Mystery Anenome / Riccordea Care

[PaperArrow]

Hi anybody able to identify this anenome that has appeared on my rock?, i noticed it about 3 months ago, and it has since easily doubled in size. it now measures approx 20mm fully extended. i guess it is some sort of pest nem.

while i am here i picked up a mini ricordea frag at the week end i have read up on its care, but does anybody have any extended advice/experiences with them very young ones in particular ?

Look forward to hearing your opinions

Many thanks

 

[Musho3210]

white orange ball corallimorph (mushroom) theres a care sheet guide somewhere in this forum for them. Same goes to rics.

 

[Lynden]

Agreed, probably a corallimorph.

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Saltwater-Invertebrates/229712/White-Ball-Corallimorph/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/Saltwate...l-Corallimorph/[/URL]

 

[steelhealr]

Hope this helps.
SH
http/www.fishforums.net/content/Saltwate...ordea-mushroom/

 

[Donya]

Hi anybody able to identify this anenome that has appeared on my rock?, i noticed it about 3 months ago, and it has since easily doubled in size. it now measures approx 20mm fully extended. i guess it is some sort of pest nem.

It's not a nem - my vote is on orange ball corallimorph, which is very similar to the white ball corallimorph in the link Lynden posted. As for whether it would be considered a "pest," you would likely only have to worry about it if you have really small fish in the tank. Other than what I've seen in my own tanks, I've not really heard/read/etc. many stories of people getting to them to reproduce prolifically, so you probably won't have to worry about being overrun with them either.

 

[PaperArrow]

Thats great news thanks, How big will a corallimorph grow? they look pretty diddy in the pics, ive been feeding mine a wad of chopped frozen once a week since i noticed, hoping it would continue to grow into somthing interesting, which it appears it has. do corallimorphs intensify in colouration due to diet, light, water flow etc?

Look forward to hearing your opinions.

 

[Donya]

Thats great news thanks, How big will a corallimorph grow?

I can't speak for the exact species you have, but size depends greatly on how you feed them and there's not a lot of literature info on max sizes. My largest white ball corallimorphs (very closely related to the orange ball species) extend to have about a 3" tentacle span (diameter from tip to tip). Those are some I'm specially growing though to sell off though - most of the ones I've been growing don't exceed a 1.5" tentacle span, with a lot being well below that if I don't feed them diligently.

they look pretty diddy in the pics, ive been feeding mine a wad of chopped frozen once a week since i noticed, hoping it would continue to grow into somthing interesting, which it appears it has.

If you want to maximize the growth, feed daily or every other day depending on how much they accept. They eat a LOT compared to their mushroom relatives and really rely on food more than lighting. A corallimorph can usually eat up a piece of meat up to the diameter of its oral disk every couple of days or so. Live food can also them to extend more. If they have to fight with something every now and then they seem to stretch out more than if they just catch passing particles (plus it's also pretty amazing to watch how fast they move when wrestling with food...I'm sure someone out there will think I'm a meanie for that lol).

do corallimorphs intensify in colouration due to diet, light, water flow etc?

I don't know if orange ball corallimorphs develop much in the way of body coloration. The tentacles will always be clear and the color fo the balls on the tips will be pretty static. For the white-ball corallimorphs, the best thing to improve color I've found is brighter light combined with more frequent feedings of meaty foods. One or the other doesn't seem to do the trick. It looks like yours is kind of hiding out under a rock right now, so start by increasing feeding and that might convince it to come out a bit more and might help the body color. For water flow, don't go too high or they will run off to hide under things and generally not open up.