Manually Propagate shrooms?

[tidus10]

Can you manually propagate shrooms? Or do you have to wait for it to split off on its own? I do not intend to go chopping my babies up im just curious honestly..

 

[cloak]

Yeah, you can use a razor blade and try to cut the mushrooms as close to the base as possible. The tricky part is getting them to attach to something else after they've been cut.

 

[Wazzel]

Yes you can manually propagate mushrooms. Last time I kept mushrooms I was able to make frags by cutting the tops of and cutting in half. The base will regrow and the half's should heal. Like cloak said the trick is attaching the cut piece. IME glue kind of works. I just got my first in a long time, it hitch hiked in on a zoa frag. I plan on putting it in my frag tank to propagate for a couple of LFS.

 

[tidus10]

So like cut the foot off? Then cut it in half?

 

[acrohead500ppm]

Calfo recommmends using a shallow dish filled with small rubble, put the slices in, cover with wedding veil mesh to keep the slices from floating away, he also recommends making sure there is gentle flow over the tops of the containers to keep bacteria from consuming the slices before they attach.

 

[tidus10]

I wonder, has anyone done this with a bounce or jawbreaker?

 

[das75]

what about in tank?

I've got this solitary blue, great if could split it right where it's firmly attached.

 

[HeadleesSon]

If you want to try in tank, you can cut it down the middle, through the center of the mouth. This will often cause it to form 2 smaller ones, still attached to the rock. I am not sure it is worth it, because it would have split on its own eventually, with out the risk of infection.


I had a 20 gallon I used to make frags of shrooms. You can cut them in quarters through the mouth and they form complete circle in less than 2 weeks. One day an infection wiped out the entire tank. So, they are simple to propagate, but you do risk infection, and they reproduce pretty fast left alone. Normally they would not split until they had enough mass, so each half will survive. Cutting them creates tiny shrooms, and that may not be as good.

 

[das75]

One I have came on some LR 5+ years ago and never split (other types have though). Have you ever tried when attached.

 

[HeadleesSon]

Yes, it will work when attached if they do not get infected. Sometimes they try to heal back into one, but normally they form 2 smaller ones. They actually do better this way, as they do not get cut off at the base, and stay attached.

If it is not splitting it must be unhappy with the setting, so I imagine the two new ones will stay small. Could it have too much light or too much flow? They hate that.

 

[Harbour]

I always cut the stalk in half while in the tank and let the cut off part find it's way to the bottom of the tank. It will quickly attach to the substrate. Then reach in and get the part in with the substrate attached and glue it to a rock or plug.

Used this method a ton of times.

Pic of my old tank in this thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1900608

All but about the original few shrooms were proped in this way.

Harbour

 

[youcallmenny]

Harbour that is incredible. I love those flesh colored ones.

 

[erndog1001]

Or you can do what I did. I displaced some rock structure. Which started a kind of avalanche. My bounce mushroom was attached to two different rocks that went different directions. It tore in half!!! That was about 2 weeks ago So far Both halves are still alive. Breathing a bit easier but still nervous.

 

[Reeferz412]

I try to get the center in every cut. I have cut mushrooms 4 times and they all make it. I get some pvc or a tupper ware with drilled holes and attach a screen with rubble rock and they latch on. Glue it to your rock work and you are ready to go.

 

[Spslvr]

The rubber band method works a treat and far less likely to get infection

....And the there were two..