Need a Coral ID please

[Kayanarka]

I bought this coral last week then went camping, and I can not remember the name or what my LFS said regarding placement. Can you please advise me what is this coral, what kind of lighting and flow does it like? Can it be placed on the back glass to coat the back, or should it be on a rock? I have to get him moved because my BTA has located a bit to close for comfort. Thank you, I am super embarrassed that I forgot what it is.

 

[F i s h y]

Ricordia. Low flow low to moderate lighting

 

[fishguy242]

ricordia mushroom...

 

[Kayanarka]

Thanks for the fast answers. I want to take it off the frag plug but wife and I are afraid of hurting it. What do you think of trying to pop him off the plug? My wife wants me to buy a set of frag clippers.

 

[shadow_k]

Thanks for the fast answers. I want to take it off the frag plug but wife and I are afraid of hurting it. What do you think of trying to pop him off the plug? My wife wants me to buy a set of frag clippers.

I wouldn’t touch the frag plug in time it will grow over the plug and you won’t see it.

 

[mdb_talon]

I would try to cut the stem off that plug if you can. Leave mushroom attached to the disk and place disk where wanted. A ricordea will always look funny just sitting up on pedestal like that

 

[Tired]

Yep, just chop the stem off. Wire cutters or bone cutters will do it.

Mushroom corals can normally move around on their own (they're more like anemones than corals), but probably this one's been glued in place, to be so perfectly on that plug. It may eventually move.

Ricordeas do best on the sandbed in most tanks. It looks like it may be trying to retreat from the light in your pictures there. I would chop the stem off the plug and press the plug down so that the top of it is level with the sandbed. Maybe place it at the base of your rock, so it gets some shade. Rics should spread out and expand nicely, not scrunch up like that.

 

[Kayanarka]

Yep, just chop the stem off. Wire cutters or bone cutters will do it.

Mushroom corals can normally move around on their own (they're more like anemones than corals), but probably this one's been glued in place, to be so perfectly on that plug. It may eventually move.

Ricordeas do best on the sandbed in most tanks. It looks like it may be trying to retreat from the light in your pictures there. I would chop the stem off the plug and press the plug down so that the top of it is level with the sandbed. Maybe place it at the base of your rock, so it gets some shade. Rics should spread out and expand nicely, not scrunch up like that.

Thank you, we moved him to the sand bed. I have 4 inches of sand so we were able to just push the stem of the plug into the sand. We placed him within 1" of our rocks in the front. The lights are out for the night now, so I will post another picture tomorrow night to see how he likes his new spot.

I feel like I should post photos of all of our corals now, we thought he looked great.

 

[Tired]

You do have a nice ricordea there. Hopefully he does well for you, because then you'll have several nice ricordeas. He might have gotten used to that spot eventually, but they generally prefer a bit lower light.

Careful with that sand. With that depth, it's easy to build up gunk in the depths, unless something's regularly stirring it. And nassarius snails (commonly sold to stir sand) don't do much, particularly in that depth.

 

[ChaosAquaculture]

Florida ricordia! Keep in low to medium light - kali

 

[Kayanarka]

You do have a nice ricordea there. Hopefully he does well for you, because then you'll have several nice ricordeas. He might have gotten used to that spot eventually, but they generally prefer a bit lower light.

Careful with that sand. With that depth, it's easy to build up gunk in the depths, unless something's regularly stirring it. And nassarius snails (commonly sold to stir sand) don't do much, particularly in that depth.

I thought I read that 3 " of sand was bad but 4 " was enough to create the second batch of bacteria that work without oxygen?

What do you suggest to help stir the sand up better?

 

[Tired]

You'll probably need more sand than that to create a specialized deep sandbed, and for a first tank, you really want to be working without that extra complexity. Unless you're looking at a jawfish or something else that creates deep burrows, an inch of sand will suffice perfectly well. Pistol shrimp, watchman gobies, etc, will all do just fine in that depth or a little more.

Unless you're inclined to remove a bunch of sand, or add more for a true deep sandbed (which is generally at least 6-8"), the best thing to do is probably just to stir a patch of the sand with a chopstick or similar every time you do a water change.