mushrooms?

[squishifishi]

I'm going to pick up some mushrooms soon. these will be my first coral, so i need help. this is a 2.5 gallon pico tank.
1. my light is a RGB 10watt LED. i know that means only like 4 watts of that will be usable forcoral, but will they be ok as long as i feed them?
2. when i add them, how do i place them. should i bury the foot in sand? should it be set on, or wedged into the rock? do i need glue or adhesives?
3. can mushrooms eat small fish and inverts? pretty sure they can't...

thank you all so much!

 

[Beandawg]

1. Light is probably fine. no feeding.

2. no, yes, no.

3. Some can but, I'm certain you couldn't fit it in your pico.

 

[squishifishi]

well, i bought one! it is a green stripey one. I got a really good deal, it is a 3 headed one i got for $5! very good price. the green glows under the blue night setting of my light! i didn't realise that shrooms don't come on a plug like other corals do! i was kinda suprised. i floated it for 2 hours, dripping water from my tank in every now and then. i gently pressed it into a crack and it latched right on! it is prety high up on the rock, but not on the top so the light isn't full on. ihope it decides to stay where i put it because it is very nice there!
any more advice or tips? thanks!

 

[squishifishi]

i guess it didn't like that spot.
after a few hours it let go and rolled itself to a new spot at the base of the rock. oh well...

 

[SushiGirl]

Yeah, mushrooms like to move around to where you don't want them LOL. Congrats on your first coral!

 

[Reeferz412]

My biggest green striped mushroom let go of its foot and floated away to the back of my tank and made its way to the front at the base where there is light but hardly any flow. It left 5 others to grow from its foot. I dont even frag the dumb thing and it multiplies.

 

[squishifishi]

hahah, thanks. it was just sitting upside down in the sand for like a day, so i stuffed it backin the rock. now it is sticking and opening up more.it has shifted sideways, but that's fine.(please stay!)
thanks!

 

[Reeferz412]

What you could do is put a container with some rocks inside your tank and put the mushroom inside. cover the container with mesh or eggcrate and let the mushroom attach to a rock. It should take a couple of days.Then just grab whatever rock and place it where you desire.

 

[philosophile]

+1 let it get a hold of some rubble in a container where it can't float away. Then you can glue that piece of rubble wherever you want to, or just place it somewhere. Almost inevitably, the shroom will move somewhere else. I try to keep Mushrooms on their own rock, so they don't go too crazy on me. But sometimes, they just detach and hope for the best somewhere else.

 

[squishifishi]

that's a good idea! i feel like i probably traumatized this little guy enough allready, but i will definately do that when i pick up some more next week!
how long should they stay in the container to attatch? also, why wouldn't they let go of the pebblejust like they would a big chunck of rock they don't like?
thanks!

 

[SushiGirl]

It could just as well let go of the pebble, but sometimes they don't. I have red mushrooms all over cuz they started detaching and attaching where they liked. My blue ones haven't done it at all.

 

[squishifishi]

i'm seeing all these post allof the sudden about how shrooms are taking over their tank. imagine how pretty that would be in a species only like i'm planning on. all the rock just covered with a rainbow of squishy shrooms. mmm. i think that would be gorgeous. i'm gonna have to go out an buy a bunch now and just let em grow!

 

[SushiGirl]

For as small of a tank as you have, just buy a few rather than a bunch. Try to collect as many interesting colors as you can. Red seem to be the most prolific/aggressive and can also get downright huge (you should see the ones at Dallas World Aquarium!). Skip those or save them for last, or at least only ever buy one LOL. Zoas are also awesome in a small tank. My first reef tank was a 3 gallon, back when they said it couldn't be done. I integrated mine into another tank after 4 years when the in-hood light burned out. That tank got me hooked on the hobby. I had red mushrooms in it that made the tank look really small!

 

[Caronte]

Mushrooms are photosynthetic and don't need to be feed; and if there is not to much flow they attach by themselves in two or three days into a rock, if any. They're peaceful corals and IMO the only problem can be is that some are very invasive species and other grows very large and can cover a 1/4 of your tank over time

 

[Vanoble]

you just put mushrooms between the rocks, BTW,that's a small tank,no need to glue it, no feeding , just leave it with LED lighting.

 

[SushiGirl]

I'm not sure I'd call them peaceful. Ever have another coral touch one? We almost lost a war coral that fell onto a red mushroom for several hours before we got home & found it, and I currently have yet another red one injuring a spot on my GSP. The GSP is fighting back, but I'm sure the mushroom will win, they're pretty powerful.

 

[philosophile]

Yep. They slime up real good when touched by something else, and I think that slime ends up covering the other coral and doing bad things to them. So they may not have stingers, but they sure fight back.

 

[squishifishi]

For as small of a tank as you have, just buy a few rather than a bunch. Try to collect as many interesting colors as you can. Red seem to be the most prolific/aggressive and can also get downright huge (you should see the ones at Dallas World Aquarium!). Skip those or save them for last, or at least only ever buy one LOL. Zoas are also awesome in a small tank. My first reef tank was a 3 gallon, back when they said it couldn't be done. I integrated mine into another tank after 4 years when the in-hood light burned out. That tank got me hooked on the hobby. I had red mushrooms in it that made the tank look really small!

To me, a few is a bunch. i'm planning on getting 5 to put in varoius locations and let themdo their thing! i wasn't going to get anything red because red shades completely dssapear under the bluelight. i prefer cool colors as opposed to warm because they light up under the blue. i'm leaning away from zoas because of the price and their appealing flavor. most of the inverts i want do enjoy the occasional zoa to munch!
before i do anything else though, i need to pick up some snails! my algae is exploding with no cuc! my params are all good now at 0 orVERY close. luckily it's all green or brown/diatom algae so most things will eat it. i switched my light to just blue today to slow algae a bit for now. do you think 2 ceriths will be enough? i'll also get a nassarius to stir the sand so algae won't grow as fast on the sand.
i hope to get rid of it and add more beautiful shrooms!

 

[squishifishi]

i noticed that the shroom has been rotating itself until the smaller head was completely underneath, smoosed face down into the hole. i gently took it out and put it back in. this time though, i flipped it aroundd so te small head is on the left side and large on the right. it seems much happier in that position and now, 2 days later, is fully secure and has opened up/stretched out fully.
yay!
oh yeah, and what are your favorite colors/textures for shrooms?
thanks!

 

[squishifishi]

rrgh. sometimes i'm so dumb... myshroom is finally happy and secure then apparently i needed to rearrange my rock for better waterflow. consequently, i also had to relocate the mushroom.
sigh.