Ricordea florida

About this coral

The textured oral disc and central mouth characterise its appearance. In R. florida the area immediately around the mouth usually has a different distribution of tentacles from R. yuma, but a single intensely blue sales photograph can mislead. Use origin and reliable identification alongside visible features. Multiple mouths may be part of division. A colour variant is not a separate species. The foot attaches to substrate; pulling it roughly away may cause damage and is not normal placement practice.

Natural habitat

R. florida belongs to tropical western Atlantic reefs, including the Caribbean. Its light-using symbionts benefit from suitable exposure, but conditions vary between localities. Do not translate an assumed natural depth directly into aquarium placement height. Recent light exposure is useful information for cultured specimens. Provide rock that receives light and gentle circulation, without sediment continually moving across the oral disc.

Aquarium and layout

A stable low to middle holder is practical when suitable light reaches it. Give the disc room to open without touching neighbours. A separate small rock can simplify later relocation. Check attachment before a snail or crab overturns the holder. No sufficiently supported species-specific minimum volume applies independently of maintenance and layout. Evaporation, heat and local pump exposure deserve extra attention in small tanks.

Water conditions

This corallimorph does not build a calcareous skeleton but still depends on stable marine water quality. Track salinity and temperature and avoid abrupt corrections. Assess calcium, alkalinity and magnesium in the context of the whole reef; add them according to measured consumption, not an automatic Ricordea shopping list. A nutrient-bearing environment is no reason to let organic waste accumulate. Because hard species limits for nitrate and phosphate are insufficiently established, those fields remain deliberately unfilled.

Lighting and acclimation

Moderate lighting is a sensible starting point, taking the specimen's previous conditions into account. Advice varies and does not establish universal hard PAR boundaries for this guide. Measure at the selected position and increase exposure gradually where needed. Strong colour under blue lighting does not demonstrate optimum care. Check expansion, intact tissue and longer-term development. Give a new animal time to adjust rather than changing height and lamp settings every day.

Water movement

Low to moderate indirect movement allows the disc to open and carries debris away. A hard directed jet may fold the disc or contribute to detachment. If that happens, investigate the cause and offer a calmer attachment site with suitable small stones if necessary. Stagnation is not the objective: oxygen and waste exchange must continue. Recheck local conditions when nearby corals grow or a cleaned pump runs more strongly.

Feeding

Small animal-based particles may be offered as supplements when the disc actually carries them to its mouth. A response to a food cloud does not necessarily mean that the food is suitable or ingested. Use modest portions that can be processed promptly and avoid leaving large chunks. Watch for fish and shrimp stealing the portion. Feeding supplements photosynthesis; it is not a reason to add unlimited coral powder or amino acids.

Growth and behaviour

Natural division may begin with more than one mouth and a gradual constriction of the disc. Allow time and do not force separation. Young portions need a good attachment site and room. Growth varies with conditions and cannot be promised as a fixed number of new animals each month. Compare photographs to distinguish real expansion from daily changes in shape. Meanwhile check that the group is not beginning to press against other corals.

Aggression and spacing

Direct contact may be harmful even without long sweeper tentacles. Keep the fully expanded disc clear of neighbouring living tissue and reserve room for division. A fixed distance in centimetres cannot guarantee against later expansion. Near an LPS, the reach of that neighbour's tentacles also counts; the Ricordea may be the vulnerable animal. Choose manageable growing space and intervene before touching edges suffer lasting injury.

Keeping with fish

A fish's general reef-safe rating is insufficient for every corallimorph pairing. Nipping dwarf angelfish may injure tissue, while sand-sifting fish mainly deposit sediment on low discs. During feeding a fish may remove food without normally eating coral. Observe these mechanisms separately. Repeated closure at a particular time or place warrants watching tankmate behaviour alongside checking water and lighting.

Keeping with corals

Other calmly placed corals may share the system while their living tissues remain separate. A torch is a poor immediate neighbour because of its longer tentacle reach. Discosoma may gradually occupy available rock instead. A taller SPS colony can eventually cast shade. Suitability therefore involves future size, light distribution and substrate management, not merely overlapping water values today.

Other invertebrates

Assess shrimp, crabs, hermits, snails and sea urchins by species. Small grazers may disturb loose holders, and food-stealing animals may hinder targeted feeding. These differ from actually eating tissue. A label such as clean-up crew does not support a safe match. Relationships remain unknown when concrete information is missing. Freshwater invertebrates in the existing database are not used as marine companions.

Propagation and fragging

Natural division is preferable to intervention during routine care. A young disc already attached securely to a separate stone can be moved with that holder. Do not pull the foot free or apply glue to the living surface. Anyone considering active propagation should have an experienced grower assess health and suitability. Protect eyes and hands from mucus and work so loose material cannot enter a pump.

Possible problems

Watch persistent retraction, detachment, disintegrating tissue and continuing bleaching. Check recent lighting changes, direct flow, injury and salinity. Daily shape variation or temporary closure after touch need not indicate disease. A persistently open mouth combined with deterioration does require investigation. Avoid arbitrary treatments and repeated new additives. Record progression and seek experienced help when tissue deteriorates rapidly or several animals react together.

Keeping with other species

Discosoma mushroom corals

Discosoma

Suitable with conditions

Often practical in separate lower positions. Keep expanded discs from touching and prevent Discosoma from crowding out Ricordea.

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Micromussa lordhowensis

Micromussa lordhowensis

Suitable with conditions

Lower placement can work, but do not put them against each other. Allow for inflated tissue and Micromussa aggression, including after lights out.

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Diamond watchman goby

Valenciennea puellaris

Suitable with conditions

A low Ricordea can be covered by sand from the diamond goby. Choose a stable raised position outside its working area.

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Care products

No sufficiently supported match to a specific existing care product has been established for this coral. Follow the feeding and care chapters; an absent product card does not mean feeding or measurements are unnecessary.