Should you target feed your mushrooms?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

How many of you guys are target feeding your mushrooms? Do you find that target feeding makes a difference in growth/multiplication rate? Is it better for mushrooms that are bigger? Smaller? Share your experiences with us!

Hungry mushrooms photo by @Ben Weaver

 

[blaxsun]

I target feed Reef Roids, but I'm honestly not sure if it makes any difference in growth (I turn the pumps off during feeding so the wavemakers circulate whatever's in the water column as well). On the other hand, all my mushrooms seem to be doing really good, so...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Every time I feed the fish, they get something to eat and look like little trumpets

 

[Miami Reef]

Another mushroom thread??

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Another mushroom thread??

It's mushroom week!

 

[Eagle_Steve]

It's mushroom week!

Well lets do this.

I feed mine meaty foods. They eat it, so either like it or just want to make me happy.

Now for the "lets do this"

@Lost in the Sauce @F i s h y @LRT have tons of shrooms. What do they do? Hopefully they chime in.

But being as it seems to be shroom week.

 

[Miami Reef]

It's mushroom week!

I can’t wait to see your aquascape and mushrooms soon!!

 

[Wasabiroot]

I feed mine because I'm sure it'd take a small creature otherwise

 

[PeterC99]

I Never feed mushrooms. A well balanced reef is all that is needed.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I do target feed my shrooms as often as I target feed corals, which is only probably once a month so not often.

Many of my mushrooms eat when the fish do. LRS in the water will turn a rock of mushrooms into a rock of onions with the quickness.

Target feeding tiny mushrooms /foot boogers seems to be the largest gain IMHO and I will do this twice a week in the frag tank until they are big enough to get that LAMP!

 

[DannoOMG]

I would target feed some powdered coral food or sometimes a frozen piece of mysis would lane on our flame thrower yuma. It hasn't been a year and we are looking at 5 new mushrooms (maybe more). The original plug is about a couple inches down from the original shroom.

Or maybe these shrooms just grow like crazy on their own and I am making this out to be something when it isn't.

 

[SauceyReef]

My yuma seems to actively catch food while my riccordias do not.

 

[LRT]

Well lets do this.

I feed mine meaty foods. They eat it, so either like it or just want to make me happy.

Now for the "lets do this"

@Lost in the Sauce @F i s h y @LRT have tons of shrooms. What do they do? Hopefully they chime in.

But being as it seems to be shroom week.

Can't speak for the wife but I personally don't bother anymore. At least once or twice a week I'll make it rain with an extra cube of mysis or fish eggs and make sure they all get enough food on them. I'll do this especially if I feed fish and shrooms smell chum in water and start cupping like they are hungry.
My shrooms won't eat if they aren't hungry thats how I judge it.
My shrooms eat everything that makes it to them at this point or not haha.
Having said that it may be necessary to spot feed especially in ULNS or while building/balancing nutrient levels in new tank water column. I do have a cpl that started losing color when I let phosphates bottom out.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Absolutely. I think their surface area is plenty sufficient to help them thrive. They are a very successful coral design with their toxins and don't really need much help. They 100% have a reduced or weakened feeding response when they aren't hungry and won't balloon. I think once every two weeks at the most directly for mine, and only because my fish load is low.

 

[shakacuz]

i’ve never fed my shrooms

 

[damsels are not mean]

Mine don't seem to eat anything visible.

 

[Pankney72]

So, when I was getting into corals I did off and on trials of target feeding vs passive. of my corals that have a feeding response my ricordia were the only ones that didn’t have a noticeable bump in growth during regular target feeding… so I dunno… I throw some food on them when I think about it but I don’t worry about it.

 

[Chrisv.]

My rics eat a ton. My jawbreakers never ever eat no matter what I feed them. Anyone getting jawbreakers to eat??

 

[CoralB]

One or twice a week I feed my shrooms . I feel it makes a difference , if not immediately In reproduction but certainly in growth and health . They seem more color intense .

 

[SecondCityCorals]

No offense but is there any way to opt out of these alerts so they dont show up?