Halimeda

[yardboy]

I've been tasked with cleaning out my wife's tank, which is mostly softies and these couple of Halimeda plants that have gone wild. Any suggestions on how to frag these guys?

 

[mastou]

Do you mean how to fragment the Halimeda?
If yes - I just tear them apart and put them in the sand...

/Magnus

 

[yardboy]

They'll just root from wherever you break them off? I thought I'd heard they had to have some of their holdfast on any piece you tried to root, but wasn't sure, which is why I asked!
Thanks so much. I'll try it this evening and see what I get.
Oh, would they have to be in the sand, or could I try and glue them to a rock, like a coral frag?

 

[mastou]

I havent tried to glue them to rocks, maybe you could try both and write if both methods works
/Magnus

 

[edwing206]

is that the money plant?

 

[yardboy]

I believe that is the common name.

 

[Brock Fluharty]

It's also called cactus plant. I also have some, and it does better when in the rocks IMO.

 

[Safir]

i stuck some in between a few rocks and it rooted to teh rocks in a few days, so it will grab the rocks, as for wether it grows better on teh rocks or in the sand, ive only ever actually seen it grow in teh sand, but i didnt keep it on the rocks that long.

when I was in the carribean i only saw it growing in the sand, FWIW.

 

[Brock Fluharty]

I'm sure that the plants all start in the sand from small pieces of larger plants that broke off, and drift into the sand.

 

[mastou]

Whether the Halimeda (in nature) grows in the sand or on rocks depends on what species it is.

The substrate 'rooted' species have holdfasts that can extend 10cm (4in) or deeper into a sandy bottom while the others attach themselves to rocks with a series of short holdfasts similar to those of the commonly kept Caulerpa species.

The quote was from this issue of reefkeeping

/Magnus