Growing ricordea , my journey as it unfolds

[micromax]

First let me start by saying hello. Hello. Lol. I have been doing saltwater for 10 years or so off and on as life has allowed. Now I have decided to do 29 Biocube for the purpose of growing out ricordea and a few other select shrooms I'll do my best to post weekly or more often as I have something to share or new pictures Please share tips tricks or info on where to find some rare additions to the tank. Any comments are welcome. If your asking why , it's not so I can just sell them but because I have an emotional response when I view my ricordea. They seem to be getting harder to find and I want to do my part to change that in some small way and sharring that with others that feel like I do about this coral I'll be learning as I go as I have little knowledge or exp raising ricordea So first pictures are the tank

[micromax]

I am having issues uploading at my home due to slow network issues. I'll have to work with my pictures in town as I live rural and i net is so so etc. ��

[micromax]

So it begins , this is the seventh day of cycling . I have added sand water and a cup of skimmate from my other tank and a half bottle of insta cycle some d dead rock and tonight I hope to add some other well cured life rock and scape it a bit tho I'm mostly after area for ricordea to grow and split on etc ... Stay tuned
http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/Micro-Max/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpswtsypqoa.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

[180+55reef]

Thanks, sounds like fun

[insane]

I am planning on setting up a small (15g) ricordea only tank soon so I have been scouring the internet looking for the best source of them. I found that Cherry Corals (http://www.cherrycorals.com/mushrooms/) has the biggest and best selection of them, mushrooms and corals in general.

Will you only have them up on your rock? They generally like having something solid to attach to so they don't get blown around and you have a lot of open real estate to have ricordea and shrooms.

I plan on putting together a tree made from tonga branch and covering the branches with rics. The tank I will be using has an odd shape. 12" x 12" x 24" tall so a tree thing should work.

[dragonsong]

Ricordea are the reason I set up a reef tank not just a fowlr :D so looking forward to seeing this tank set up! I only have three so far, one from the lfs and two off eBay.

[Mark9]

If you post pictures using the "insert image" icon and the pb "direct" link, we can see them in thread and don't have to link to pb.

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t651/Micro-Max/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpswtsypqoa.jpg

[Genera]

KP Aquatics has a lot of reasonably priced Ricordea florida

[03glide]

I just bought a 29 gal. Biocube and doing the same but i'll be stocking it with St. Thomas mushrooms.. Tunza 9002 skimmer, stock lighting?? not sure?

[H2OCulture]

Hey Micromax!

Welcome to the wonderful world of Ricordea florida! I have loved these corals for some time now and I've been trying to determine through trial and error the best growth conditions for them. I'm currently growing and fragging mine in a 29 gal frag tank. They are growing on a bed of crushed coral since this provides the best "bed" for frags to grow, but in my experience sand works well, too.

Current Tank parameters: 77 deg F, 0 NO2, 0 PO4, 0 NO3 (Red Sea Kit) pH 8.2, Alk 320, Redox Unknown. Reef Crystal salt (Instant Ocean or other brands fine though)

Lighting: Indirect lighting (and indirect is key, I have the main light beaming onto an area 15cm away) from a Kessil A150 10K bulb.

Filtration: One fluidized bed running on a Eheim 1262 pump (overkill, I know).

Flow: Very, very low. These organisms respond poorly to being in a jet of water, responding much better to a gentle current. And by gentle, you can actually see the copepods in the aquarium freely swimming above the coral. In the wild (you can spot these wonderful anemones in the Florida Keys) they are found on sandy beds between rock out croppings with a little shade usually. They are not in a surf zone like many SPS and they are not being blasted by full sun. Think gentle, clean, shady lagoon and you'll be fine! Your lighting looks just right!

Spot Feeding: I am a huge believer in spot feeding and I use RotiRich which is from a supplier in Florida. I use an eye dropper and slowly, slowly, slowly, allow the thick fluid to drip into the corals mouth. I do this at least once a week and when the ricordea is at least 2cm across. The more often you feed them, the better their feeding response is.

