Life is indeed resilient

[JimC]

Sometimes this hobby just continues to amaze.

I'm sure some of you have had this happen before. I thought I'd share..

This is why you never give up on a frag or something you think is dead or dying.

I had fragged a piece of my Bazooka Joe chalice sometime over the summer. I can't even remember if a frag died, or I found a little skeleton but I remember sticking this plug in the back of my tank and hoping it would somehow survive. Nothing was visibly living, nothing. On several occasions over the last 6 months, I almost tossed this because I needed the disc...
Check it out now. A perfectly colored, popping growth rim and a visible eye. It even shows red and blue in the body. Perfect specimen....

Close as I could get...

For reference.

The tip of a Salifert syringe for size reference.

Very cool. This tough little guy won't be fragged again.

 

[Bry]

That's amazing.. Lucky you hung on to it!

 

[chrissreef]

Agreed - awesome! I sadly gave up on a fungia and my wife won't let me hear the end of it.... so later I fragged my Cornbred Trash Mummy and found a piece on my carpet later that evening. I was going to toss it but I glued it up in case I would get lucky lol. 1 month later it has almost a full mouth and another on the way!

I also received a watermelon chalice frag (Tyree supposedly) not much bigger than yours. It's never sent tentacles out of its one mouth and bleached for probably 2-3 months after I got it - the tissue was very thing. It just wouldn't die for those months so I bagged it up when I moved apartments and one day I saw it had somehow caught a mysis when I fed my fish - but how, never a tentacle to be seen?!? It colored up that week and has remained a vibrant pink since. I feed it Fauna now... it doesn't send tentacles out or grow (I turn off the pumps and coat it - I can see the mouth eating)... but I will feed it to try and help him grow b/c he hasn't given up so I'm not going to either!

 

[nova65ss]

It is amazing when I started my first tank my kids helped pick the live rock at the lfs. My oldest son grabbed a dead plate skeleton that was in with the live rock and almost two year later it started popping babies ended up with seven baby plates!

 

[JimC]

That's amazing.. Lucky you hung on to it!

Yes, it's now my fav piece!

Agreed - awesome! I sadly gave up on a fungia and my wife won't let me hear the end of it.... so later I fragged my Cornbred Trash Mummy and found a piece on my carpet later that evening. I was going to toss it but I glued it up in case I would get lucky lol. 1 month later it has almost a full mouth and another on the way!

I also received a watermelon chalice frag (Tyree supposedly) not much bigger than yours. It's never sent tentacles out of its one mouth and bleached for probably 2-3 months after I got it - the tissue was very thing. It just wouldn't die for those months so I bagged it up when I moved apartments and one day I saw it had somehow caught a mysis when I fed my fish - but how, never a tentacle to be seen?!? It colored up that week and has remained a vibrant pink since. I feed it Fauna now... it doesn't send tentacles out or grow (I turn off the pumps and coat it - I can see the mouth eating)... but I will feed it to try and help him grow b/c he hasn't given up so I'm not going to either!

Very cool story and attitude...thanks for sharing.

It is amazing when I started my first tank my kids helped pick the live rock at the lfs. My oldest son grabbed a dead plate skeleton that was in with the live rock and almost two year later it started popping babies ended up with seven baby plates!

How cool is that? Remember to take your kids to the store every time you go!

 

[lakeviewink]

When I was moving sand(and some rubble) from one tank to another I noticed one small piece of skeleton(no bigger than a dime) had a glowing spot. The spot was covered in white dust so it was very faint. I washed it a bit and realized it looked like a favia but tiny. Well, I fostered it and kept it safe and it now has about 15 eyes of what seem to be blasto merletti. I've never owned a blasto of any sort so it was a surprise. The sand I got with a tank I purchased as a package deal about a year prior!

You can see it in the lower left corner, sorta.