Mark Martin on Attaching Ricordea Polyps
Mark Martin is Director of Marine Ornamental Research at Blue Zoo

We’ve been selling a lot of Ricordea florida this week (probably because they are 50% off—go figure!), and I’m getting some questions about dealing with loose ricordea polyps. While the techniques I will share in my “Tip of the Week” this week apply specifically to ricordea, they can also be used for mushrooms as well.

Ricordea comes from the Family Ricordeidae. As such, it is a corallimorpharian (Order Corallimorpharia) from the Class Anthoza, which, of course, makes it a Cnidarian (Phylum Cnidaria). I share all of that with you only to then tell you that the corallimorphs exist in a state of taxonomical limbo—in other words, when it comes to Ricordea, you are going to see a lot of debate.

One thing that is not debatable (in my humble opinion) is how best to deal with loose ricordea polyps. A single ricordea polyp may be “encouraged” to attach itself to a rock in one of two ways, and that’s the heart of this week’s tip.

The first way is to carefully place the polyp on the desired piece of live rock and then cover it with a hairnet to hold it loosely in place. After three or four days, the polyp should be attached and the hairnet can be removed.

If the hairnet approach is not to your liking, I’d suggest you consider placing a pile of rubble to one side of the tank. Make sure the rubble pile has good flow, and then place the ricordea polyp in the rubble pile. If the polyp does not get blown free, chances are it will attach itself to a piece of the rubble within a few days. Once it is attached you can move the piece of rubble with the attached ricordea to another place in the aquarium.

Keep in mind that this technique works great with mushrooms as well.

If you have a question you would like answered in my weekly “Ask Mark” column, please e-mail me at mark@bluezooaquatics.com. To see all of the past “Ask Mark” tips, please visit the Blue Zoo Aquatics Resources page.

Published 15 July 2008. © Blue Zoo Aquatics