Mushroom Propagation Project

[the curious]

Hey all. I just finished up a couple mushroom propagation projects, so I figured I'd share my experience and some pics. I cut a very large rhodactus mushroom, that was attached to 2 small rocks, in half, I also cut a green striped, a metallic blue, a hairy green, and several spotted red mushroom polyps off of my live rock. I then cut each polyp into 8 pieces, carefully making sure to include a portion of the coral's mouth in each cutting. Then I simply placed most of the cuttings on live rock, wrapped the lr in pantyhose, and slowly, so the cuttings don't get jostled around, placed the lr back in my main tank.:thumbs: I had a couple cuttings where the mouth was not cut from the rock, so I basically got a donut cutting, with no mouth, which I then cut into smaller clippings. I then put a thin layer of crushed coral in the bottom of a floating breeder box and placed the clippings

Now it is a waiting game. I did notice that thicker mushrooms, the green striped and the metallic blue specifically, reacted much better, and are attaching and reforming at an incredibly fast rate, compared to the thinner sp. of mushroom corals. Next project is gonna be cutting a couple Ricordia and a green tipped hairy mushroom.

I'll post pics in a couple weeks when the pantyhose come off...that sounded a lil raunchy...but if anyone has any other mushroom fragging ideas/techniques, or wants to post their own frag project experiences...please do.:up:
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[coolsurf]

Keep us posted. You have some nice looking shrooms'. The panty hose/nylon idea is about the best way to go IMO.

 

[gnashty]

good job, put one in a blender!!

 

[the curious]

gnashty;603534 wrote: good job, put one in a blender!!

I have heard that works...Have you tried it?

 

[superclown]

Maybe try one of those food processors the mini black and decker ones can be had for about 10 bucks
Wouldn't want to eat out of it afterwards lol

 

[the curious]

SuperClown;603539 wrote: Wouldn't want to eat out of it afterwards lol

Yeah... definitely not. I might have to try this blender method.

What would you do once you blended it? I mean...if you were to spread the sludge from blending the coral onto live rock, wouldn't it just come right off once you placed the rock back into your system? Or would pantyhose work for that as well?

 

[superclown]

I imagine you would only chop it up not liquify it rinse.the individual pieces and put then in a basket attached to side of tank with some rock rubble. I have some of the sink baskets these would allow waterbto flow through but the holes are small enough to keep the pieces inside the basket

 

[gnashty]

No, I havent tried it - not sure I would want to. The myth Ive heard is to just pour the mushroom smoothie into the tank and millions of mushrooms will grow. You would need a dedicated tank with barely any flow or filtration to test it I would imagine

 

[the curious]

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Well, I had about 50/50 luck, with the red spotted shrooms, but very good luck with the metallic blue and the green striped. my hypothesis is that the pantyhose might be better traded out with bride's veil. I plan on fragging less of the red spotted shrooms, but I plan on fragging a lot more of the blue and green ones.

 

[the curious]

In addition, I tried placing a blue and a green clipping on a rock, and then just covering the rock with an upside down plastic container, to keep the cleaning crew away.

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After this I had an idea, so I purchased a Lee's plastic floating breeder box for freshwater live-bearers, that has a lid, and that seems to be a perfect place of refuge. I can simply place a couple pieces of live rock rubble in the container, place frags on top, and cover. This is proving to be a perfect way to frag mushroom corals.

 

[superclown]

Not a bad idea there

 

[cr500_af]

gnashty;603547 wrote: No, I havent tried it - not sure I would want to. The myth Ive heard is to just pour the mushroom smoothie into the tank and millions of mushrooms will grow. You would need a dedicated tank with barely any flow or filtration to test it I would imagine

I saw a nano where this was done... I don't know what they did re: flow and filtration, but let me tell you, there were THOUSANDS of mushrooms in there.

 

[raisedonnintendo]

gnashty;603547 wrote: No, I havent tried it - not sure I would want to. The myth Ive heard is to just pour the mushroom smoothie into the tank and millions of mushrooms will grow. You would need a dedicated tank with barely any flow or filtration to test it I would imagine

I've said that before but just joking. I didn't think it would actually work. But if someone makes mushroom soup let me know how it turn out. If it goes for the worse I'll make some grilled cheese I'm sure we can save the project