Mushroom Ate my Clown!

[stevo01]

The mushroom you posted is not the same kind as the OP. I have had tanks with dozens of those and had zero issues. The elephant ears get much larger and have more control in the way they fold, making trapping fish much easier.

Oh good. That makes me feel better.

 

[stevo01]

Stevo01 That's a really cool pair you have there...

Thanks

 

[Joybird]

I'm so sorry. That's just awful.
Can anyone weigh in here on which mushrooms are fish safe? I was literally going to pick some up tomorrow at my LFS, and now I'm feeling a little hesitant about that.

 

[Christopher Davis]

You betcha

 

[Reefster]

Hey man...I don't have any larger than that from this AM...Just this one I took last night...the mushroom on the left side, my soon to be victim Clown is just to right of the top of the tank. The bigger of the pair...

Nice Drop Off Setup Mark! I had about 20 large hairy mushrooms all over my rocks and was lucky that I never lost any fish. It used to look like a sea of grass on my rocks.

 

[Christopher Davis]

I've had multiple pairs of clownfish that absolutely love them! They actually wouldn't even touch my 3 large bubble tips! Traded in the da Vinci's and lost my true precula's to a power outage now I have a gladiator any phantom pair that won't touch the mushrooms but love the anemonies! Fickle critters!

 

[Mark Teitelman]

It is a type...the regular mushrooms that are more common don't do that

 

[Mark Teitelman]

Good for you Kraken!

 

[ReefJunky]

A friend of mine who had a elephant ear mushroom, which was a giant "hairy" type and was about 12" maybe 14" in diameter, ate somewhere between $2300 to $3200 of angel fish, tangs, etc. He kept replacing fish and didn't realize they were being eaten by the elephant ear mushroom until a LFS owner in St. Louis told him what was happening. He put the giant elephant ear mushroom in a smaller tank and stopped losing fish in his 180 gallon after that. So to all... beware that giant hairy elephant ear mushrooms can and will eat fish! The LFS owner said that when the mushroom senses a fish it releases a neurotoxin that paralyzes the fish so it can be wrapped up and enclosed by the mushroom.

 

[ReefJunky]

The LFS owner said that the fish possibly think the "hairy" tentacles might be algae and when they try to nibble on them... that's when they inhale the neurotoxin and then they get paralyzed. This was just her guess and not proven fact. Maybe there's research to prove this? Not sure?

 

[Dsnakes]

Hate to hear/see that...I have to say though....wow that is a good looking little reef!

 

[Peter Blue Reef]

You blind fools. This is clearly a conspiracy. Wake up and look closer!

 

[Peter Blue Reef]

Honestly I am sorry for your loss and I hope your system is doing well.

 

[Mark Teitelman]

Reefjunky I'm certain now that mine is a second time offender. I went on vacation 6 weeks ago, and when I came back one of my clowns was gone. just vanished. Wasn't sick when I left, and I have a camera that I can monitor the tank with...he was swimming and eating one day...then all of a sudden gone...I can't see that side of the tank from the camera placement...so my best guess is that Murder #1 occurred then...and last night was the 2nd. I am taking your advice and I took the mushroom back to the fish store. Going to put a nice frogspawn in its place...I really like my fish and don't want to worry about them being eaten...it is hardly a predator tank haha!!!

 

[Mark Teitelman]

Buck that's funny

 

[Mark Teitelman]

Thanks DSnakes...I've been working hard on it...and tonight I have a new spot on the left side to add...no more mushroom...

 

[Dave9]

Well here is a new one for me...Noticed a couple days ago that my clownfish had taken to using my large hairy mushroom as a host since I don't have an anemone...Today came down to discover that mushroom had wrapped him up in a blanket last night and consumed him! Here is a pic of before...and then just a few minutes ago. My shrimp is looking for remains, of which there seem to be none...it was a pretty large clown too, one of my first fish

That's incredible, the same thing happen to my clown 2 weeks ago. Was it the moon?

 

[mcola78]

Geez! 23 years in the hobby and you'd think you've heard it all. I had no idea! Sorry for your loss but as some said earlier, beautiful tank.

I've had multiple clowns hosting anemones over the years and they often would spend time right at the mouth cleaning it and pulling out food. I even had one crazy clownfish once who would swim into the mouth and out again. It's possible yours got too close to the mouth and it closed on it with releasing. Sorry again for the loss.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

This happened to a fire blood shrimp I picked up.. had him for 1 night before my hairy mushroom swallowed it [emoji20]

 

[MyNameIsAshAndIAmASlave]

You betcha

crazy. I had a clown disappear recently. Never did find out what happened. My mushrooms are no where near that size. I'm thinking bristleworms ate him...I found some huge guys that prey when the food is put in the tank.