Florida Ricordea

debbie

Active Member
In my 3 gal pico tank that has 18 watts pc lighting I have two different colored rics in there. The one is absolutley huge. The color is amazing and its very healthy but I was told it was this big because it is not getting enough light. Would this be true??
 

debbie

Active Member
Their actually a very dark purple with pink mouths, they each have a pellet in them so they might be closing up on it. I just took a look at them now and they are basicaly laying flat.
I am trying to decide on a new fixture that is a 36 watt at the moment would this be overkill??
 

debbie

Active Member
Originally Posted by GeoJ
http:///forum/post/3215363
Are they growing?
Well you tell me, the orange one I bought a year ago and it was the size of a dime. Now it is 5" in diameter. The purple ones when I bought them were the size of 2 quarters and they measure 3" each in diameter. So I would say yes they have grown. The orange one especially as I paid a dear price for this little thing, never thinking it would ever get to this size.
 

geoj

Active Member
In my 50 gal tank ric’s did not grow that fast. Then I switch to a 25 gal and I got busy as we all do at times and neglected it for 2 months there was some nitrates how much I don’t know, but they really grew fast. I would agree that if they look starched out and reaching then some more light may be ok, but then you have had them for a year and still going. So I don’t think they’re going to up and die on you. Check out your lfs and see the ric’s and the light they are under and when you see one that needs more light you will know… You can almost see through them.
 

debbie

Active Member
These you cannot see through at all. Their colors are great and very bright. I was just wanting to see if others felt the same way as what I was told about them being so big is a sign of lack of light. To me it would be the other way around, if they were teeny tiny and not growing and like you say stretching up for light then I would say that they need more light but to just be big I don't understand that. Gosh i wish that fellow flricordia was still on this forum site.
OH well, if anyone knows his email that would be greatly appreicate.
 
Originally Posted by Debbie
http:///forum/post/3215352
Their actually a very dark purple with pink mouths, they each have a pellet in them so they might be closing up on it. I just took a look at them now and they are basicaly laying flat.
I am trying to decide on a new fixture that is a 36 watt at the moment would this be overkill??
how old are the bulbs? The orange ric is fine but the blues dont look to good. 36 watts would be total overkill, but i found a 24 watt which would be just fine for the tank. Its also pretty cheap.
http://shop.aquatraders.com/Odyssea-...re-p/51101.htm
 

debbie

Active Member
Bulbs were just replaced last month. This small 9" fixture does not reach the other side of this tank so yes the main light is right below the width of it. I will move the purple ones over and maybe towards the front too. The orange one would be in the same place as the purple ones but at the front of the tank as appose to the back of the tank.
We cannot get that fixture here in Canada. If i order it from the US then there is issue of bulb replacement so kind of have to go with what we have here for the ease of things.
Still thinking about the 8 gal Oceanic Biocube but not sure of it yet. It has 36 watts of lighting on it and its 5 gal bigger than what i have so its still small enought as i don't want to go bigger than that.
 

sean48183

Member
Rics are weird. They are bulletproof as far as killing them but to get them to duplicate is tricky. I have had mine for 5 years and has added only one polyp in that time and that was right in the beginning. 2 things I have noticed about them is
1 -they like to be fed alot. In the beginning I fed them and this is when they added a polyp. But feeding them gets to be a pain in the a$$ because they are slow to get the food up to there mouth and fish will pound them with food on there stubby tenacles
2 they like alot of light. More so than any other mushroom. I added a t5 fixture about 3 months ago and they have really begun to get big. they havent split yet but looks like one might be trying.
My guess is in your tank the blues are in a spot where the light is not directly over them and they are stretching to reach what light they can and your orange has most of the light over him. Getting big is a sign they are healthy and will split.
 

debbie

Active Member
Well that is good to know about the orange one for sure. I did not think for a moment it was not doing well due to its size and it never stretches up either, the color is amazing and is my favorite for sure.
I am going to move the purple ones and see what happens with them.
 
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