Leather Mushroom

[stang1]

I read another thread on keeping a Leather mushroom and decided that will be ideal for our tank.
I was just wondering how big they actually got?
Any help much appreciated,
Angie

 

[Mr Miagi]

Do you mean a Sacrophyton sp. or a Discosoma sp.? I have no idea what a "Leather Mushroom" is, as both terms are frequently used to describe a myriad of corals. Do you have the link?

Edit: A quick search of Google provided images of a Sacrophyton sp. so im guessing thats what you meant.

As you can tell from this link they can get rather large. Fragging when they get too large is simple, so no need to worry about potential future problems.

 

[stang1]

Hi Mr Miagi,
I was reading a thread on here yesterday called "When Can I add Anenomes" and someone mentioned it. It looked similar to an anenome and the picture showed a clownfish in it.
I'm not sure how to add a link but I hope this info helps.

 

[Mr Miagi]

I see now. Navarre has a Sacrophyton sp. "Leather coral". They can get huge. Size shouldn't be an issue as stated before, as you can always frag it, or trade it in.

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, you can always frag it or trade it in. Sacrophytons can get HUGE, but they typically grow pretty slow and wont get out of hand for a couple years at least

 

[stang1]

Thankyou both for the information!
Our tank is still cycling at the moment and we've yet to add the live rock.
I'll probably be asking a few more questions as I go along.

 

[sianeds]

I have a lovely Sarcophyton which is splitting itself at the moment. That is how they reproduce in the wild. If you do get one you may find that yours does the same when it gets large enough and solve the "too big" problem naturally If I wanted to speed things up I could slide a very sharp knife up the split.

 

[stang1]

I have a lovely Sarcophyton which is splitting itself at the moment. That is how they reproduce in the wild. If you do get one you may find that yours does the same when it gets large enough and solve the "too big" problem naturally If I wanted to speed things up I could slide a very sharp knife up the split.

Thanks for that Sianeds.
Our biggest concern was how big one would actually get, but knowing that it will "split" is reassuring.

 

[sianeds]

Well it could split. Mine is about 15cm tall and when it last fully opend was about 25cm in diameter.

This is it nearly fully open

This is it splitting. You can see a small hole at the bottom and a line up the middle where it is dividing.

If it didn't split by itself it's pretty easy to do it yourself if you have a sharp knife. Just make sure there is some of the "foot" on each piece you cut off

 

[stang1]

Great pictures Sianeds!
That is really helpful as we aren't too clued up on corals.
Thankyou so much for your help.