The Sarchopyton is one of the most soft coral chosen when you first start reefkeeping. The toadstools are available varios shape, sizes and colors raging from green to yellow and cream to white. Some toadstools have stunning long polyps like Weeping Willow Toadstool showing below.
As this long polyps toadstool grows older the tentacles will become much longer and it will add movement to any reef aquarium, because of this the weeping willow toadstool has become very diserable in the reef hobby. There is another variant in regards to this toadstool and it is the Green Weeping Willow sarcophyton. Photo below show this variant.
TOADSTOOL CARE
In captivity toadstools are some of the best beginner soft corals availables for the reefers.
They are usually very tolerant to most tank conditions, as long as you provide them with a few basic requirements. One of these is very impotant, they must be under mid/high flow, this will keep their surface clean and help them shedding as the grow. The toadstools for the most part has been propagated extensively in captivity and is an excellent candidate for aquaculture.
This genus of the Long Polyps Toadstool when it comes to lighting will get greater polyp extension when it located on the bottom of a tank and not located directly under the light.
A more rarer and hard to find but still available are the Deep Water Japanese Toadstools. Notice that this Green Japanese Toadstool down below has white polyps with green base.
This coral compared to other toadstools grows extremely slow and it is a perfect candidate to make a center piece of any pico/nano tank.
FRAGGING
Marine Farmers tank raised soft corals are grown and aquacultured on location so this toadstools will grow and thrive at their best when you compared them with wild soft corals.
In regards to fragging toadstools are one of the best candidates for propagation, just get a pair of scissors, and start cutting the top of the crown, you should be able to dice it up like a donut leaving the stem untouched. The pieces of the crown can be cutted in a smaller pieces and and place the small cuttings on some substrate or rubble, they will attach on their own, and don't be surprised if this takes a week or so, once they have finished slimming and healing the small frags attached to rubble can be glued to larger rock or plugs. You can also accomplish the same thing by cutting a portion of the toadstool's crown and secure that piece to live rock using rubber band placing it in the bottom of the reef tank.
TOADSTOOL FEEDING
The toadstools dont required feeding since they contain photosynthetic algae, called zooxanthellae. The zooxanthellae provides the corals with the essential nutrients.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Sarchopyton corals are easy to care for and a great addition to any reef tank.
If you have already added leathers to your reef with good results, you can go ahead and try adding Green Capnela or the Palau Nepthea as they are also hardy soft coral species with similar care requirements. Just make sure you provide them with good amount of space in you reef to grow.