Actinodiscus sp (Red Mushroom)

Source: liveaquaria.com

QUICK STATS

• Care Level: Moderate
  
• Temperament: Semi-aggressive
  
• Lighting: Moderate
  
• Waterflow: Low to Medium
  
• Placement: All
  
• Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
  
• Color Form: Red
  
• Origin: Central Pacific, Eastern Asia, South Asia
  
• Family: Actinodiscidae/Discosomatidae
  
• Insert Date: 14 December 2009

The Actinodiscus Mushrooms are also referred to as Mushroom Anemones and Disc Anemones. They were previously in a genus called Discosoma. These invertebrates display a wide variety of colors, textures, and patterns. Some are solid colors, whereas, others are striped or spotted. The red specimens can vary from a light pinkish purple to a vivid red. The taxonomy of the various species is in a state of flux, and will probably continue to change.
They are hardy and moderately easy to maintain. In general, they need a medium light level, and should be placed lower in the aquarium if the light intensity is high. The Actinodiscus Mushrooms prefer a low to medium water flow within the aquarium, although different species may have different requirements. They are semi-aggressive and require adequate space between themselves and other corals and sessile invertebrates. Each ships as several individual mushrooms attached to several small rocks which are glued to a single rock.

An Actinodiscus Mushrooom receives some of its nutritional requirements through the photosynthesis of the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae which it hosts. It also feeds on other nutrients and particulate matter and benefits from additional food in the form of micro-plankton or brine shrimp fed to each polyp of the colony.

Links:
http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/1933_Actinodiscus_sp..htm
http://hubpages.com/hub/Mushroom-Coral

After removing some of the algea around it, the mushroom appeared to have attached itself to the rock and also seems to be growing pretty good already.

The algae surrounding the Mushroom are still growing fast, have removed some but the clownfish didn't agree on me removing the algae. The mushroom itself is growing fast also.

Removed allot of the algae around the mushroom, now its more visible. Only problem is that its root is located on top of one of the algae strings :p

He has one of his kind next to him now, must say that he is growing rather strange, might have something to do with the strange shape the rock has :p

The mushroom is still doing well and growing nicely

The green mushroom is growing well, just like the red mushroom. Don’t really think I will change their location much. I am hoping I can find some loose mushrooms in other colours to add to the rock, because I like the colour variation on it. Only then the Halimeda has to be removed.

The mushrooms will also keep their location as much as possible. The idea is to put it on the ground level between the two tables. I want to put some more loose mushrooms around it so that the whole separation of the two tables will consist of mushrooms in all sorts of colours. It looks nice in my mind, hopefully I can make it come true

Found a nice overall mushroom article on Hubpages

The Red Mushroom, also becoming a problem since it’s overgrowing the Green Mushroom. We are going to try and move it a bit, see if we can.

Well, the moving is not going to be easy. It looks like it has it's root between gaps in the rock. We removed almost all the Halimeda algea from the rock, and also removed some starting Sea Pearls.

Seem to have managed nicely, here is a glimps of them in their new location.

The Red and Green Mushrooms are getting bigger again, they seem to have survived the whole thing without a sweat.

The mushrooms now have a new friend on their rock, a blue mushroom. See if everything can grow together on this rock.

The mushroom rock is doing fine, the new one doesn’t really expend yet but the other two are getting very large. Curious on when they will split/multiply. Only problem is that the rock is covered with sea anemones, and also some Halimeda is showing on the rock again.

The first mushroom rock is pretty full, the red one is huge, the green one is getting bigger also and the blue mushroom is also starting to expend. So any new mushrooms will be put on a new and bigger rock.

The old mushrooms are still fine. They change size and position every day, really fun to see how they look every time.

The red mushroom is becoming bigger every day, the green mushroom moved to the side now to get some breathing space. The blue mushroom is growing bigger also.

This weekend my girlfriend noticed something nice in the aquarium, underneath the oldest mushrooms there where two small ones. At first she blamed me for getting new corals without telling her, but then we figured the mushrooms (both red and green) split. The new ones don’t really have a solid colour yet, but I guess that is normal? One of them is turning red and the other green/red. I’m really happy about it (can’t tell right?).