New to Coral

[fishyfishyfish]

I just got a few red and purple mushrooms. They open up once the light has been onfor a few hours, and seem to close after the lights go out. Is this normal behavior.
Also, does anyone have any advice on caring for them?

 

[mopar9012]

thats normal. Most corals open and close (open when the lights come on, close when they go out).
They are pretty easy to keep

 

[fishyfishyfish]

ok cool, do I have to feed them anything?

 

[saltn00b]

some shrooms will eat some food and make them grow faster. but its not easy to spot feed them...
they should open up within 45 mins of the lights being on, what type of lighting do u have?

 

[fishyfishyfish]

Well its olny a 5 gal, and I have a small hood, so it tok me a while to find but I have a 50/50 flur, thats rted at 5000k. the tank isnt that deep either,about 10 inches

 

[saltn00b]

color temperature doesnt matter if its the wrong type of lights, aka being not enough intensity.
do you have NO, HO, VHO, HO T-5,PC, or MH ?

 

[fishyfishyfish]

its a 50 10000kdaylight/50 actinic 03 blue, 10 watt high intensity output bulb

 

[fishyfishyfish]

do mushrooms need to be in direct light or should the be partial shaded?

 

[michaeltx]

verys different mushrooms need different amounts of light most mushrooms need lower end on the light scale. you can move them around in the tank every few days to see where the best place is for them as the spred they will addapt to the new lighting where they are moving into.
you can try to feed mushrooms but most of the time if the are smooth mushrooms wont accpet food the hairy or ruff mushrooms generally will take foods easyier and faster than the others.
HTH
Mike

 

[fishyfishyfish]

they are pretty smooth. If I do feed them how do I go about that, do I just place some food on top of them? I dont see a distinct mouth

 

[saltn00b]

hoonestly, dont worry about it. you will likely end up over feeding and dirtying the water. they do fine without and feedings