Propagating Mushrooms

[hoyadevil]

I am looking at trying to propagate my blue mushrooms to build a bigger colony. In looking at some references, they say you can cut the top off and the mushroom will make two....will this work or will I just kill the mushroom....just don't have the nerve to do it and cross my fingers!

[DevilBoy]

yes you can cut the crown of the mushroom off at the base where it is attached to the rock, and place the crown on another piece of rock and it will attach, then the base that was cut will grow a new crown. and you will end up with 2 shrooms. but i just let them split on there own.

[new reef retard]

I have heard that you can cut a piece off a mushroom and it will attach as well is this true or ???
are there other ways of propagation?

AL

[DevilBoy]

Originally Posted by new reef retard

I have heard that you can cut a piece off a mushroom and it will attach as well is this true or ???
are there other ways of propagation?

AL

yes that is also true. i have actually cut one off at the base, and sliced the crown, like you are cutting a pizza and they all attached and grew.

[three90s&125sump]

Mush rooms will grow after they have been put in a blender. Every little piece will make a new head. One way to get them to split on their own is to get an exacto knife or scalpula (sp?) and just cut it in half for just cut a peice off. The way I do it (blues are a little slower at this) is just acclimate them to being right under a MH and they will multiply so fast you'll wish you hadn't done it.

[lfish]

I have cut different mushrooms and it has worked for me, but with the electric blue mushrooms I have not done it yet.

[hoyadevil]

Thanks everyone, I will start the cutting and see what happens!

[chazz-66]

You can also try aiming a powerhead at them. They will spread that way too.

[Loverotties]

They should just take off buy themself!Thats my problem.How do you decress the amont,either in fragging or just flushing them?

[Linda]

loverotties, think you need to come to WI and give them to us!!!!!! Don't flush them........wanna send them to me?

[mdq]

It is very hard to make that first cut - but in the end its well worth it.

[DevilBoy]

just some advice from someone that has done it before, the mushrooms tend to get real slimey and hard to handle once out of the water. but once the first cut is done you should be on your way. actually i may have pics of me cutting them step by step if i can find them on my PC. if i have them i will post them for you Linda.

also i found the best and easiest way to attach mushrooms after fragging or even if you get loose shrooms from online or a local reefer is to follow these steps:

1. find yourself some mesh netting
2. find yourself some small rubberbands
3. then find your piece of liverock you want them attached to
4. spread the pieces of shrooms on the piece of liverock as you wish
5. lay your piece of mesh netting over the entire piece of live rock make it taut but not to taut that you squish the shrooms, but u dont want it too loose or the shrooms frags will weasel their way out, trust me i know i found out...
6. once that is done, take your rubberbands and place them around the rock and the netting to hold in place. ( i have used 3 rubberbands one on each end and one in the middle.)
7. the place your rock and shrooms into your tank in a low flow area and the shrooms should attach within a couple days
8. then remove the rubberbands and netting and now you got yourself a shroom rock

the whole process of cutting the frags and steps 1 - 7 above should take 15 mins.

if you want to try it Linda let me know, and i can help you thru it.

[lfish]

great tips!

[Liza]

what kind of netting do you use?

[mdq]

bridal viel netting (spelling?)