Agreed. I have a 3-gallon I'll be using as a fuge, and want to plant a single mangrove in, along with my macro-algae, and I love seeing stuff like this.
Pea puffers are freshwater only.
Florida Mangrove Biotope Build Thread
- Thread starter SaltedCarmel
- Start date
ah, I thought they were brackish. My bad.
Yeah no, I had to go look to confirm, it wasn't just you. I'm doing a pea puffer setup for my wife now, and while I knew they were freshwater, I had something lurking in the back of my head that said they might have also been brackish-capable or something, but a bit of looking came back with only freshwater.
Turns out I was thinking of figure-8 puffers, they need a little bit of salt (1.005-010) to thrive. I always get the two species mixed up haha.
I used to have one in a reef! He did amazing and never nipped at coral
Ahhh, looks like I have some learning to do!
Alright, alright, I saw the messages. Update time!
A couple weeks ago, I picked up some macros that @Hunna was VERY generous to trade for some common red mushroom corals.
The species (or as close as I could assess) are as follows:
Red Bush Gracilaria (Gracilaria hayi)
- This was definitely one of the top macros I had in mind when setting up this tank. It adds so much variety in color and, luckily enough, is native to Florida and the Caribbean!
Suction Cup Caulerpa (Caulerpa sp.)
- When researching this macroalgae, I found that there are a variety of species of Caulerpa that form a species complex, meaning they have a variety of overlapping possible morphologies, of which this “suction cup” is one. As far as I can tell, there’s no clear way to know which one it is, but using the context of the hobby, it’s likely C. racemosa.
Mini Serrated Caulerpa (Caulerpa serrulata)
- I know you can’t tell very well from this image, but this little macroalgae is fully of tiny spikes. When researching, I found a funny little name change that snuck its way into our hobby. This macro is labeled “C. subserrulata” on every vendor site I found find. However, C. subserrulata does not seem to actually exist. There’s a C. subserrata and a C. serrulata, but no combination of the two words. As C. subserrata doesn’t look anything like this spiky macro, I knew which one it was.
Overall, the tank has been very stable and just chugging along with a water change every two weeks. The mangroves have been putting out leaves consistently and these leaves are MASSIVE.
Look at this compared to my hand!
I also moved the sun corals to a little container with holes punched in it to allow for water flow so I could more easily feed them without having to chase away hermits and snails looking for a fast snack.
Finally, I’ve had SIGNIFICANTLY less cyanobacteria since adding the new macros and allowing them to establish for a week or two. I think I’m finally getting to a point where the little cyano I don’t remove is outcompeted for light and nutrients by the macros and cleaned up by the inverts. I’m so happy with how this little ecosystem has turned out!
(Note: Sadly, my feather duster passed away, likely due to a lack of food. If someone has been having success with growing nannochloropsis and wants to give me some tips, I would greatly appreciate it as I’m struggling to keep my culture from crashing.)
A couple weeks ago, I picked up some macros that @Hunna was VERY generous to trade for some common red mushroom corals.
The species (or as close as I could assess) are as follows:
Red Bush Gracilaria (Gracilaria hayi)
- This was definitely one of the top macros I had in mind when setting up this tank. It adds so much variety in color and, luckily enough, is native to Florida and the Caribbean!
Suction Cup Caulerpa (Caulerpa sp.)
- When researching this macroalgae, I found that there are a variety of species of Caulerpa that form a species complex, meaning they have a variety of overlapping possible morphologies, of which this “suction cup” is one. As far as I can tell, there’s no clear way to know which one it is, but using the context of the hobby, it’s likely C. racemosa.
Mini Serrated Caulerpa (Caulerpa serrulata)
- I know you can’t tell very well from this image, but this little macroalgae is fully of tiny spikes. When researching, I found a funny little name change that snuck its way into our hobby. This macro is labeled “C. subserrulata” on every vendor site I found find. However, C. subserrulata does not seem to actually exist. There’s a C. subserrata and a C. serrulata, but no combination of the two words. As C. subserrata doesn’t look anything like this spiky macro, I knew which one it was.
Overall, the tank has been very stable and just chugging along with a water change every two weeks. The mangroves have been putting out leaves consistently and these leaves are MASSIVE.
Look at this compared to my hand!
I also moved the sun corals to a little container with holes punched in it to allow for water flow so I could more easily feed them without having to chase away hermits and snails looking for a fast snack.
Finally, I’ve had SIGNIFICANTLY less cyanobacteria since adding the new macros and allowing them to establish for a week or two. I think I’m finally getting to a point where the little cyano I don’t remove is outcompeted for light and nutrients by the macros and cleaned up by the inverts. I’m so happy with how this little ecosystem has turned out!
(Note: Sadly, my feather duster passed away, likely due to a lack of food. If someone has been having success with growing nannochloropsis and wants to give me some tips, I would greatly appreciate it as I’m struggling to keep my culture from crashing.)
I LOVE IT!!! It looks amazing! You’re making me wanna start a mangrove tank in my five.
I’m sorry about the feather duster
I’ve had better success with the small hitchhiker ones but finding them has been difficult the past few years
Mangrove tanks are the wayI LOVE IT!!! It looks amazing! You’re making me wanna start a mangrove tank in my five.
I’m sorry about the feather duster
. Cheap lighting, easy maintenance, freshwater substrate, what more could you want?Would love to see an update on your mangrove biotope tank. I just started cycling one myself last week. Many years ago I had a successful mangrove, turtle grass, and manatee grass tank with seahorses that I’ve been longing to recreate. The key to success I found was harvesting my own wild marsh mud as a base layer under the sand. It was a 20 gallon extra tall tank, so the entire substrate was probably 4-5” deep. The mangroves and seagrasses loved it. This time around I no longer have access to wild mud, so my base layer is Miracle Mud. Fingers crossed it’s anywhere near as good.
Gahamilton
New Member
Just saw this thread, you can 100% throw some dwarf seahorses in there. I am also in college and have not found feeding them to be a super big challenge, especially if you have a well established tank and only a few of them, they can sustain on the natural food in the tank for periods of time. I have managed to breed a large number of them as well. All I do is hatch brine shrimp in clear plastic cups and use a flash light to attract the brine shrimp and pick them up with a pipet and into the tank they go. Takes like 5 minutes out of my day.