Hairy Mushrooms- Rhodactis sp Q.

[Lance M.]

I was wondering if the hairy mushrooms come in any other colors than just brown and green. I just took a big green one from my neighbor and am currently attaching it to a rock.

My neighbor has some orange/brown ones and the green ones. They are all under the same light and at the same height in the tank so I know the brown ones aren't green ones that have been in less than ideal light and lost their color.

Are their blue ones? That would be awesome.

I went to my lfs and saw a hairy mushroom in a tank. It was a single polyp and brown. I asked them how much it was and amazingly it was $40 for that one polyp. They told me it was the green one and it turned brown cause it was under bad lighting. I was like "Wow $40. I just took one from my neighbor for free... and my neighbor has a ton of them." And in my mind I was like, What idiot would pay $40 for That? They would be lucky to sell it for $10.

I guess I'll be taking them from my neighbor and cutting mine and his. His tank is a 125g and there are a lot of mushrooms. Like once a month he'll move the rocks that the main colonies are on to another place to spread them around and usually ripping them in pieces or half at times but they bounce back and form new ones. It is pretty cool.

 

[BigScott]

id like to see an orange hairy mushroom...

 

[Lance M.]

It's a light brown -> orange color. I think some people would say orange and some would say brown. It would also depend on the lighting and camera if you took a picture of it but I don't have a camera. It's brown but it looks orangish.

 

[Whisperer]

My rhodactis indonisensis. Not sure if this is what they call hairy mushroom but it sure looks hairy to me. It has more color that you asked for.

Same shroom, night time shot with a flash

A daytime shot, fully expanded shroom

 

[atzak]

I've seen blue and lavender

 

[BigScott]

i want some of those.. those are awsum..

 

[Lance M.]

WOW Whisperer those are awesome! Where did you get them?

I've been looking at online retailers and the only "hairy" mushrooms I've been able to find where the green or brown ones. I've never been able to find ones like that.

I always see ricordea and other mushrooms but these seem to be much harder to come by.

I asked my lfs about them and they said the only ones they get in are the green ones and they are expensive so they usually don't order them. And they said the only color was green or brown.

atzak- where did you see blue and lavender ones? at lfs or online? if online where?

These are getting to be my favorite corals now.

I wonder if there are red ones?

 

[Whisperer]

Those started as a tiny hitch hiker when I bought that green discosoma. Did not think it would grow into an unusual color. I am sure they are out there in the ocean but I have not seen anything similar so far on this BB.

 

[Lance M.]

That's a great hitchhiker. I wish I got some of those....

What type of light are they under and what depth? Do you feed them? Have you cut any?

My neighbor doesn't do water changes. Maybe like once every couple months and his tank is a reef w/ aggressive fish like he has a grouper and some triggers and damsels so the mushrooms get whatever food is leftover floating in the water and they are under low light. I think they are t-5's w/o slr's and the fixtures are made by odyssesa (sp?). So the lighting isn't so great but the mushrooms are doing great. Curious to see what your setup is.

The green hairy I took from my neighbor a couple days ago is about half attached to a rock I put it on that I had wrapped with some orange meshlike stuff that you get when you buy clementines, or I guess other produce. I took it off yesterday to see how well it attached but only half of it attached. It's kinda annoying to see half of it on and half coming off so I put it in low flow but theside not attached wouldn't stay down so I took a plastic twist tie and tied it around onto the rock to keep that side on the rock (I made sure it wasn't too tight). I'm tempted to just cut the half that is not attached off and let it heal.... I might do that later today.

 

[BigScott]

heres a couple of my haries..

scott

 

[Whisperer]

Those look very nice. I saw some for sale at reefscience just like those. I think there is one still available.

 

[BigScott]

how much were they.. an the ones you see here the one on the left just split in to 3 pieces..they are one of my favorite pieces in my tank..

scott

 

[Whisperer]

Just checked the site, one is still avaible for $39. Looks nice, I have thought aboout grabbing it but their shipping is a bit much for me.

 

[BigScott]

hey Whisperer you got a PM..

 

[Lance M.]

Hey Whisperer- what lighting and at what depth are your's under? And anyone else that has them- same question.

I'm thinking about setting up another tank like a 15 gallon 24x12x12 with just hairy mushrooms.

 

[BigScott]

mine are under 250watt MH.. with 20k bulbs..16 inch deep tank.. plus about another 6 inches from bulb to top of water..hope that helps..

scott

 

[Lance M.]

Wow. The complete opposite what I was expecting. My neighbor has them under low light (I need to look at his fixture to see exactly what they are) and in moderate to high flow.

 

[Whisperer]

Mine do well in either high or low light but color is more intense in low light. Expansion is better in high light. I keep them at the bottom of the tank.

 

[wrasseguy2]

here is a pic of my blue hairys...i had two rocks full of them and i traded most away..i am now down to these two in the pic and one more...they are going for $70 a piece here...i found mine when i first got it for $15..my favorite mushroom i got..and seem to like any light or flow i have had them in

 

[BigScott]

those are AWSUM..sweet pic..


scott