anybody have experience with ricordia?

[Rich D]

I recently purchased a couple of ricordia, I have no experience whatsoever with these corals. Can anybody tell me the growing rate, how to feed, splitting rate, amount of current needed or how aggressive they are? I know that they don't sting each other but will they sting other corals? I got these 2 yesterday and they seem to be doing find so far, the one to the right caught a piece of mysis and devoured it within minutes, the green one to the left stuck to a few pieces of daphnia but im not sure if it ate them.

 

[Rich D]

oh, and would it be a bad idea to glue them down? I was thinking about just letting them divide onto the rock and selling the originals back to the LFS

 

[daudelus]

growth rate depends on your system... you can improve growth and number by propogation. They will sting and hurt corals close to them, especially sps.. at least this is in my experience.

 

[Radioheadx14]

I have some that split every couple months, and others that don't split often. They like lower flow and wont sting most corals... not sure about SPS though. No need to feed them.

 

[AugustWest]

This colony started as 3 small Ricordia about 4 years ago. Medium flow and they are on the bottom under 250W MH's. They don't require feeding.

 

[bsmith22]

Ricordeas are an extremely hardy soft coral found in the Florida waters off the coast of Florida. They are more of an anemone than a coral.

In the aquarium, ricordeas thrive in less light intense conditions with slightly nutrient rich water. VHO and power compact lighting provide perfect lighting. Metal halides can also be used to light ricordeas if they are kept under overhangs and at the bottom of the tank. Ricordeas also like lower water flow, where they can stretch out thier tentacles and feed off zooplankton slowly drifting by.

Periodic feeding of meaty foods will be appreciated, but not necessary.

They split by fusion every few months under the right conditions.

They are semi-aggressive and may damage other corals if touching. Leave space between specimens to allow growth.

You can let one loose in the tank to find its own rock to attach to, or you can glue to rock rubble. Either method will work.

 

[daudelus]

In terms of the stinging qualities of ricordia on an sps, here's a picture of my montipora that has been touching for 4 months now... the tips have been burnt, but the montipora continues to grow very well in other areas. These colonies began as 1 each color about a year ago

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[Rich D]

has anybody found them to be invasive?
Mine are on the bottom of my tank under 400w MH 10k bulbs, should i worry about them getting fried? the seem to be doing great so far, the green one caught 2 pieces of mysis today and it has clear tentacles that grab onto cyclopese and daphnia, while the bubble one seems to only like mysis and more hefty foods. I have them isolated on a rock on the sandbed. Would they be able to leave the rock? do they grow to the point of becoming invasive if they leave the rock?

 

[robot2222]

they are one of my favorite corals, i keep mine on the bottom under vhos

 

[Rich D]

I really love the green one to the left, the picture doesnt really show the true color. Its like a bright nitro green, I liked the one on the right because it doesnt really look like a riccordia, im hoping that as it grows more it will blow its bubbles out more and turn more purple/blue. The bubbles have already acquired a slightly bluish tint

 

[Frozn]

The one on the right is actualy a St. Thomas Ricordia FWIW