Mushrooms in a blender

[a1rabbit]

The reason for this post is below, but I'll ask the question first.

 

Have any of you ever blenned up a few mushrooms for a couple pulses and then dumped it back into a tank just to see how many, if any, you would end up with? And how long it would take to see growth?

 

People on RC were saying that it's the best way to frag shrooms for mass propagation if you don't care about having something to look at right away. They were saying you could end up with thousands... Seems very exaggerated to me.

 

It got me to thinking, I wonder if you could make some kind of a "Propagation Mushroom Smoothie" with a couple types of mushrooms blended up for a bit and then let them grow out in their own tank. I wonder if you could add Xenia to the Mix.

 

I have an extra tank that's setup and cycled with no idea what to put in it now. I was thinking this might be fun to try.

 

 

 

The reason I saw this is.

 

I cut a mushroom last night to move it to a new location and it spat it's insides out, I decided to look that up just incase it was bad for the tank (my first time cutting one) even though I knew they are damn hardy and nearly immune to anything outside of a nuclear explosion. I figured that considering what I'd read before about cutting them into pie shapes and many of the slices will live lead me to the conclusion that a cut foot would just stress it a bit. I was going to move it to the empty but cycled tank just in case, better safe than sorry. Things seem fine now and I left it in the main tank. And yes, it pulled it's guts back in while I was searching about it.

[lgreen]

I don't own a blender and am patient, but don't know if I'm that patient. I'd like to give it a try sometime though.

[accord86]

Heard it works...

[clifford513]

Sounds interesting.

[rickjg]

I’ve never used a blender, but when I used to have a shroom frag tank in my garage years ago, I used scissors to chop the mushrooms into a bunch of smaller pieces and it worked pretty well.

 

I'm thinking maybe someone should try with ricordias because they reproduce much slower than shrooms.

[andrewkw]

I've cut mushrooms with a blade into 8 tiny ones, but never tried the blender. It might be worth getting a 2.5 or a 5g and trying it in there its not like mushrooms would need a lot of light.

[travisurfer]

I think I may go for it guys. Just get some mushrooms, chop them really fine with a knife, and throw them in my 2.5g. How many wouls I expect to survive?

[Asin]

I believe Floorlord uses this method.

[Clownfishcrazy1117]

That's interesting. Maybe I should try it on my rics.

[a1rabbit]

I think I may go for it guys. Just get some mushrooms, chop them really fine with a knife, and throw them in my 2.5g. How many wouls I expect to survive?

 

 

I think I might too, and am wondering the same thing. Also wondering how fine you could make them and still have them grow out. I might pick up some random mushrooms the next time I go look at frags.

 

How much longer to rics take to grow than regular shrooms?

 

Hmm, would the bits also grow out on sand substrate or would a top layer of CC be better...

 

I've got a 3g pico with 2.5 fuge setup (in my sig) with nothing in it. Maybe some hermits, a couple snails and some mushroom smoothie would be fun.

 

Anyone think Xenia would possibly live through a blending?

 

I'm wondering if anything else could be blended in too. lol.

[uk reefer]

i used to out xenia threw my powerheads, same effect i guess

 

worked a treat, had 2-3mm baby frags all over the place 3 weeks later

[a1rabbit]

i used to out xenia threw my powerheads, same effect i guess

 

worked a treat, had 2-3mm baby frags all over the place 3 weeks later

 

 

Hehe, this is getting even more interesting. Ty.

[Uploadead]

anyone wanna try a huge brain coral in a tiny powerhead? LOL!

[travisurfer]

i think this has some serious potential. i will try it tonight or tomorrow and post on its progress.

[a1rabbit]

anyone wanna try a huge brain coral in a tiny powerhead? LOL!

 

lol

 

I'm thinking that if I do this I'll use 3 mushrooms of easily identifiable colors, like red, green and striped or something. I will chop/blend one mushroom to about 1/4" chunks, one to 1/8" chunks and one to 1/16" or so. Though that might be too small. If anyone has a suggestion let me know. This way I can keep track of what ones seem to do better.

 

I don't know If I'll try the Xenia as mine is still only about a 2" frag and not ready to be fragged off, maybe if I can find a cheap frag I'll try some Xenia.

 

When I add the mix to the tank I'll probably just dump some right in, then put some onto a CC area of substrate if I can get a bit from the LFS for free or cheap and then put some into/onto the rocks and see if any spores stick. I may also dunk some rubble into the container and let it sit for 5 min to absorb some of the mix, then put those pieces of rubble back into the tank.

 

This is just speculation atm though. I need to go to a 2nd hand store and get an old blender cuz I'm not using mine for mushrooms lol.

[clifford513]

Reminds me of Jurassic Park, life finds a way.

[Random One]

If you plonked it straight into the water, wouldn't the filter get clogged by it?

 

Random.

[travisurfer]

lol, i would take any filter media out first

[a1rabbit]

If you plonked it straight into the water, wouldn't the filter get clogged by it?

 

Random.

 

 

Ya, the way my tank is setup there is only one exit for water and that's on the top of the tank...

 

 

So I'd probably not lose too much, the rest would drop into filter floss or into the fuge if I removed the floss.

 

Might just turn the flow off overnight, there's nothing in it but pods.

[fishcam]

someones got to do this... i wonder how long it would take to get some good mushrooms growing... and I wonder how finely they can be chopped? 4? 8?

[a1rabbit]

someones got to do this... i wonder how long it would take to get some good mushrooms growing... and I wonder how finely they can be chopped? 4? 8?

 

 

I'm probably going to go get some mushrooms when we get paid. First I have to find a used blender because I want to do it that way, not with the knife. I'll let you know how it goes within a week if all goes well.

 

Only thing that might slow it down is that I broke up a chunk of LR a week ago and put it back in the tank as rubble. If there are any big worms or whatever that died it might have caused a mini cycle, I'll know when i water test. (nothing alive is in the tank yet)

 

If anyone has other ideas of what might survive in this smoothie, let me know.

 

PS. I plan on doing my best to keep a photo journal of any growth. We'll see how out going I am when it's boring me to death.

[lgreen]

I'd totally do it if I owned a blender. I think there was a small mini food processor on sale dirt cheap, like under 10 bucks, at walgreens this week.

[sambo123]

The only problem would be my skimmer would suck them all up!

 

What if you took a specimen container, attached a small powerhead to it through a hole drilled on the side of the container, then drilled another hole on the other side. Then line the hole with a bridal netting to prevent the shrooms from entering the tank. Then place it in the tank add some rubble to it place the chopped shrooms inside, then let them settle on the rubble, then turn the small powerhead on. This could work pretty good and you could set up different ones for different types of shrooms.

[lgreen]

Personally I wouldn't run a skimmer on a prop tank unless you are propping sps. Most mushrooms, zoos, softies, etc do grow great in tanks with a little extra nutrients.

[Six]

id love to see a play by play of this.

 

also, make sure the blender is then denoted as a coral only blender. mushies are pretty noxious and we wouldnt want an accident!