Fragging: By far the easiest coral I have ever fragged. Get a single razor blade, a clean surface, and cut them like a pizza. You can easily glue the frags to a piece of crushed coral with gel super glue, but make sure you lightly dry the frags and the crushed coral with a paper towel first (helps the glue stick better). The frags are remarkably resilient and if you just drop them on crushed coral, they'll migrate toward the light and attach anyway. Again, low flow is key!

Sources:

Definitely plus one for KP Aquatics; they are a great source! I recommend buying a 10 pack of them from somewhere (KP, Ebay, another retailer) and experiment with them! Figure out what makes them tick and ensure you have the husbandry down, before you break your heart on a $50 jawdropping piece only to have it waste away.

I've attached a couple of pics of my own, and good luck!

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/TLPowell2010/IMG_1619_zpspcmhtokv.jpg (http://s1305.photobucket.com/user/TLPowell2010/media/IMG_1619_zpspcmhtokv.jpg.html)
http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/TLPowell2010/IMG_1620_zpsgmqn7vu2.jpg (http://s1305.photobucket.com/user/TLPowell2010/media/IMG_1620_zpsgmqn7vu2.jpg.html)

[enchelycore808]

Rics are one of my favorite corals but I can't keep them. The rock they're on is covered in bryopsis and when I dose tech m, the rics take a beating and I lose a them.

[csb123]

I've always have had a hard time with rics.

[AcanQueen]

I love Rics, especially floridas and have been growing them for the last 6-7 years. Here in the UK Rics are hard to get hold of so are well worth growing. I've found that they grow well under both T5 and halide light, with T5s showing the best range of colours and the best light to take pictures.
They are easy to frag - l don't cut them until they have developed multiple mouths and have started to split themselves. Cut along the split and try to make sure each piece has its own mouth. This way minimises loses and gives me a 100% success rate.
Good water parameters and flow is essential for quick growth, in fact Rics do well with strong flow provided it's not pointed directly at them. A lot of my Rics grow in the display tank which is predominantly SPS with bright light and high flow.
Target feeding is the best way to keep them growing and Rics will eat anything from brine shrimp to flake food, just make sure it's small pieces. They can be a bit slow to consume so don't put any shrimp or fish in your system that will steal the food or rip the Ric apart to get at the food.
Good luck, I hope you have success in growing these wonderful creatures.

[Etoimos]

How do you guys quarntine Ricordea?

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[jayball]

How do you guys quarntine Ricordea?

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I do not see any need to quarantine them.

[jayball]

oops, double post.

[Etoimos]

I do not see any need to quarantine them.
I'm totally new to all of this, so just wondering why not? I would think they could be carrying something from the tank they came from?

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[sjet]

Usually a good dip is enough for Ricordia. Only time I quarantine corals is if I find some alarming pest on them after a dip, like red bugs or nudibranch. But in general I dont think the average reefers quarantine corals unless they have giant tanks where one bad frag can wipe out thousands of dollars worth of corals.

[JDWells]

My opinion is that anything you bring into your tank should be quarantined first and corals should be dipped before quarantine. Quarantine is just setting up a separate (usually small) system to house and watch new additions for a couple weeks.
If you're fragging them, there's no need to quarantine. Just put the new frags back in the tank.

[JDWells]

Hey Micromax what ended up happening with this? It looked like a good start!

[Etoimos]

My opinion is that anything you bring into your tank should be quarantined first and corals should be dipped before quarantine. Quarantine is just setting up a separate (usually small) system to house and watch new additions for a couple weeks.
If you're fragging them, there's no need to quarantine. Just put the new frags back in the tank.
For my fish I plan on doing the TTM to quarantine. I guess I need to go read up on how to quarantine and dip corals.

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[Maggie321]

Rics are one of my favorite corals but I can't keep them. The rock they're on is covered in bryopsis and when I dose tech m, the rics take a beating and I lose a them.I know this is an old thread, I've been looking for ricordea info... there is some good info here. Have you looked into fluconazole for your bryopsis problem. Maybe then you could have some ricordeas...

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