Are mushroom corals hard to keep?

Most mushroom coral are very easy to keep and are considered beginner coral. There are some exceptions for the higher end, more expensive mushroom coral however.

Where should I place mushroom coral?

Mushroom coral are usually placed near the bottom of the tank because they like low flow and do not need much light. Anywhere in your reef tank with low flow is perfectly acceptable, permitting light is low to medium (50-100 PAR).

How much light do mushroom corals need?

Mushroom Coral do not need much light to grow. In fact, they often like areas of 50 to 100 PAR.

Do mushroom corals multiply?

Yes, mushroom coral multiply by dropping baby mushroom coral nearby. They can also multiple by fragging but this is less natural compared to allowing them to drop baby mushrooms.

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Mushroom Coral Care Guide

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Last updated on June 8th, 2023

2023-06-08T00:09:13+00:00

Mushroom Coral Care Guide

Mushroom coral are generally considered to be easy coral that grow quickly. Most Mushroom coral are lower price, beginner coral, however there are a number of high end exceptions. Some of the most common mushroom coral are Discosoma, Rhodactis, Yuma, Riccordi (a type of yuma), and Eclectus mushroom coral.

While each type of mushroom coral have minor care differences, they are majorly the same in terms of care. I will try to call out some of the differences that are notable as we continue.

What are Mushroom Coral

Mushroom coral are a type of soft coral, mostly Corallimorpharia, that resemble mushroom caps in appearance. The way the coral behaves seems similar to an anemone and is often referred to as a mushroom anemone. The foot of the mushroom coral holds to the rock and can move slightly, but not nearly like that of actual anemones.

One more thing to note about mushroom coral is that you likely will not be able to glue them to rocks or frag plugs. Mushroom Coral can detach their foot and float away. That doesn't mean they died, but may be hard to find. It's best to keep mushroom coral in a container or mushroom box with some rubble to let them attach. You can then glue that rubble elsewhere as they don't often detach once they attach themselves.

Types of Mushroom Coral

There are a number of different mushroom coral, as mentioned early in this guide. Most of them are easy, but there are a couple that tend to need just a little more care. Below are some of the most popular kinds of mushroom coral.

Discosoma Mushroom Coral

Discosoma Mushroom Coral, sometimes referred to as Discos, are smooth mushroom coral often with dots or lines, and are among some of the easiest coral to keep. Discosoma Mushroom Coral reproduce quickly by themselves and respond well to fragging as well. When it comes to beginner coral, this is one of the easiest around.

Rhodactis Mushroom Coral

Rhodactis mushroom coral are very similar in difficulty to the Discosoma, but about as different in appearance as they can be. Rhodactis mushroom coral tend to be almost fuzzy in nature, rather than smooth. Rhodactis mushroom coral often bounce, growing little bubbles on them. While not overly uncommon for Rhodactis, often people will pay a higher price for the unique bounce bubbles.

Yuma Mushroom Coral

Yuma Mushroom Coral are typically very colorful and have bumps all over them. These Yuma Mushroom Coral bumps are in random patterns, unlike the Riccordia Yuma that are very uniform bumps covering them entirely.

Yuma Mushroom Coral is a bit more sensitive than other mushroom coral. They need stable environments with lower light and low flow. While not as easy as many of the other mushroom coral, they are still a beautiful addition to most reef tanks!

Riccordia Yuma Mushroom Coral

Riccordia mushroom coral, also known as Riccordia Florida, are organized mall bumps making up the entire body of the mushroom coral. These bumps are the same size, and usually uniform or orderly. These coral are very easy and reproduce slower than Rhodactis and Discosoma, but much faster than Eclectus mushroom coral.

Eclectus Mushroom Coral

The most popular Eclectus Mushroom is the Jawbreaker mushroom coral. These mushroom coral are considered high end and can be difficult to care for. Essentially these coral are just looking for a stable environment. Nothing special, but often beginners' tanks have parameter and temperature swings.

