Uhuru Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Sorry if this is a dumb question, but, do any NPS corals ever grow in mangrove lagoons? If so, what kind? Link to comment
jeremai Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 most seagrass beds have healthy populations of nonphotosynthetic nepthiids, I imagine they would populate mangrove lagoons as well. also, tube anemones and cup corals like Phyllangia americana are common. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted July 10, 2010 Author Share Posted July 10, 2010 Cool thanks for the info. I figured they would do really well in that environment. Link to comment
jeremai Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 sure. mangrove habitats are strange - salinity and temperature fluctuations occur with every tide change, but mangrove roots are often covered in encrusting corals, sponges, and macro algae. couple the dim lighting beneath the mangroves with the abundant plankton floating around (seagrass and mangrove habitats are the main breeding grounds for many large reef fish), and you have the perfect combo for NPS corals imo. Link to comment
wombat Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Absolutely! You probably won't find many stony NPS corals, but check out some of these photos...NPS soft corals and sponges galore! http://blogs.panda.org/coral_triangle/2010...-of-raja-ampat/ http://www.naturalscenes.net/Sponges.htm Link to comment
Uhuru Posted July 13, 2010 Author Share Posted July 13, 2010 WOW thanks Matt this is exactly what I had in mind for my new tank but had no idea how "natural" it was. Hope you don't mind if I x-post this in my build thread. Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 lots of non-photosynthetic gorgs, the occasional occulina in the area, and maybe even on a root, but far rarer on roots...and lots of hidden cup corals and the like. They are NSP. I was swimming under some mangroves just today and I saw a bunch of them, they are pretty much everywhere though. I guess the easier to acquire Pacific version would be sun corals....? Link to comment
jeremai Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Absolutely! You probably won't find many stony NPS corals, but check out some of these photos...NPS soft corals and sponges galore! http://blogs.panda.org/coral_triangle/2010...-of-raja-ampat/ http://www.naturalscenes.net/Sponges.htm Wow, great links. Link to comment
wombat Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Wow, great links. I went through a rigorous search to find those: Google + "Mangrove Dendronephthya" and got super lucky. WOW thanks Matt this is exactly what I had in mind for my new tank but had no idea how "natural" it was. Hope you don't mind if I x-post this in my build thread. Go for it! If you recreate that biotope you will be a golden god! Link to comment
DaveFason Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 I to am going to try this. I hope you dont mind Mike! wombat - How are your Mini darts doing too? -Dave Link to comment
Uhuru Posted July 13, 2010 Author Share Posted July 13, 2010 Go for it Dave if anything it will be great to have multiple reefers working together on something like this. Link to comment
wombat Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 wombat - How are your Mini darts doing too? All gone as well. Made the mistake of placing them in a tank with Parvulus cardinals...thought the size difference was close, but the cardinals proved me stupid. They were doing really well before that, nice and fat. I would try them again but not recommend them to anyone. They might be perfect for an NPS tank with rotifers and baby brine constantly going in and with no other fish except perhaps Trimma gobies or something, but not much else. Anyhoo, back to the thread... Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 All gone as well. Made the mistake of placing them in a tank with Parvulus cardinals...thought the size difference was close, but the cardinals proved me stupid. They were doing really well before that, nice and fat. I would try them again but not recommend them to anyone. They might be perfect for an NPS tank with rotifers and baby brine constantly going in and with no other fish except perhaps Trimma gobies or something, but not much else. Anyhoo, back to the thread... Sorry to hear it Matt I to am going to try this. I hope you dont mind Mike! wombat - How are your Mini darts doing too? -Dave Go for it Dave if anything it will be great to have multiple reefers working together on something like this. This sounds like a very interesting project. Maybe some cowries in the tank too, that would look cool Link to comment
KMG Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 I was just looking through a book here at work that showed several pictures of the kind of habitat you're thinking of: colorful NPS corals, sponges, and other inverts on mangrove roots. Most of the corals looked like Tubastrea and nephtheid species, while the substrate was covered in a thick bed of Halimeda. Very beautiful and very unusual. A couple of well-known vendors sell maricultured Stereonepthya and Scleronephthya corals, which look a lot like Dendronephthya. I've seen cultured Tubastrea online too (or maybe someone could give you a few polyps from their tank. Link to comment
wombat Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 We have an 8' diameter acrylic cylinder with a very large red mangrove tree in it (which happens to be blooming). The tree is approximately 15' tall. Right now we just keep a very thin layer of seawater in the cylinder and it's tied into our shark lagoon life support system (i.e., gnarly water). My plan is to tie this cylinder into our 200,000g reef tank about 40 feet away and set the water level at about 3' high, so that we can do a biotope like this. We can essentially fill it with as many fish and NPS corals as we like, the real chore will be getting food to them on a frequent basis. The cylinder is visible from 360 degrees and there is no space anywhere near it on the deck for an auto feeder. Link to comment
Giga Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 We have an 8' diameter acrylic cylinder with a very large red mangrove tree in it (which happens to be blooming). The tree is approximately 15' tall. Right now we just keep a very thin layer of seawater in the cylinder and it's tied into our shark lagoon life support system (i.e., gnarly water). My plan is to tie this cylinder into our 200,000g reef tank about 40 feet away and set the water level at about 3' high, so that we can do a biotope like this. We can essentially fill it with as many fish and NPS corals as we like, the real chore will be getting food to them on a frequent basis. The cylinder is visible from 360 degrees and there is no space anywhere near it on the deck for an auto feeder. are there more pictures of this?! Link to comment
wombat Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 are there more pictures of this?! I can snap some more, but currently it's just a mucky tree pot. If it does happen it will be at least a year, maybe more, before we do it. EDIT: Nevermind, I found a photo of the mangrove on flickr... The thing on the right that looks like a dead root stump is actually a cleverly disguised water return. Link to comment
yoshii Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 I can snap some more, but currently it's just a mucky tree pot. If it does happen it will be at least a year, maybe more, before we do it. I remember that one! it would be an AWESOME biotope! But yeah, idk how you would do an auto feeder.. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted July 30, 2010 Author Share Posted July 30, 2010 Could you plumb it into the return line similar to what we've discussed before? Link to comment
wombat Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Could you plumb it into the return line similar to what we've discussed before? That might end up being the easiest way, but it's a complicated situation. The only way to do that would be to place the auto feeder on our deck where it's visible to the public. I think it would be very neat to show people how the "guts" of our exhibits work, but my boss's boss has different feelings on the matter. Of course those photos of Dendro and sponges on mangrove roots make a really seductive case for it. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Matt- I like that idea. I think visitos would find it interesting. Link to comment
yoshii Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 That might end up being the easiest way, but it's a complicated situation. The only way to do that would be to place the auto feeder on our deck where it's visible to the public. I think it would be very neat to show people how the "guts" of our exhibits work, but my boss's boss has different feelings on the matter. Of course those photos of Dendro and sponges on mangrove roots make a really seductive case for it. do eet! Visitors always like that stuff I remember I looked for ages at that thing to see if there was anything in it LOL Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.