Carniverous Shrooms?!?!?!?

[BrothaWolf]

GRRRRRR! LFS sold me an elephant ear mushroom. Really nice bright green color. They told me it was "just another mushroom" and would be no problem in my tank. So I think cool nice shroom and happily take it home for my tank... I came across a couple old posts both here and on other sites about Elephant Ears consuming FISH! When I did a search for "Elephant Ear" on Dr Foster & Smith website I got a few results one is Elephant Ear doesnt say anything about them consuming fish and the other was the Giant Cup Mushroom also know as the Large or Giant Elephant ear and they eat fish. Mine looks more like the first type but not as frilly on the edges. The other has little tentacles like a hairy shroom Mine is all smooth. My Percula is hosting in my orange shrooms atm and my yellow clown goby sits on everything Hate to have one of them move over and get fly trapped! Next I call LFS... Joe says "I never heard of that but lets ask Rob when he comes back from gettin food"... Rob says "I NEVER heard of that happening but lets ask Tom... Tom says "Hmmmm I could see that happening but I wouldnt worry to much about it" Anyone have any experiences with these? (Elephant Ears not dopey LFS personnel) Should I return it?

[mps9506]

yep. They will eat fish.

[BoomerD]

Sorry to put it this way, but it's up to YOU, to research your buys, and not depend on the liars, I mean folks who work in the LFS...
Yes, I know, SOME LFS employees and owners are good honest folks, who actually care about the health of your tank and it's inhabitants, but they are definitely the minority. MOST only care about making a sale...right or wrong...

[das]

G'day all,
if it also eats sponges and groupers maybe i could get my step mum to come over and clean your tank near the mushies !

[BrothaWolf]

Originally Posted by BoomerD

Sorry to put it this way, but it's up to YOU, to research your buys, and not depend on the liars, I mean folks who work in the LFS...
Yes, I know, SOME LFS employees and owners are good honest folks, who actually care about the health of your tank and it's inhabitants, but they are definitely the minority. MOST only care about making a sale...right or wrong...

Yup youre right. Im disappointed though because this fish store came highly recommended....

[Charlie97L]

well. to be honest, it's not a definite thing. so i'm going to side with the LFS on this one... also, those are a bit on the uncommon side, you don't see them a lot, so the guy may just have not known. now, should they have mentioned the possibility, yeah.

with the elephant ears, it's not like a carpet, where you a guaranteed to have carnage.

any mushroom or ric can decide to eat something... they are closely related to anemones. I had a yuma eat a peppermint shrimp.

i guess my point is, yeah, it sucks, but for something so esoteric, i'd give the LFS another shot.

[mps9506]

One other point I'd like to make, is please research online or in a book before you buy. I run a store, sometimes my employees give out wrong info, not intentionally, but it happens. I can't afford to keep a staff of marine biologists or a crew with 10 or 20 years of experience. My guys are paid ~$7hr and are started off at min wage. scraping algae.
Most stores are in the same situation, you have an owner with lots of experience, and the help is still learning everything like everyone else in the hobby (which you should never stop learning). I doubt it was an intentional act meant to mislead you into buying inappropriate livestock.
But FWIW most of my staff knows to look stuff up if they don't know about it.

[BrothaWolf]

Originally Posted by mps9506

One other point I'd like to make, is please research online or in a book before you buy. I run a store, sometimes my employees give out wrong info, not intentionally, but it happens. I can't afford to keep a staff of marine biologists or a crew with 10 or 20 years of experience. My guys are paid ~$7hr and are started off at min wage. scraping algae.
Most stores are in the same situation, you have an owner with lots of experience, and the help is still learning everything like everyone else in the hobby (which you should never stop learning). I doubt it was an intentional act meant to mislead you into buying inappropriate livestock.
But FWIW most of my staff knows to look stuff up if they don't know about it.

Ok first off let me apologize for spelling CARNIVOROUS wrong (it was late)... Second this post was not started to bash LFS personel I just wanted to know if my fish were safe. We can go back and forth on this. Your point is well made. Its my bad for not doing the research Im not denying that. I know better than to ask a bestbuy employee a tech question about computers (no offense to any bestbuy employees). I guess I need to treat LFS the same. By the same token when one of my best friends says "Those guys all know their stuff" my level of trust goes up. I talked to the LFS guy for a while. He asked me questions about my set up and what I had in my tank and started making suggestions. I had no doubt that he was knowledgeable and doing his best to help me out so I that point I didnt feel the necessity to go home and look it up. Certainly nothing was done intentionally. BUT if I ask a question like "will this bother any of my fish or coral" and youre not sure then say "Im not sure let me find out for you" especially with an uncommon species. I would rather deal with someone less knowledgeable but willing to get me an answer then someone who thinks he knows it all. It was an innocent mistake and I will go back to LFS they had really nice stuff.
Now I just have to decide if I need to remove this poor shroom before my Yellow Clown Goby is an entree

[Charlie97L]

on the note of removal... i would. if your clown goby decides he likes the EE as his new barcalounger, he might be toast.

[prow]

i have a green elephant ear. i know it can eat fish but mine never has. my watchman and clown goby both use it to kick it in. i was worried when i saw the elephant close around my watchman a few years ago but the goby paid not attention and nothing ever become of it. now i dont worry at all and see this happen from time to time.

[BoomerD]

As an FYI, I kept one in my 90 gallon for a couple of years, and never had it eat any fish...but it sure liked mysis shrimp...

[BrothaWolf]

Originally Posted by BoomerD

As an FYI, I kept one in my 90 gallon for a couple of years, and never had it eat any fish...but it sure liked mysis shrimp...

Mine doesnt look like that at all He has no hairy tentacles Thats why I thought maybe he would be ok I would post a picture but for some reason I still cant delete from my gallery.... I got one write up from Foster & Smith on Rhodactis Mussoides with a pic closely resembling mine that didnt mention fish eating and one article on Amplexidiscus that had a pic of the one you have Boomer that says they eat fish and then a third article also from Dr Foster & Smith on Amplexidiscus but with the picture of mine so Im totaly confused Maybe LFS mislabled him....

[BrothaWolf]

Full refund no problems! It was the owner of the store who sold him to me, same guy who later over the phone said "Ya I could see it doing that"