Need ID and care info on this Mushrooms...

[kmu]

hi there I got form my LFS this type of mushrooms...They are big, on of the is abour 5 inches across and the other one is about 4.5 and then smaller ones about 2 and 1 inches wide....

They are flourescent green when the actinics are on only...

What type of shrooms are they? What do you feed them? are you suppose to feed this mushrooms? what type of lighting do they need? what about water movement?

THX in advance....

heres a pic of them....

[kmu]

Another one at feeding time...(shrimp, scallop and nori...)

[kmu]

Nobody? Please I wanna take good care for my new little friends....


THX

[6-line]

Hi,
Not positive on the ID, but I believe they are Elephant Ear or Rhodactis sp. mushrooms.
I also believe them to be fish eaters, so watch out. I believe you can feed them like an LPS (Open Brain, Bubble).

HTH and someone else can chime in with more experience...

[kmu]

Really?

THX and please more info....

[Breef]

I have these same mushrooms, had them for year and a half. I haven't fed mine anything. I did try to on a couple of occations,but they wouldn't except anything I tried to give them. Also I haven't experienced them to be aggressive at all. They are simply photosyntic. Mine are clear to brownish on the tenticles or fuss. The outer fringe is larger almost like bubbles,the skin is floresent green and gets more so the brighter the light that you put them under. I had about six or so when I first got them but I now have at least thirteen or fourteen.I thought I might add,mine are under metal halides,400watt,6500kelvin,I've had them under 10,000germanbulb and they were a lighter color,under 1200sunburst they were about the best but I think the bulb was too cheap and won't buy another.

[Twister]

IMO the mushrooms that you have are in fact Elephant ear mushrooms (Rhodactis sp.). I have a very large one that has just recently split and I sincerely wish that I was mean enough to razor blade it out of my tank. It eats better than I do! Has so far dined on one cleaner shrimp as well as one blood shrimp and fights with my green hammer regularly. When the upgrade comes, it leaves. Not my most favourite piece, but I will admit that under actinics it is gorgeous. As 6-line says, if you have slow moving fish, beware...they may become victims!

Wend

[kmu]

So the level of lighting requirement is low or med? Nobody mentioned nothind about current? I guess they like now or little current like other mushrooms, is this right?

THX

[Twister]

Ours typically does not like much in the way of flow. Has been under 6500 K, 175 W MHs and growing like a weed. We just upgraded to 400 W, 6500 K MHs so it will be interesting. They can probably adapt to lower light levels but may not be as intensly green and will likely "trumpet" somewhat (trying to reach for more light they may extend off their base and appear somewhat tulip like) if the lighting is too low.

[Ewan]

If they'll eat... feed 'em!

I got a small one of these years ago. After many tanks, I've still got 'em. They were the only thing that survived the dreaded bryopsis.

They will propogate quickly. I have found that feeding helped (IME). Longitudinal fission is the most common way for them to propogate asexually (although I've also witnessed pedal laceration). When it's time to split, they look very, very bad. They will separate at the mouth, And the mesenterial filaments may be exposed. The first time this happened to me, I quickly scrubbed it off the rock! Lucky for me, these mushrooms were smarter than me (sad but true) and many small mushrooms formed on the rock that I scrubbed for 30 mins with a coarse brush.

The best placement I have found for them is in a sheltered cave in my rockwork. If they want more light, they will spread toward the opening. Less light = larger expansion. I have found that less water motion will also aid in larger expansion. They will typically be stout and more compact in areas of higher flow and brighter light. It is possible to have the same mushroom take on very different morphology when placed in the 2 extreme zones I mentioned.

Very hardy. I like 'em. Watch out for perching fish, however.

E.

[SeaNemesis]

If you have any frozen mysis shrimp try dropping one onto the mushroom. I have seen some of my mushrooms actually grab a piece of mysis, blew my mind the first time I saw this. This was from on of my smaller ones at that.

[Breef]

I am not trying to contridict everyone on these mushrooms eating,but apparently there Has to be different types that are totally different {And look alike!}. Mine look exactly like the ones in the picture,they are prolific and reproduce in both of the ways mentioned previously,But,they do not eat anything from all actions I have tried,I did everything from putting krill,brine shrimp,flakes,you name it layed on top of several and all that happened over the length of several minuetes is that it would eventually blow away or fish would eat it or I would eventually blow it off with a turkeybaster! I even tried filling a turkey baster with different things like brineshrimp and forcing it into the mouth of the mushroom!{All that happened was it eventually spit it out}. I am not saying that what other people have witnessed isn't true,what I am saying is there are a lot of critters that look exactly the same and have different habits.Also from what I have been told the mushroom family is closely related to the aneminies. I have seen some that look like both and would be hard pressed to separate them from one another.

[mixalis]

Has so far dined on one cleaner shrimp as well as one blood shrimp and fights with my green hammer regularly.

Which mushroom does this? Rhodactis or Ricordia? I have what I believe to be a green rhodactis spp. It's home to two clowns and my cleaner shrimp regularly walks across it unmolested. I've seen it exhibit the "closed purse" eating behavior when a particularly tasty morsel lands on one of the polyps, but I have yet to see it bother a living organism.