Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

Just flipping through the Paul Humann "Reef Fish Identification" book, I see several options that are "environment appropriate" outside of blennies and gobies. You'd have to call one of the collectors to see if they could get them since they aren't normally in the trade, but here are some:

Lantern Bass (max 2.5")
Twinspot Bass (max 3")
Pygmy Sea Bass (max 3")
Dwarf Wrasse (max 3")
Green Razorfish (max 5.5")
Belted Cardinal (or various other small cardinals)
Jawfish (yellowhead, dusky)
Glassy Sweeper (a school would be super cool around the mangrove roots)
 
My tank was unattended for eight days, while I was out of town. I enjoy doing that, and then seeing what's changed. It's funny, how well our tanks do without us! It looks a bit messy and wild. I hope to get more pics this weekend.

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Here you can see little red macros sprouting from the rocks. Caulerpa has come back vigorously. It is so cool watching these plants reemerge!


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The royal grammas continue to thrive. The big caulerpa overhang is back. Time for a simulated grazing event…
 
On mobile, there might be some issues loading the pictures. My laptop is loading them fine. Pictures always take a bit longer to load on my phone.
 
Thank you jraker and saltwater sam!

I did a little prune/export yesterday. Most of it was just removing the overhang of caulerpa and a bit on the DSB. I'm finding some patches of tiny red macros popping up all over-some of them, very close together. I wonder how they will grow out. I have a feeling it's going to be a tangled mess! That weird, dark brown macro is coming back as well.

I got a bit of a shock today. Mr Pederson was on the anemone! He didn't stay, but maybe he'll move in. At this point I don't really care, as the anemone looks a little happier, not hosting at the moment.

I've been studying up on the fish suggestions that MorganAtlanta posted. I'm most interested in the sweepers, but they reach six inches, which is a little bigger than I'd like to go. Also, he listed some basslets I hadn't considered, which is cool. The wrasses I'm still skeptical of, as I think they are too good at hunting down every living thing. I've done jawfish before. I think they are too timid for a fast-feeding community like mine, plus I have the six barnacle blennies already.

Jeez, I'm a pain!

One thing I've come to realize in all this fish research, is that I don't want ANY big fish. So that narrows it down…yay!
 
Resized images:

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Note the large overhanging caulerpa at top left.


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With most of the overhang removed.

One new thing I tried was to prune the manatee grass tips. Without the brown ends, they looked so pretty! Took all the exported macro algae and dumped it in the quarantine tank. The tree sponge frags continue to frustrate my attempts to attach them to rocks. The pink and purple encrusting sponges I redistributed tiny frags of, are recovering. I don't know if any transplants survived, but I bet some did.
 
Well, my aiptasia problem is getting out of hand! I am amazed how quickly they have spread. Two weeks ago, I had a few emerge after Phyllis was removed. Now there are probably hundreds!

After trying chemicals, peppermint shrimp and a file fish, I'm giving Berghia nudibranchs a try. I'm very optimistic, as aiptasias are their only food. This is key-they won't go after anything else. The fact that they are caribbean and a wholly natural solution, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
 
Another thing you could try is lasers. Melev's Reef did a great demo of how they work (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvkEbx1P85U). I don't know where he bought his laser from, but there is a thread somewhere on ReefCentral discussing the very same thing that you could reference to see which kinds of lasers would work for this.

Maybe you could cut down the bulk of them with a laser and keep the Nudibranchs for ongoing population control?

Also: your tank is looking gorgeous! Good work!
 
Nice to hear from you again, JLynn!

At first I thought you were joking about the lasers! Imagine me, mister anti-gadget, employing lasers to kill, kill, kill!

I watched the video-very interesting! It seemed to work. I'm sure a lot of guys would love it! I'm going to give Mother Nature another try.

From what I read, the nudibranchs appear to be the best solution. But if they fail, beam me up!
 
Michael Hoaster said:
Well, my aiptasia problem is getting out of hand! I am amazed how quickly they have spread. Two weeks ago, I had a few emerge after Phyllis was removed. Now there are probably hundreds!

After trying chemicals, peppermint shrimp and a file fish, I'm giving Berghia nudibranchs a try. I'm very optimistic, as aiptasias are their only food. This is key-they won't go after anything else. The fact that they are caribbean and a wholly natural solution, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Click to expand...

How many peppermint shrimp did you put in your tank? It may take a dozen or so... not sure. I did this in my 120 and the aiptasia were gone quickly. I think I only put in 4 or 5.
 
Months ago, when I only had a few aiptasias, I added two peppermint shrimp. They did a great job, taking out all that I could see. But then, they went after my spaghetti worms, which are a key sand bed resident, so I removed them. More recently, since the grammas have grown pretty big, I have added two more, only to have them eaten by the grammas.

So, with my current setup, peppermints are not a viable solution. I guess I could remove the grammas temporarily and add a bunch of peppermints for a while, then replenish the spaghetti worms. But I looked into the berghia nudibranchs and they appear to be an ideal solution. They eat ONLY aiptasias. They reproduce to adapt to the number of aiptasias present. They incorporate the stinging cells from aiptasias into their own bodies, so they are unpalatable to fish. As the aiptasia population dwindles, so does their population.

I think this is the best solution for me and my situation. I'll let you know…
 
Welcome, EdimarOliveira!

I don't think this is universally true. If the shrimp are added BEFORE the grammas, they're probably safe. As with most carnivorous fish, anything added to the tank AFTER them, and fits in their mouth, is considered food.
 
Michael, your tank is something that fascinates me.

Too bad that in Brazil is very difficult to get macroalgae, strange as it is, although it is a country of vast expanses of beaches.

The Atlantic is not conducive to their development and trade here is very precarious.

But it's a fascinating biotope!

Congratulations!!
 
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