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Mangroves, aquariums and you!


Giga

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Here is how my red's were looking last month. They've been growing pretty fast. This weekend I trimmed them in hopes they start branching out more, versus growing taller.

fish%20mangrove%20v6%200322_zpsaeoxgnoa.

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  • 4 months later...

wow just finish reading all ur thread. It gave me so many ideas thinking bout doing a mini mangrove forrest in the 12g with sea grass and one rocks. thanks for inspiring me with ur experince. ill def pm u for advice about building tank to mangrove

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  • 3 weeks later...

wow just finish reading all ur thread. It gave me so many ideas thinking bout doing a mini mangrove forrest in the 12g with sea grass and one rocks. thanks for inspiring me with ur experince. ill def pm u for advice about building tank to mangrove

 

I'm happy to help anyway I can

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had to break it to Jake that red mangroves don't take in hardly any salt and that it is black mangroves (which are not even mentioned in his 'article') that exude from the leaves.

If you get a chance to talk to him again, perhaps mention dosing of iron particularly to help acclimate, as well as ensure continued healthy growth. Mangroves use up an insane amount of iron, all my green sps have turned almost yellow in my mangrove tank

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Excellent post Giga. I would love to one day to incorporate some mangroves or succulents into a build. Perhaps when I finally get my dream tank :).

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  • 3 weeks later...

http://reefbuilders.com/2015/10/06/properly-care-mangrove-trees-aquaria/

 

 

had to break it to Jake that red mangroves don't take in hardly any salt and that it is black mangroves (which are not even mentioned in his 'article') that exude from the leaves.

 

If you get a chance to talk to him again, perhaps mention dosing of iron particularly to help acclimate, as well as ensure continued healthy growth. Mangroves use up an insane amount of iron, all my green sps have turned almost yellow in my mangrove tank

 

Yeah I saw that article too and the effort is great-A lot of effort went into it, there was just a few mistakes but het glad to see mangrove get some lime light! and yeah I actually augment the sand bed my mangrove grow in every few months with a mineral/macro based fertilizer and it has a healthy dose of iron-just don't over do it.

 

Excellent post Giga. I would love to one day to incorporate some mangroves or succulents into a build. Perhaps when I finally get my dream tank :).

 

Thanks!

 

Looks like image shack dumped and killed my account-i'll need to update this guide soon!

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  • 3 months later...

Hello everyone, newbie here. Thanks everyone for the information posted in this forum. This post is directed at Giga, but anyone could answer. I'm thinking about starting a nano reef eventually that would consist of multiple connected pico tanks each with different ecosystem types (mangrove, seagrass/macroalgae plain, reef, perhaps even open ocean). There would be a lot of phototrophs across the tanks and ideally this would be the sole source of filtration and nutrient export (aside from sediment/live rock, etc). But since I currently live a pretty transient life (recent undergraduate with degree in Environmental Biology, will likely be doing lots of work and grad school related location shuffling for the next few years), this whole set up would be several (5+) years down the line. However, I am interested in trying out something now. I've also always been interested in bonsai, so growing and training a mangrove or two might be an interesting activity (and also perhaps interesting opportunity to experiment with mangrove propagation techniques that might be useful in mangrove restoration). So I have a few questions:

  • Can mangroves be grown alone in standing water, that is water without any sort of circulation of filtration other than top off/water changes?
  • If so, do you think a say 5 yr old mangrove could be transplanted into a saltwater tank, having grown in standing saltwater during most of that 5 year period?
  • I've read on other forums that (at least some) mangroves don't fair too well with even gradual transition from fresh to saltwater, but it seems your plants are doing fine. What exactly was your protocol for acclimation? You mention insufficient light as a major mistake people make, so maybe their failure was simply a light issue.

Other, unrelated questions:

  • Does anyone know where one could find propagules/cuttings/etc. of mangroves and other halophytes native to places outside the continental US/Caribbean, specifically those from the Indian Ocean or the South Pacific?
    • Sonneratia alba is a interesting seaside mangrove with a cool flower/fruit. Seems like it has a morphology that is very amenable to classic bonsai training. Added bonus of having Least Concern conservation status.
    • Avicennia alba is another common mangrove in South/Southeast Asian mangrove systems. Not sure of the salt tolerance, but grows on "muddy coastline" and attracts fireflies (and maybe other insects?).
    • Bruguiera gymnorrhiza is salt-tolerant and has large red flowers. Speaking of flowers, has anyone gotten a captive mangrove to bloom?
    • Scaevola taccada is a succulent shrub. Would be very interesting in a shoreline setup.
    • I found the above species by looking at this list. There might be more highly salt-tolerant species but I only bothered to look at those marked as common.
    • Slides from some presentation on mangrove diversity and conservation in Singapore. Features many of the same species as above but with pictures.

Some curiosities that I don't expect definite answers to:

  • Quick look on Google Scholar showed me that many species of mangrove support mycorrhizal fungal symbionts like their terrestrial neighbors, and these symbionts seem to have similar functions of increasing nutrient availability to the plant. Are aquarium mangroves ultimately colonized by fungal symbionts (from where? and of what taxa?) and does the presence/lack (or type) of symbionts affect health and productivity (and therefore filtration capacity) of captive specimens?
  • What about the anoxic, high carbon sediments vs. sand (or vice versa, depending on natural habitat)? I'm sort of interested in these questions because of how they relate to the "everything is everywhere, but the environment selects" view of microbiology.

Thanks everyone!

 

EDIT: While looking at this beautiful picture of S. alba, I found mangrove.at, which has a lot of information and potentially answers to some of my questions. They are recommending air pump/water pump for circulation and oxygenation. But since many mangroves grow in heavily inundated and therefore anoxic soils (thus produce pneumatophores - which also aerate soil due to O2 leakage), I'm not sure the circulation is necessary other than to simulate tides or currents. For shallow water species such as S. alba, this could be done manually in a single pot by removing and adding back the water once or twice a day. The site has some pictures of S. alba in ceramic pots without any apparent tubing in the section on mangrove care, which might confirm my theory (the accompanying text is in German? though). Temperature/humidity however is another problem, so heater/humidifier would be necessary (not unlike an orchid, I suppose).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Seconded Han! Just found these mangrove threads and as a Native Floridian I am dreaming of a Florida tank with dimensions similar to Brad's

 

I wish the pictures still worked! Getting some mangroves and love to see how you've set them up.

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Giga, I have some red mangrove propagules coming, should not have any roots or leaves, and some fuge mud, would you recommend using my tank water and keeping the water level above the level of the sediment, or fresh water and convert to salt prior to introduction into the tank? I assume the water level isn't necessarily the most important, so long as it is consistent and the same water sources are used?

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  • Christopher Marks changed the title to Mangroves, aquariums and you!
  • 2 months later...
On 12/17/2019 at 7:59 PM, James Simpson said:

Hello, newb here, I cannot see Giga's original photos at the top of this thread, but would really like to! Have I missed something? J

I dont think the pics exist anymore. I wish I could have seen them too.

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