My Ricordea garden

[Matt888]

Thought I'd share my Ricordia in my 210g display. These are all wild caught Rics from the Keys. I'm a freediver (no air tanks) with a strong passion for the ocean and reef keeping. Yes, you are permitted to take Rics in the FL keys, but there are alot of rules that must be followed and I will not go into them all here. There's information on the FWC website for those interested in learning more. Many of these Rics have reproduced several times over since being placed in my display. I now have colonies of orange, red, blue, purple, green and they are thriving at the bottom of my tank under 400w radiums with 80w T5's (Geisemann fixture). They expand much larger though when the halides are off and the T5's are on. Yes, the Jackknife fish below I caught on one of my dives also. Such a cool fish! He's well behaved, reef safe, hardy, colorful, and active!

 

[skinz78]

Very nice! What type of fish is that one above them?

 

[1mbrews8]

cool! I'd love to be able to "catch" my own stuff :o)

ur lucky ! :o)

 

[Intricateart]

Thats awesome! We live in west central FL and we have a great time collecting here, I can only imagine how much wondrous things you see down there.

 

[playin gmz]

I have collected a few things at Sebastian Inlet (fla) we are pretty fortunate to able to do this and see things in there natural habitat.

 

[Matt888]

Thanks all. The yellow and black fish above them is a Jacknife, or aka Hi-Hat. I caught him in the Keys while catching lobster on opening week this past summer. I'm not really into too many soft corals, but I make the exception for Rics! SPS are what I enjoy mostly. Rics are just so colorful, hardy, and utilize the floor of the tank well. I plan on continuing to grow my collection with each summer trip down there. While these types of coral are not in every depth in the Keys, when you do find them, there are THOUSANDS within an area the size of a bedroom.

 

[Saulsa]

Awsome garden man

 

[ShippD]

Awesome for sure

 

[glb]

Great garden!!! What flow do they like best? I have a few and I'm trying to figure it out.

 

[Matt888]

Light to moderate flow. I'd error towards light flow though. In the wild they are in areas with low current also. They seem to like the slopes on the side of reefs and since they're on the bottom, they don't get alot of flow. Beware that our lighting spectrum can actually change their colors! My greens are brighter and more pastel than originally and the purple ones that are slightly under the rock overhang have remained purple, while the purple ones that get hit by my halides have hints of green now. There's a rumor going around that there are no "true" purple Rics. Well, mine were purple when I found them, and have remained purple in low light...

 

[tangboy]

Fabulous story ! I would love to have the opportunity to handpick a few choice rics while snorkeling.

 

[ReefRMadness]

Gorgeous

 

[spspirate]

Looking great!