Suggestions for newbie and first time ricordea and mushrooms

[homebrewdude]

I am having some ricordea and mushrooms shipped to me next week.
I suppose they will not be attached to anything?

Should I just drop them in the tank?

Do I need to attach them to something?

Set them in the sand?

Any suggestions?

How do they handle light?
I have 2 250watt MH

 

[Nano Nana]

With that kind of lighting your going to want to start them off at the bottom of the tank. Slowly work them up higher if you want later on.

There are a few ways to attach shrooms, if you do a search here you will pull up lots of them. If there is any rubble attached to the bottom of the shroom you can super glue or apoxy them to the rock you want them on.

 

[homebrewdude]

So I need to attach the shroom to something?
It won't attach on its own?

 

[bradleyj]

If they aren't attached to anything, you can place them in a small glass jar with rubble rock and place on the bottom of your tank and they will attach in a few days.

 

[bradleyj]

Just be careful or you will end up with a tank like this.lol

 

[Sk8r]

Also, be sure to test your water AND the water they arrive in. Acclimate, but be aware how large the gap is that you're bridging. And be sure your params are good, not just the nitrate/ammonia thing, but all the way to alk and ph, which is critical with shrooms. Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry.

 

[kiknchikn]

I'm sure he hopes to end up with a tank like that, bradleyj. I sure as heck hope I do =P

homebrewdude, there's a very good chance they'll come already attached to small pieces of rubble. If not, once you've acclimated them properly all you have to do is get some fishing line and a needle and a rock you like and sew it to the rock, much like this video my friend Mike created shows:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3613048540705295304

Or you can do what bradleyj suggested and get them to attach to a piece of rubble by putting them in a jar filled with it.

Or you can use bridal veil to hold it against a rock with a rubber band until it adheres to the rock. I'm using that method right now for an especially small piece of Ric that I propagated. It kept getting blown off the rubble I was trying to attach it to so I was forced to make it stay there Its not the best method but it works.

 

[homebrewdude]

What is the best way to accimalte them?
I have never done it before.
The drip method? Or will this take to long?

My chem in my tank are perfect now.

I think I am going to try the glass jar trick. I have some baby food jars

 

[kiknchikn]

I'd use the drip method if you have the patience to. I'd also give them a freshwater dip before adding them, you never know what might try and hitchhike in

 

[homebrewdude]

I will probably have 6-8 bags of critters at one time.
That might be hard to do with a drip method.

Can I put all the bags in a bucket, add small amounts of water to each bag at intervals.

Until they overflow, then dump all the bags in the same bucket, then add them to the tank?

 

[kiknchikn]

If you're doing it that way be sure to try not to mix the water in each bag with the other bags.

Honestly, many people in here might disagree with me, but if you're adding normal discosoma shrooms or common color morphs of florida ricordea, then you really don't need to bother acclimating that long. I know quite a few people that just dump them in the tank after floating the bag 15 minutes and they turn out fine.

If the rics your getting are indeed floridas, I would just dump half the water in the bag out.. drip until its full... dump it out half way again.. and then drip till its full once more... fresh water dip them... and then add them to the tank (preferably a QT tank if you have one). That's what I did with mine and all survived.

If they're Ricordea yumas you should probably do the full drip method and take your time with them.

 

[homebrewdude]

These were cheap Florida ones.
I wanted something that was hard to mess-up on.

Since this is my first time

So I shouldn't mix the bags together?

 

[kiknchikn]

If all the bags are filled with the same species then it is probably fine (I still wouldn't mix them myself though since it doesn't do anything helpful except mix slimey, nasty water), but if you have bags with other corals, or with fish/inverts, you shouldn't mix them.

 

[BigScott]

if your just doing mushies an florida rics, i always float bags ..
like for 15 minutes or so {lights off} then put them on the bottom of the tank ..rics an mushies are tough..now the yumas need
alot more attention, cuz not all yumas like MH.., good luck an keep us posted...

 

[homebrewdude]

If they are not attached to anything, I should still put them in a glass jar with some rubble?

I am still going to accimalte them.
Maybe not the drop method.

I have a turkey baster, I can add partial amounts of tank water

 

[bradleyj]

That's what I would suggest, just let them attach to the rubble rock. It could take up to a week though.

 

[plandy]

I think it's important to emphasize that you start them off with low light then slowly increase lighting according to their needs. Very easy to melt shroomies especially when they're new arrivals.

 

[homebrewdude]

I got my package last night.

I floated the bags for 20min
I added small amounts of water a total of 5 times.
Most were attached to rubble, I placed this on my live rock.
One mushroom is loose. It is in a canning jar with rubble on the bottom

This morning everything looks good.
The mouth in the center looks normal.

I did not know about the light.
I have them near the bottom of my tank
I have 250watt MH lighting