design and the Theory of Natural Selection
:) Actually, the goniophytes on my specimen all seem
to be growing in the same location where I do the
majority of my spot feeding. After these detach from
the mother colony, I will begin spot feeding on the
other side to see if there is any correlation between
feeding location and goniophyte formation; there probably
isn't though.
 The
adult polyps of the goniopora are longer than the
goniophyte polyps and tend to shade them from the
light and possibly, to some degree, from free-floating
nutrients. On my particular specimen, you can see
in the picture to the left that the goniophyte polyps
are more brownish in color and therefore probably
have a greater dependence on the zooxanthellae contained
within the polyps for their nutritional needs. As
the goniophytes develop and grow, there are many instances
in the day and at night, where the mother colony retracts
all of its polyps while leaving only the goniophyte
polyps extended (lower left picture). This behavior
happens regularly enough to hypothesize that
the mother colony occasionally retracts for the purpose
of allowing the goniophytes access to nutrients and
light. I believe it is also helpful to specifically
target feed the budding goniophytes a variety of small
foods while they are still attached to the mother
colony. This may prepare them to recognize, accept,
and consume target fed foods once they have left the
mother colony and are on their own.
--------Hint: You can make your Goniopora close up
by gently blowing water on it with your target feeding
device until the polyps retract; Goniopora do not
like being subjected to direct water flow. This is
useful for inspecting it or taking pictures of it
(top picture on this page) :).
After a goniophyte
has become detached from the parent, it needs to be
provided with an appropriate place to reside where
it can remain confined to a relatively small area
within the tank, such as a Baby
Pen (click link for
baby pen tutorial). If not immediately confined, it
will easily blow around, either by water current or
by fish fins, and magically disappear into the rock
work. Once it is set in a pen or similar structure,
it needs to be left alone. It will get tipped upside
down and be blown around within its space by fish
fins, but somehow it usually seems to correct itself.
If it remains upside down for very long, you can gently
tip it over with your target feeding device or finger
tips. If the goniophyte is real small, it may be difficult
to tell which is the top and which is the bottom.
You'll have to look carefully for the bare skeletal
spot to see the difference; the bare spot being its
bottom.
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