mushroom hitchhiker

[ragawaga]

Hi all,
A few days ago I bought a piece of live rock. It isn't that much to look at, but it had some macro-algae on it, so I thought that it would be a good way to help keep water parameters stable. A day after it was in the tank, I noticed that I had a little stow-away....a brown mushroom, it must've shriveled up when I put it in. Anyway, I'm not too clued up on how to care for them, so if someone could give me info or point me to a web-page I'd be grateful.


P.S. can mushrooms reproduce if only 1 is present?

 

[Anonymous]

Mushrooms are very easy. Just set it in a place with moderate light but not shade and that's about it.

They will reproduce by budding even if there's only one present. They are more likely to bud if many are present though. If you want more I would suggest you wait until it gets nice and healthy and then take a sharp razor and slice it into quarters, just like you would slice a pizza. It will grow into a colony from there.

 

[ragawaga]

I'm pretty new....I haven't got any corals yet.....I just want to get the tank established with the fish, inverts (glass shrimp and scarlet hermit) before I get into anything complicated. Anyway...by slicing it, do I leav it attatched to the rock where it is...and also, how long does it take for the quarters to grow into full mushrooms?