| M U S H R O O M S |
"Check out these 'shrooms! Look at the colors!"
"Radical!" ....they've been sayin' that for
forty years, but today the type of 'shrooms being
discussed is different from that of yesteryear ...
but "psychedelic" is not too far a stretch in describing them!
A tank full of mushrooms of all different colors
and varieties is an amazing sight!
To the reefer, plain ol' "Mushrooms" as they
are widely known, are very like anemones.
Individual, but usually semi-colonial anemones.
Technically they are corallimorpharians,
commonly in the genera Discosoma, Rhodactics,
Metarhodactis, Ricordea, Actinodiscus and others.
They are considered "between" corals and
anemones. They like iodine, low water flow,
and they're non-aggressive ... a perfect aquarium pet!
I've showed people my system before and the conversations
went sorta like this .... I'd start with ...
"and here's my Chambered Nautilus" and they'd say,
"WOW what are these?" pointing to some green 'shrooms.
"Those are some green mushrooms," I'd respond,
"And here's my Blue-ring Octopus," and they'd point
elsewhere ..."WOW, what are those?"
"Those are blue mushrooms ... and here's my shark," I'd say.
"HOLY SMOKES, What in the world are THESE???" they'd ask ...
"Red mushrooms," I'd sigh. "Here's my mating pair of
Bangaii Cardinals, which are mating right now,"
to which they'd reply,
"Don't tell me these are mushrooms too,"
pointing to some Green Hairies .....
Aaaaaargh! I give!
And so, mushrooms captivate everyone who sees them at first.
Keeping them and getting to know them, one only becomes more
fond of them. They are neat animals!
You only need feed them good light, and they don't require
the metal halide route. Actinic and 50-50's, HO, VHO, CF,
all will be sufficient for them to grow.
They take a while to really settle down, sometimes
six months or a year, but when they do, they
will often then incessantly throw off babies
if conditions are right. I have grown many 3-4"
across which have really become spectacular.
Until recently (the last 20-30 years of coral importing
for the aquarium hobby), rocks sold were pieces of coral with
a colony of red, blue, hairy, green, striped, or whatever,
mushrooms on it. The reds and blues obviously were in very high
demand over the years. Within the last few years, it has
become very difficult to get whole rocks of reds and blues.
So, what the collectors are doing is gluing individual
shrooms attached to a small rock to a larger piece of stone
or rock with putty. So you get a piece of rock, cement,
or coral, with putty all over it, with 6-8 or more blue or red
mushrooms glued to it. Of course the putty will be
covered in coralline in time so is not an issue.
You can see this in some of the pictures.
It is a start in many cases in the direction of
aquaculture, where hands-on creation of the
saleable piece is being done for the first time.
It probably means too in the places where they
were allowed to collect, lots of the red and blue
'shrooms are gone ... so I say get 'em and grow 'em ...
smart money is on 'shrooms.
If you are interested in learning about ordering an
assortment of mushrooms (along with other coral varieties),
please refer to our Corals Information page for more details.
Here is an assortment of mushroom photos for
your viewing pleasure!
Happy 'shrooms!
birdfish
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