Blue ricordea, Ricordea florida, is one of the more uncommon and stunning of the ricordea color morphs.  These polyps are mostly dark blue, with light blue or purple highlights on the tentacles, and either pink or fluorescent green mouths (usually green).  They are generally about 1.5” in diameter when fully inflated, but they may get a little bit bigger once they get acclimated into your system.

 

These are loose polyps and are not attached to any significant amount of substrate.  They will eventually attach to any clean substrate in your tank, or you can epoxy or superglue them to what ever you want.  They can take intense light, but will thrive in medium light conditions as well.  Sometimes you just have to experiment with the placement to get the best color results.

 

All of the ricordea we sell are extremely hardy and are great for any level of reef keeper, from the novice to the pros.  They are primarily photosynthetic, but should be fed some sort of supplemental planktonic foods.  In the wild they eat the organic dust and silt that settles on them, so when feeding them, dust them with food.

 

Ricordea reproduce primarily by division, so eventually the polyp will form two mouths and begin to divide.  Many people help this division process along by cutting them in half between the mouths. This may seem radical, but it works and they almost always survive the process.  If you are pondering doing this, I would suggest you do some more homework before you try it.

 

The two species of anemone shrimp from the Caribbean, Periclimenes yucatan and Periclimenes pedersoni, will readily take up residence on these ricordea polyps and provide an interesting show in your tank

 

Ricordea ship very well by priority mail and can easily survive a three or four-day ship time.