Sarcophyton glaucum (Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral Fragment)

Source: liveaquaria.com

QUICK STATS

• Care Level: Easy
  
• Temperament: Peaceful
  
• Lighting: Moderate to High
  
• Waterflow: Medium
  
• Placement: All
  
• Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
  
• Color Form: Tan
  
• Origin: Fiji, Indo-Pacific, Maldives
  
• Family: Alcyoniidae
  
• Insert Date: 17 March 2010

The Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral is referred to as Sarcophyton Coral, Mushroom, Leather, or Trough Corals. They are found in various shades of brown, tan or green, with white or gold polyps. It is difficult to identify many species because they all have the similar appearance of a mushroom or toadstool, each with a distinct stalk and capitulum (cap). As they grow older, they develop a folded appearance.
The Toadstool Mushroom Leather Corals are relatively peaceful, but adequate space should be provided between them and other corals in the reef aquarium. Some can produce toxins which are harmful to other reef inhabitants. The brown Sarcophyton Leather Corals from Idonesia and Tonga are easy to maintain in the reef aquarium and make an excellent coral for the beginning through expert reef aquarist. Toadstool Mushroom Leather Corals require medium to high lighting combined with medium to strong water movement. For continued good health, they will also require the addition of iodine, strontium, and other trace elements to the water.

Culturing by the experienced hobbyist is often accomplished by cutting off a portion of the Coral's crown and attaching that piece to live rock or placing it in the sandy bottom of the reef aquarium.

The symbiotic algae zooxanthellae hosted within its body provides the majority of its nutritional needs from the light driven process of photosynthesis. It will also benefit from additional food such as micro-plankton, baby brine shrimp, or foods designed for filter feeding invertebrates.

It is normally shipped attached to a small piece of live rock or rubble.

Links:
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/corals/Green-Toadstool.php
http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/567_Sarcophyton_glaucum.htm
http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/sarcophyton.htm

Cut lose by accident, but may now live his own life

The small fragment got lost unfortunately. Maybe it will show up when I take everything out, or maybe it is dead now. Hope for the best of course, was really curious if it would do good by itself.

I don’t think I will be moving the toadstool mushroom a lot. He is doing so well where he is now, just want to try and move him away from the glass a little, so I can clean the glass easier.
If I find the small fragment again I will give him a place on one of the sides towards the polyps. And maybe, just maybe, if I don’t find the fragment I will create a new one.

Found the fragment again, but we cant get to it. It's stuck between some gaps in the rock. We will have to see if we can put it somewhere it can grow, not going to declare it dead yet.

The fragment is officially gone...couldn't find it anymore when placing back the rocks. Who knows, maybe it turns up some day.