Tips To Maintain Ricordea In Your Aquarium
Ricordea, also known as flower mushroom coral, add a lot of color to your aquarium and they are fairly easy to maintain. When shopping for Ricordea, you will generally have two species to choose from: Ricordea Yuma and Ricordea Florida. They are ideal for those who are beginners as well as those who are experienced with aquariums. Although Ricordea are easy to care for, there are a few things to consider before including them in your aquarium. Here are a few tips to maintain the Ricordea in your aquarium.
Acclimating to Your Aquarium
When you buy Ricordea online, it's normal for the Ricordea to deflate during the shipping process, so they will be extremely small when you receive them. However, once they are placed in the aquarium and adjust to the conditions, they will fully open. It typically takes about one week for them to fully acclimate and reopen. The Ricordea should have been delivered pre-attached to rock, but they may have become detached during shipping. They can be bonded to the rock in your aquarium with epoxy or glue, but they must be attached to live rock in order to survive.
Bright Lighting
In order for the Ricordea in your aquarium to maintain their vibrant color and health, it is important that they have moderately bright lighting, so the aquarium should have powerful LED's. The best depth for the lights will depend on the specific type of aquarium lights you have, so you may have to go through a brief trial and error period. Although LED's are commonly used, metal halides are generally recommended, but you will need to slowly acclimate the Ricordea to the intensity of light over a period of a few days.
Water Flow
Ricordea requires low-to-moderate water flow. In order for them to grow and multiply, the water flow cannot be too intense. If there is a heavy flow of water, it will cause them to bump into other corals you may have in the aquarium, which can damage the Ricordea as well as the other coral species in the tank.
Feeding
Ricordea are photosynthetic corals, which means the majority of their nutrition comes from photosynthesis. However, it is important to remember that Ricordea are live, so they have to eat. They are able to capture brine shrimp and other types of zooplankton-like foods, so for the best growth, its best to regularly feed them foods, such as Mysis or brine shrimp and other small zooplankton-like foods.
Ricordea coral aren't typically overly aggressive, but it is important that you avoid placing them too close to other species of coral. When given the space, they will reproduce rapidly and spread over the rock in your aquarium, typically moving towards the light in the tank. Some mushroom coral has stinging tentacles that may damage other coral in the tank, so they should be placed carefully. It is also to keep this in mind when you buy Ricordea and other types of coral to be placed in the tank together.
