Warning: Large Hairy mushrooms

[EMBRYOGUY]

Clown addicts. as some are aware, my jigsaw clownfish recently died. at the time i could not figure out why. but ive been staying up late and observing my very large hairy mushroom colony. i noticed on occasion, only at night , it would try to trap my other clown. it would roll up and try to cover up the clown. my hairy mushrooms opened are the size of your fingers spread open. very large. unfortunately the jigsaw was small. if your clown is larger, its prob ok ,but to those with clowns hosting in hairy mushrooms, i would be cautious.

is this definetly the reason? who knows for sure, but a chance i will not take again.

 

[organism]

wow, it would be awful if that's how the other one died, thanks much for the info

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

even if it was not the true reason, its the only plausible explanation i have to cling onto to make the loss feel alittle better.

 

[Stoneyscoral]

Are they elephant ear mushrooms?

I thought I read in Joyce Wilkerson's book that clowns will be eaten if they try to host in one.

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

no they are not elephant ears. yes ive heard the same thing about those mushrooms.

like i said, ive been observing them at night and , often they would curl up and roll up in a ball and try to enclose my clownfish. its a big clownfish so its not able to trap it but the one i lost was alot smaller. ive sinced removed it of course.

ive never seen hairy mushrooms larger than mine , at lfs or hobbist tank.

 

[Bones18]

Sounds like a very reasonable cause of death. Did they not have a host anemone? Any pictures of the aledged murder suspect?

 

[stykthyn]

I have several elephant ear mushrooms and it doesnt take long for them to roll up and consume large pieces of krill or silverside. It would take much for them to trap a juvenile clown. I def wouldnt keep one if a clown was trying to host it.

 

[TOURKID]

would the mushrooms sting them to death? or suffocate them?

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

sorry no pics at moments time. it looks like the standard hairy mushroom found at any lfs. slight green. but this one just has extraordinarily large heads.

someone mentioned in my original thread that some mushrooms can release a toxin. not sure if this one does or not. i dont think it was stung bec the clowns were hosting on it for several months. but at night it would "roll" up on the clownfish as it rubs on it to find a sleeping space. this occured late throughout the night.

the one that died, was found exactly below the mushrooms.

the likely hood that this would happen is prob low, but if you have a prize clownfish its a consideration.

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

i posted this pic in another forum and everyone said it was not a hairy mushroom but an ELEPHANT ear mushroom.

so my ignorance in IDing my coral resulted in the death of my fav. clownfish.

hope this thread serves as a learning lesson for other clown collectors.

 

[mbunaman]

Holy Cow!!! That mushroom is huge. Now I can see what your talking about. I was visualing the average size ones that you see in the LFS.

 

[stykthyn]

it's actually trying to eat your clown in that pic. it rolls up on itself so gradually that the clown doesnt notice. kinda like how a venus fly trap eats a fly. by the time the fish panics its too late.

 

[BonsaiNut]

I have had clowns eaten by large mushrooms before. I have posted it so many times I got tired of reposting it. I completely agree with you that it DOES happen and I would never buy a large mushroom of ANY species if I planned on keeping clownfish.

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

bonsainut

yes i learned the hardway. i must of missed your post on this subject in the past. i agree, i will never add mushrooms to a clownfish system again.

thank you for your thoughts.

on side note, your clownfish in the avatar is one of the most beautiful clowns i have ever seen!

 

[55semireef]

Why don't you get an anemone for your clowns?

 

[Jovreefer]

Did you purchase the Dr's clowns? it looks just like them