Eclectus mushroom coral look much like discosoma mushroom coral, but are much slower growing and are slow to reproduce. When cutting these coral, they may not respond well and may slowly die over a week or two as a result. They do drop babies like many other Mushroom coral, but again are slow to reproduce this way as well

How Fast do Mushroom Coral Grow?

Most Mushroom Coral Grow rather quickly. Some of the higher end coral will be slower growing, but most of them grow fast and spread quickly by dropping baby mushroom coral near their base.

How Do You Frag Mushroom Coral? How Do Mushroom Coral Reproduce?

Mushroom coral can naturally reproduce by dropping a baby mushroom coral often under their flesh. These two coral will grow separately from each other from then on.

Another method is to frag these mushroom coral by cutting them in half using a clean, ideally sterilized, razor blade. Whe. Doing this, you need to cut the mouth of the coral as well so that each half has a piece of the mouth to grow from.

Some of the higher end mushroom coral, such as the OG Bounce, do not respond well to this kind of fragging. One way to frag these mushroom coral is to put a small cut in the foot of the mushroom coral. This will often lead to the mushroom coral splitting itself in half, much like an anemone. This is much safer for f

Mushroom Coral Care - Flow

Mushroom coral generally do not like much flow at all. In fact, that is part of where mushroom boxes exist. Mushroom coral like to be near the bottom of the tank in areas with nearly no flow. There only needs to be enough flow to keep oxygen exchange.

Mushroom Coral Care - Lighting

Mushroom coral like VERY LOW light. Often I hear between 75 and 150 PAR, however, mine grow best at roughly 50-100 PAR. Thos is often in the corners and/or near the bottom of the reef tank. Mushroom Coral can live in higher light, around 150 PAR, but I find they do best in the lower lights.

For more about the different types of lighting, see the Reef Stable Saltwater Aquarium Lighting Guide.

Mushroom Coral Placement and Aggression

Mushroom coral are not aggressive, but can take up a lot of space when they grow quickly. The best placement is on lower rocks in slightly lower light areas where other coral wouldn't thrive as well. Generally this will also be farther away from other coral to prevent growing over them.

Feeding Mushroom Coral

Mushroom Coral are photosynthetic, and don't need any special feeding. That said, mushroom coral may eat foods such as Reef Roids or Red Sea AB+, but they are not required. Personally, I use the "juices" drained from defrosting frozen fish food as a food for my high-end mushroom coral such as Jawbraker Eclectus and OG Bounce Mushrooms. This seems to work well for me, but results may very as it can raise Phosphates quickly.

Mushroom Coral Care - Temperature

The commonly agreed upon temperature for Mushroom Coral is the same as most corals, averaging at 78 degrees F. Mushroom Coral can survive in a range of temperatures, however 78 is the average. The best bet is to keep the temperature stable, within 1 degree F, for the best results!

That aside, many mushroom coral tend to do slightly better in slightly colder water such as 76 degrees F. Since this is difficult to maintain when most other coral prefer warmer temperatures, 78 degrees is likely a better option.

Mushroom Coral Care - Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium

For Mushroom Coral, there is very little that needs to be done for alkalinity, calcium, or magnesium levels because these coral don't have calcium skeletons like LSP or SPS coral. Maintaining a stable alkalinity and calcium level is all you really need to do. While Mushroom Coral may not depend on these parameters, they can cause other changes to parameters within the reef and cause an instable environment.

Mushroom Coral Care - Nitrates and Phosphates

As a soft coral, Mushroom Coral do care about Nitrates and Phosphates! Mushroom coral often grow better in medium to high nutrient environment. Though this is a fine line because too much of this can cause coral to die as well. It may be safer to provide food instead of maintaining high nutrients in the reef.

Though you don't want to be absolutely zero on Nitrates or Phosphates, you also don't want to be too high either. The ideal levels for Nitrates is between 1 and 10 ppm. Phosphates should be roughly 0.01-0.05ppm.

If you are looking to lower your Nitrate and Phosphate, read through the Saltwater Aquarium Filtration Guide, and specifically pay attention to the biological filtration.

Other Resources

Mushroom Coral Care Tips from Tidal Gardens

Rhodactis Mushroom Coral