Mushroom Coral Care
Lighting for Mushroom Coral Care
For mushroom corals, we suggest low to intermediate lighting (75-150 par), but the exact needs may change for each species. It is thought that Rhodactis does best in low light, while discosoma does best in light that is closer to 150 par. All in all, these corals can survive in a range of lighting situations.
Food
Mushroom reefs don’t seem to have specific needs when it comes to food. They get their nutrients from the sea, like most corals, and do best when they have a lot of food.
Flow
It’s best for mushroom corals if the water flow is low to average. Even though they are called corals, they are actually a type of anemone. Their polyps don’t really care if the water moves, but it’s important to keep trash out of the way. If there is too much flow, the mushroom could break off from its base and move around in the tank. Too much flow, especially direct flow, can hurt the coral’s tissue or make it harder for it to catch food, so it’s important to find the right mix.
DOUBLE HARD
Mushroom corals are simple to take care of and can grow well in the right settings. They don’t get coral diseases like STN, RTN, and others very easily. There is a type of coral called mushroom coral that doesn’t have a calcium carbonate shell, so it doesn’t need a lot of calcium and alkalinity to stay healthy. If you give them the right amount of food, light, flow, and filtering, these corals will do well in a tank, just like any other coral.
PRICE
Mushrooms are pretty easy to take care of, can be grown in water, and grow pretty quickly. Prices tend to be cheap to moderate because of these factors, though the exact color morph of the specimen can change the price. It goes without saying that very rare and one-of-a-kind colors can fetch a lot more than common ones.
ZONE OF COLLECTION: Indo-Pacific
Scientific Name
The cnidarian species Rhodactis howesii is in the order Corallimorpharia and has the scientific name Rhodactis howesii. It is a type of corallimorph that looks like a sea anemone and lives on reefs in the warm Pacific Ocean. Ricordea florida is a type of coral in the order Corallimorpharia. It is in the family Ricordeidae and the fake corals are also in this family. In the genus Actinodiscus, there are mushroom reefs, mushroom anemones, and mushroom anemones. People sometimes call them “Discosoma Mushrooms,” and they like light that is dim to mild.
Aggression
Being hostile. Allelopathy, or chemical warfare, can be caused by mushroom corals, especially when they multiply and spread. If your system is going to have a lot of mushrooms, we suggest running activated carbon on it.
TEMPERATURE IN THE NATURE
82 °F (28 °C). Many types of coral can live in temperatures as low as 77 degrees and as high as 84 degrees.
PH: The ideal range is between 8.0 and 8.4, and over the course of a day, we usually keep values between 8.2 and 8.3.
ALKALINITY: These are soft corals, so they don’t need to use calcium or alkalinity because they don’t have a calcium carbonate shell. However, we still suggest keeping levels at 8 to 9 dKh.
CALCIUM: Like alkalinity, these corals are soft and don’t use calcium or alkalinity because they don’t make a calcium carbonate skeleton. However, we still suggest keeping calcium amounts between 400 and 450.
Find Out More About Mushroom Corals
The Swedish scientist Oskar Carlgren was the first person to write about Rhodactis indosinensis, which is also known as Hairy Mushrooms. These mushrooms have a unique “hairy” look because they have many stalks that look like hairs. They are different colors, like green, brown, tan, pink, and purple, and the colors of their tentacles normally stand out from the colors of their bodies. Rhodactis mushrooms can get as big as 4 to 8 inches and can reproduce without a mate by fission or cutting.
There isn’t much water flow or light for these mushrooms, but they can still grow. Zooxanthellae, a type of photosynthetic algae, give them food, and the two of them work together to stay alive. They also eat nutrients in the water column through filtering, but you should give them extra food like microplankton or other filter-feeding invertebrate foods.
