1. Gonophores may remain attached to the parent colony , but usually become detached. 2. Parent colony workers dwindle, usually leaving the nest to die, as does the foundress queen.3. Adult reproductives leave the parent colony to mate. 4. They fly out from their parent colony in search of other colonies where virgin queens wait for them. 5. The actual " take off " from the parent colony is also often synchronized to overwhelm their predators. 6. The males and virgin queens mate and the queens then often return to the parent colony , where they then remain. 7. New colonies are established in a slow process, when the number of worker bees exceed 500 or 600 individuals in the parent colony . 8. When mature, these larvae exit the atrial siphon of the adult and then settle close to the parent colony ( often within meters ). 9. Sometimes this new growth gets separated from the parent colony , and a new colony of fire coral is formed, genetically identical to the original one. 10. At times of stress, another form of asexual reproduction takes place that may allow some of the polyps to survive even though the parent colony dies.
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