Ricordia mushroom

[Nishant3789]

ricordia mushroom

any info available would be grateful thanks

nishant

[Kapelakin]

The only thing I can tell you is to be sure to feed them enough.  Mine looked OK, but weren't dividing until I took my reef to my parents for the summer.  My mom doesn't know much about reef tanks, but she liked to watch the animals eat, so she was feeding them a lot.  The ricordias were huge and dividing by the end of the summer!

 

This just goes to show you can learn from anyone.  I was underfeeding my tank because I was concerned about keeping hair algae under control.  The algae was the same or less, and all my corals looked awesome and my inverts were growing when I took the tank back.

[Signmom99]

Kapelakin, what were you feeding them?  I have some regular type mushrooms and hairy mushrooms.  Have tried to put small shrimp pellets on them by their mouths but they don't do anything.  Maybe I am doing it wrong?????

[Kapelakin]

With mushrooms, they will form a cup and engulf food into their center "mouth."  I'd just get a few pieces of cod and shrimp at the grocery store, cut it up very fine (you might try freezing it then using a food processor).  Put some in a glass of water and stir it a bit.  Use a turkey baster or similar to squirt some water from the glass over the shrooms, they should start to curl up, getting ready to catch the food.  This seems to alert them that food is closeby.  You can then use the baster to gently place food right down by the mushroom rock.  You'll want your powerheads off, so that the food doesn't get blow away.

 

For ricordia, I just place the food right on them, because their little polyps are sticky, and they'll direct the food into their mouths.

[Signmom99]

So, the food should be placed on the rock and not on the mushroom itself?

[Kapelakin]

Sorry that was unclear.  I just meant that if you have rock covered with mushrooms, to aim the food towards the rock.  Not all of them will eat everytime.

[Korbin]

I've been trying to feed my 2 mushrooms bits of this thick flake-type food I have.  AquaDine makes it.  Anyway, I tried about 3 times, and got no results.  This time I put the food right by its "mouth" and it curled up around it and unfolded with the chunk of food half way in its "mouth"...  a couple minutes later one of my blue leg hermits stole it. :flaming:

[djlanius]

I think there are certain kinds of mushrooms that don't like to eat (or if they do it's the microscopic stuff). I know in my experience, the hairier or lumpier ones (like ricordia) are more likely to eat than the smooth-surfaced ones. I don't know if that's always true, but it's tru for what's in my tank.

It can be tough keeping the other critters (crabs and stars mostly) away from them, try distracting them with chunks of food placed away from the mushrooms you're trying to feed. If the critters don't eat it all by the time the mushroom's closed up around its food, you can remove it to avoid pollution. I also sometimes sit there with a chopstick or something and just physically fend off the crabs. By the way, I've found this true for almost all the corals I try to feed. There may be a few who are fast enough to compete with the crabs but I haven't found them yet...

[Signmom99]

Last night I fed my button polyps brine & plankton and figured I'd give the mushrooms some.  It was soooooo cool...the hairy mushroom curled up like a ball (inside out) and ate the food.  They have not done that before.  Or maybe I just did it right this time!  

[Nishant3789]

ok ewll my ricordia is only about the size of a quarter and its really hard to feed. ive only done i once (yesterday) and it took a few tries and lots of unneeded wasted food becse there arent any fidsh in the tank yet only hte hermit crab which is too dumb to find the food! well anyway i had to use tweezers and put a pellet of fis food  right on the mushrooms and held it there for a few seconds thenlet go it finally stuck! but then i tried putting in som thawed frozed brine shrimp, but the coral wass too small for it to reach them :the current kept pushing em away. ware tere any other good food sources or methods for feeding that yyou know of? thanks

nishant

[djlanius]

It helps to turn off the current while you're feeding. Some corals are sticky enough to pull chunks of food out of the current, but most aren't, and none of my mushrooms are. Leave it off at least until they've got a good grip on it, for mushrooms they need to be pretty well curled up almost shut. I sometimes leave mine off for up to an hour or so.

[Nishant3789]

hmm ok but isnt that bad for the tank? turning of the crculation i mean. also, how often should i feed? thanks

nishant

[Kapelakin]

It won't hurt your tank to have the current off for an hour.  I like to feed corals about weekly, but just listen to your animals; increase if they're eating every time and not expanding as much say six days after feeding.  Decrease if you're having trouble with nutrient levels in your water, or if your animals are refusing food when you offer it.

[djlanius]

I usually turn off the circulation for 30 minutes to an hour. I once accidentally left it off overnight, and the only ill effect I noticed was that the temperature dropped about 4 degrees because the heater's in the filter. None of the critters seemed upset by it. I certainly wouldn't recommend doing that often (it's one of my stupider mistakes!) but it's not the end of the world either.