newbie's first shroom propagation

[Sherry34]

I just sliced my first two mushrooms in half last night. Then wrapped fish netting around it. We will see. I used one green stripped mushroom and one orange ricordea.

I will let you know how it worked out in ten days.

[firefish2020]

Keep an eye on the orange ric, they tend to be slow growers and such take a while to attach.

[Sherry34]

Will do. Thanx for the insight.

[SeaSpza]

any updates?

[pitt_prodigy]

Just tagging along.... i have some purple shrooms with neon green dots all over them that i want to frag for eventual trade so i've been paying pretty close attention to how people are making out. So far seems like everyone i read has been successful. Just wanted to make sure before i go slicing up a $40 shroom! Please post updated pics if you got em. Rubbermaid browny container was a great idea... gonna do that myself!
Good luck!
-pitt

[3f_p@L]

Sherry34, how are your shrooms now?

[Sherry34]

Sorry guys I have been very busy lately between school and transporting my kids to all of their activities.

My first mushroom proagation was not terribly successful.

At first everything was going well. The two green stripped mushrooms had healed and I thought attached to the rock, unfortunately, only one had attached and is now good sized. The other floated away into no mans land! My two orange ricordea's healed but would not attach. I tried wrapping them tighter under fish netting and left them covered for a long time, unfortunately they never attached and both wiggled their way out of the netting. Don't ask me how . . .

Believe it or not I just found a teeny tiny ricordea this morning attached to an empty snail shell. I pulled it out into the light, hopefully it will get some color and grow.

Last week, however, I finally got the nerve to try again. I left the ricordea's attached to their rock this time and sliced between thier multiple mouths. So far so good! They appear to be still attached and healing well, color is good. I figure once they heal completely I will slice through their mouths instead of between them.

That is how things are going for me now, unfortunately, I have a half finished paper due tomorrow that I need to get back to. I will update you more when finals are done.

Thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,

Sherry

[chrismhaase]

a quick question, so if you want to start proping shrooms, all i really need is one to cut up, a small jat and what kind of net on top? also when you put it into your fuge, do you spot feed it at all to help give it a boost?

[piranhaking]

I have an orange ricordia and its taking a long time to heal up. It was about 3/8 circle when i got it. Its alittle over half now. ive had it for a month.

[3f_p@L]

if you want to start proping shrooms, all i really need is one to cut up, a small jat

yes

what kind of net on top?

u can use a net like this

do you spot feed it at all to help give it a boost?

no

[xxxbadfishxxx]

Hey Guys & Gals,

After reading this thread i decided to try this myself. Well, what i have done was get a shallow container, and filled the bottom with crushed coral (i have read of other people using this) and sliced my mushroom into three, and covered the container with wedding veil. There was around an inch between the wedding veil and the shrooms. well all was going good, and looked like they were healing for five days, then all of a sudden i look into the container, and looks like it just died, and dissolved to nothing. It is on the bottom of my tank in a low flow area. What could have caused this? The first time i tried this the same thing happened, however one half made it. Am i doing something wrong? Perhaps ill take pics of my setup tommorow and you guys can make some suggestions. I included a peice of the mouth into each frag, and used a brand new razor blade each time. Well thanks for reading.

Jeff

[3f_p@L]

sorry to hear that, and i'm waiting for the pics..

[xxxbadfishxxx]

Sorry about that. Well i just took some pics, and the lights had just turned on, so the shrooms arent fully exteneded yet, but youll get the idea.

First a full tank shot - shrooms are in the middle, and the prop tray is located on the left.


next a close up of the mushrooms, i propped one that detached itself from the rock.


Next the prop tray, in the corner closest to you you might be able to make out the fuzzy reminants of the mushrooms


last, the side view of the tank, to give you a better idea of the location of the tray.
[

the only thing i can think of why this happened is because i cut them into 3-4, maybe i will just cut them in half. My guess is they got some sort of infection. Also, in this second attempt i forgot to drill holes in the tray, but not sure if this is what caused the decline. Everything else is healthy in my tank. What do you guys think? All suggestions and comments will be highly appreciated.

- Jeff

[3f_p@L]

it looks like the net u used doesn't cover all of them. maybe they were eaten by somethin?

[xxxbadfishxxx]

yeah, in the pic it doesnt look like it, but it definately does. Well ill keep you guys updated next time i tree it in a couple of weeks.

Thanks again.

[coraline401]

If cut in half left on the rock. How is the shroom kept from growing back together

[Skepperz]

Good question i was wondering that too.

[coraline401]

I guess you have to cut them from the base on the rock then cut them in pieces and place in tuppware with netting on top. Place back into aquarium and they re-attatch. I have cut them in half and seperated with a rubberband or fish string tied around the rock but its not always easy.

[vest0830]

I figured I would continue your thread since it might be kinda retarded to start another thread of almost identical things. If its a threadjack, I appoligize.

So anyways, I went to the 100yen store (dollar store) after work and grabbed a few items which I thought I could use. I bought a small container (labled a refridgerator tray) to cut the shroom in and hold a little water, bought 2 small collanders and some rubberbands. Then I stopped on the way home and picked up some sand and some rubble/crushed coral. If I remeber right, I think I paid around 500y for the 2 shrooms a few months ago, so if this fails, i'm out a few bucks.

Onto the pics:
First off, the supplies:


The perfect candidate:


I tried to do as clean of cuts as possible. If I am going to continue to do this, small scissors and some tweasers/forceps will be used, but here are my cuttings:


My small little collander flled with sand and some rubble. also, if you look closely, you can see the frags:


As you can see, I stacked 2 collanders on top of each other. I think this will work well. It should get pleanty enough flow, and I think it should get light as well. I have read alot that shrooms dont need alot of light to reattach, so I figured this was a good place to start.


Into the back of the tank it went. Kinda an eye sorer, but its only for a few weeks, and hopefully my small cube will be ready for them when it comes time.

What would I do different. As stated, if I continue to do this, scissors and forceps will for sure be used. Using a razor blade is a bit difficult as when you make your cut, the mushroom kinda pulls along with the blade. I think scissors would make things much easier. The small frags were difficult to pick up, so forceps would make things MUCH easier as well. The sand was a bad idea. I read alot of articles today on the internet about fragging, and some people were using sand only to put the slices into, but when I put my little cube in the tank, the sand went everywhere as you can see in the last pic. I hope it didn't move my frags around. I'm sure they will still attach to something, just not where I wanted them exactly. Also, I think I will try to get some rubber gloves. I didn't realize there was a slight stinch that went with cutting a coral. Now that stinch is on my fingers and its following me.

I will update this as time progresses. I just thought I would share.

[3f_p@L]

i don't think you are making a threadjack, but you are helping us
no problem

[Skepperz]

Great to see someone add to this thread, i have been following this thread for ages.

[vest0830]

I was hoping I would get these anwsers. I just kinda thought making another thread the same as this one would be kinda pointless.

So we will see how these go. The hardest part for me will be to not look at/mess with them. lol.

[egdevilboy]

The question is, on average, how long does it take for a proped shroom to regrow to its original form.

[vest0830]

according to posting dates, 3f_p@L started this thread on 8/25 and posted pics of the shrooms attached on 9/05, so...~11 days.

I'm gonna give it 10days before I open the container or even pull it up out of the tank to check.

[BrianPlankis]

It takes my mushrooms about 10-15 days to attach depending on species and water flow.

B.