Bounce mushroom anemones are killin’ it right now!

Bounce mushrooms, bullseye mushrooms, and every derivative of Rhodactis and Discosoma corallimorphs are incredibly popular right now. This group of reef animals, which were once considered beginner corals, are now being sought out by coral collectors and fetching record-setting prices.

We are delighted to see mushroom anemones, and Rhodactis shrooms in particular, currently receiving the kind of attention and fanfare that has historically only been reserved for stony corals. We’ve witnessed collectoritis infect reef hobbyists with a fervor to collect just about every major kind of Acros, Montis, Chalices, Acans, Leptos, Stylocoeniella etc.

Save for zoanthids and Ricordeas, until now only stony corals have really been the focus of so much attention. This is why it is so refreshing to see the most basic of all aquarium corals become more highly sought after than any other corals today, and the craze is currently more intense than we’ve seen for any other reef coral before it.

bounce shroom mushroom-3 — The Mother of all Bounce shrooms which sold for a whopping $6000 and added fuel to the fire craze of bounces right now

Despite the prices being completely insane and stratospheric at moment, if history has taught us anything about reef aquarium coral bubbles it’s that at some point the focus will shift away from this coral to something new, and the bubble will burst. However, with single polyps selling for upwards of hundreds of dollars a piece, the crescendo for Bounce shrooms and similar corals is nowhere in sight.

If we have only one criticism about the current bounce mushroom craze, it’s that not all slightly colorful Rhodactis or Bullseye shrooms are not BOUNCE shrooms. The original Bounce shroom from World Wide Corals is still the bounciest strain that we currently enjoy in the hobby, due to its greatly enlarged and brilliant colored vesicles. However the Bounce moniker has spread to include all strains of Rhodactis with a degree of vesicle formation.

Either way, shifting interests in new coral strains of completely different coral groups is one of the things that keeps the reef aquarium hobby hot and exciting. We’ll have a lot more to say about Bounce and Rhodactis shrooms in the wild, at the source and what are some of the possible reasons for the formation of vesicles in the first place so stay tuned.

bounce-muchroom-rhodactis-1 — This is a typical look for freshly imported ‘new’ bounce mushrooms, before aquarium conditions begin the process of enlarging the vesicles.

bounce-muchroom-rhodactis-2 — The combination of red and yellow vesicles makes this shroom strain stand out from the OG Bounce Shroom

bounce-muchroom-rhodactis-3 — This Rhodactis currently falls under a very high grade rainbow bullseye description, but it could become a bounce if the vesicles enlarge in the aquarium

bounce-shrooms-amed-1 — A rock of multicolor rainbow bullseye rhodactis spotted in the wild while diving in Bali

purple-bulseye-bounce-1 — A fresh new strain of purple bullseye bounce shroom which took at least six months to develop its bright green vesicles.

orange-rhodactis-mussoides-11 — One of the future prized color morphs of Rhodactis, a neon orange variant of the giant elephant ear mushroom anemone

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Jake Adams

Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.