New Ricordeas

[Navarchus]

Biff, those pictures are awesome. I have always loved ricordia, but have heard that they are hard to keep and are slow growers.

 

[Bifferwine]

They are not hard to keep at all! Their requirements are the same as any other mushrooms. They are very slow growers -- that's what sets them apart from other mushrooms. They are much pricier than regular mushrooms for this reason. I've found that by feeding them, I can get them to split every 2 or 3 months. That's like lightning speed for ricordeas. In my 240, I had a ricordea polyp for 3 years and it never grew and never split. Now in my 10 gallon tank, I target feed them all about twice a week and most of them have grown and split in a three month period.

 

[galonso52]

I was finally able to get a decent pic. My camera is not all that great. This is three days in the tank and they already look bigger than when I pick them up.

Ricordea picture by galonso52 - Photobucket

 

[Bifferwine]

Here ya go. Copy and paste Photobucket's code. ;)

[IMG]http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh113/galonso52/Ricordea3rdDayinTank.jpg

 

[galonso52]

Thanks I was just searching on how to do that.

 

[fastrd400]

Nice looking Rics. I have some on order, can wait to get some of those in my tank.

 

[galonso52]

Biff, I just tried feeding my new Ricordeas mysis and I have to say it was amazing to see how they sucked them.

 

[Bifferwine]

Cool! I'm glad they're eating for you.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

I started growing my own rotifers a few weeks ago. I've fed them to the ricordeas a few times now. I mix them in with all the other foods in a cup. Since I don't have any filter or skimmer on my ricordea tank (just a powerhead), I use a turkey baster to target feed each polyp. This minimizes the crap that ends up getting wasted in the water.

Sarah, how's the rotifer growing going? How are you doing it? Easy or too much work? I'm interested in doing it as well.

 

[Bifferwine]

Rotifers are pretty easy to keep, once you get the initial culture going. I tried to save money by purchasing rotifer eggs (dry) that needed to be rehydrated. That didn't go so well, and they never seemed to come to life. I ended up buying a bag of live rotifers eventually. I suggest you go that route -- it's much easier and just a bit more expensive.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

How do you have your culture setup? Pics?

 

[Bifferwine]

It's in this thread:

https://www.livingreefs.com/biffy-breeds-tomato-clowns-t22893.html