Coral ID / Care & Feeding Help

indyws6

indyws6

Member
Greetings

I bought my first corals over the weekend :cheer:
:cheer:
I didn't intend to - I went to the LFS to buy critters to start stocking my clean-up crew, which I did, but my rock curing is complete, my water parameters are good and have stabilized and I couldn't resist :joy: Plus, given some of the prices I have seen for individual mushrooms, this piece seemed like a good buy.
It is a single rock that is slightly smaller than two softballs put together. It is completely covered in coralline algae and weighs about 8 pounds. I haven't made an accurate count, but there are around 40 mushrooms on the rock that range from pea-sized to quarter-sized, plus the unidentified tan-colored bonus coral - unidentified because I am a newbie and don't know much :notsure:
The pictures you see are what the rock looked like about 5 hours after I put it in my tank. I ran only the Actinincs for the first 4 hours and then turned the Halides back on. Consequently, the photos were taken after the Halides had been on for about an hour.
The personnel at the LFS were nice, but not extremely knowledgeable. So, I am turning to you, the Experts...
Questions:
1) What kind of corals do I have? Common names? Scientific names?
2) What are the care & feeding specifics?
3) Things to know?
4) Common pitfalls? Misconceptions?
5) Do you see anything "alarming" in the photo?
6) Do you see anything really cool?
P.S. The corals (and the rock) look much better in person than the photos might lead you to believe. Part of the problem is the allowable image size and the other is my camera and photography shortcomings...
Thanks in advance...

 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Mushrooms, PC lighting or better, moderate, indirect flow. You can feed cyclopeeze, mine will eat mysis shrimp as well.
 
indyws6

indyws6

Member
FARSLAYER - Thanks for the response. How do I know what type of Mushrooms? I assume that there are many different species. How often should you feed and what is the proper procedure to do this?
Also, anyone know the specifics of the tan-colored coral on the left-center?
Thanks again...
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Hmm, definitely a type of leather, although I'm not positive, not a great picture and its polyps don't seem to be extended. Anyway, not sure about the type of mushroom, usually they're defined by their color I believe. I have some reds and some purple stripes, plus a bunch of ricorida (bubbly type of shroom). You can simply add cyclopeze to the water or, if there is not much flow, spot feed them if you can get it to stick. I feed some of my ricordia silverside pieces. Very easy to care for coral. I'd recommend running activated carbon as well since softies tend to pollute.
 
indyws6

indyws6

Member
ZANOSHANOX - Thanks!
It may sound fish-geeky, but I'm excited about having something other than rock in the tank! Any idea what kind of Mushrooms they are? I would like to keep a listing of the livestock I have in the tank along with specifics (common name, scientific name, care & feeding, date added, etc.). I also intend to maintain photos so I can monitor changes, growth, etc...
Take Care,
Mark
 
zanoshanox

zanoshanox

Active Member
If you dont mind me asking, hwo much did you pay for thw whole rock? Because I think i see a good sized yellow toadstoll leather on there and that thing should command 40 bucks alone.
 
indyws6

indyws6

Member
FARSLAYER - Thanks Again...
The mushrooms seemed to be far quicker to adjust to the change in tanks than the leather - maybe this is normal? I'll be curious to see what it looks like when I get home this evening.
I have a respectable amount of flow - approximately 2100 GPH for a 90 Gallon tank, including the return pump. What is Cyclopeze, where can I find it and how often is reasonable? What do you mean by a "tendency to pollute"?
I guess I need to look into placing the photos on another site and then post the links - the originals are decent, although they could be better, but definitely show more detail at the 2288 x 1712 (4MP) size; which can't be posted here.
Sorry for all the questions - I appreciate the help...
Take Care,
Mark
 
indyws6

indyws6

Member
ZANOSHANOX
I don't mind - $80 for the whole rock.
If I paid too much, I'll learn

If I got a good deal, I'll be happy :jumping:
There were two large Turbo Snails on the rock that the LFS person didn't bother to try and remove (or charge for), so they were a bonus!
If you can provide any detail on the Leather coral, I would appreciate it.
Thanks Again,
Mark
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Leathers tend to shed and engage in toxic warfare with neighbors, so it pollutes the water some; activated carbon take care of it though. Cyclopeeze is a type of frozen food, you can get it at your LFS and they'll tell you how much you need, probably about a thumbnail size piece a day at most, plus you can spot feed if you want.
 
indyws6

indyws6

Member
FARSLAYER - Thanks for the information. I've read some tidbits about the "toxic warfare" but was not aware of the specific corals that participate in that behavior. Looks like I have some more research to do... Dumb question: are the toxins released visible (i.e. small "stingers") or invisible (i.e. liquids or microscopic solids)?
Take Care,
Mark
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
The toxins are invisible unless you're a chromatograph :) Keep the leathers away from each other (not touching, several inches in between). Watch them when they get the most full. Now some corals, such as your shrooms, will show small polyps that I believe can be used to sting other corals as well, but they are so small that they are effectively only useful if an other coral is hanging out on top of him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top