Propagating 'Mushroom' Corals

Introduction

From 1998 to 2005 I ran my own Coral Farming business, called The Other World. As well as propagating a large variety of coral species, part of my 'mission' was to encourage other fishkeepers to have a go at propagating their own corals. One of the most popular parts of The Other World's website was my coral propagation guide, parts of which are reproduced on Gabooch.co.uk. Below is a brief description of my method for propagating 'Mushroom' corals.

What you need:

Method

Step 1 - Select a healthy animal, or group of animals, to propagate. It is generally easier to propagate large mushrooms, so try and avoid any parent animals which are smaller than a 50 pence coin.

Step 2 - Using scissors, cleanly cut through the 'stalk' of the mushroom, completely severing the top disc. It is usually easier to do this underwater, rather than removing the rock the mushroom is on from the tank. Remove the 'severed' disc from the tank, and leave the stalk where it was - in time it will grow a new disc, and be "as good as new".

Step 3 - Cut the disc into several 'pizza slice' sections. Depending on the size of the disc (bear in mind that it will shrink significantly after being cut from the stalk) you may be able to get up to 6 slices. It is essential that each 'slice' contains some tissue from the central 'mouth' of the disc. Without some of this tissue attached, the individual 'slices' will not grow into new mushrooms.

A plastic cup, containing mushroom cuttings, covered by fine netting which prevents the small mushroom cuttings 'escaping'!

Step 4 - Add a handful of well-washed coral sand to the bottom of the plastic bowl, and fill with water from the aquarium. Place the mushroom 'slices' into the bowl (you may need tweezers to pick up the 'slices') and cover the bowl with a small square of netting, secured with an elastic band (see picture above). Place the bowl in an area of your tank with lower lighting and water-flow levels.

The aim of this is to leave the mushroom 'slices' to develop into minature replicas of the parent animal. As they mature, each 'slice' will attach itself to a single grain of gravel - this usually takes several weeks. After this has happened, you can (using the tweezers) pick up each grain of gravel that the mushroom cuttings have attached to, and superglue them to a suitable substrate (such as a Milliput disc).

Step 5 - Rinse any equipment you have used in freshwater, to remove any coral mucus and saltwater. Wash your hands thoroughly!

I have used this technique on numerous varieties/colours of mushroom 'corals'.