Ricordea florida (Ricordea Mushroom)

Source:

QUICK STATS

• Care Level: Moderate
  
• Temperament: Semi-aggressive
  
• Lighting: Low to Moderate
  
• Waterflow: Low
  
• Placement: Middle
  
• Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
  
• Origin: Indischer Ozean, Indo Pazifik, Indonesien, Mikronesien, Philippinen, Queensland, Ryukyu Islands, Samoa, Singapur
  
• Family: Ricordeidae
  
• Insert Date: 22 June 2011

The Ricordea is a member of the order Corallimorpharia (Stephenson, 1937), and has short, club, or berry-shaped tentacles. It shares some similarities to stony corals, and is also termed a Disc Anemone. It is found in a variety of color forms. This type of mushroom is highly prized by the avid collector and makes a vibrant addition to the reef aquarium. Collected in small numbers, this coral is in very high demand by the discriminating reef aquarist.
It requires a low to medium light level, but metal halide lighting may be too bright, so when using halides, place the coral at the bottom of the aquarium, under an overhang. It prefers a low water movement within the aquarium. It is considered semi-aggressive and requires adequate space between itself and other corals. It reproduces by longitudinal fission.

The symbiotic algae zooxanthellae hosted within it provide the majority of its nutritional requirements from the light driven process of photosynthesis. It also eats plankton and smaller invertebrates such as crustaceans.

This is one of the mushrooms from the Ricordea rock in the RSM. I found it lose in the sand and decided to put it in a shotglass to live a life of its own.