Mangrove tank

saltwater sam said:
G_Sanab922- You can suspend them but I would not recommend doing so for a long period of time. When you take a seed and force it to grow roots like that, it takes energy away from the growth of leaves, which the plant needs to make food. The roots that get produced are thick and don't absorb nutrients, only small hair-like roots can do that which are only produced when the plant is firmly secured in a medium. It is a common misconception that if you grow a mangrove outside of medium you can make it grow prop roots faster. The truth is, the only way a plant is going to produce prop roots is if it's healthy and established. It takes two years minimum for them to start dropping aerial roots. A good rule of thumb is that the stem will not be green, but brown, before it will start producing aerial roots. Secure the roots in media, or attach them to rock. Giga's thread "Mangroves, aquariums, and you!" is a very good reference for growing mangroves, I would recommend looking at his methods.

MarlinDreams- You're welcome! Growing in pots is very convenient, it allows you to move plants between tanks, and even just to rearrange them in the tank they're in!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I have a 20g high so it'll be hard to start with a seed then.
 
Oh, I see what you mean. You still have the option of fastening it to a rock. You could sprout the seed and let the roots grow for a bit, then anchor them to a piece of rock towards the top of the tank. Also, you can buy seeds that are actually very tall. That might be another option for you.
 
Black mangrove with first set of true leaves finished. Also can see my red macro and purple stripe dottyback who has set up shop underneath the mangrove pot
 
saltwater sam said:
Oh, I see what you mean. You still have the option of fastening it to a rock. You could sprout the seed and let the roots grow for a bit, then anchor them to a piece of rock towards the top of the tank. Also, you can buy seeds that are actually very tall. That might be another option for you.
Click to expand...

Hmmm sounds like a good idea. I'll see if I can try that.
 
What would be a good place online to buy a small red mangrove that is already established. My LFS doesn't have any for sale.
 
This would be so great in a greenhouse. Can you imagine a six foot in ground pool with a six foot mangrove growing on one side? Would that work? If you grew one in a greenhouse what problems would be run into?
 
Greenhouses work great, that's a dream of mine to have one one day. I am a botanist, I'm actually a senior in college right now studying plant biology and I work in a greenhouse. Greenhouses are the perfect combination of outdoor and indoor conditions. Hopefully one day I'll be able to let my trees grow to bigger sizes.
On another note, I sent my clumsy hermit crab to crab prison (LFS) and got some new crustaceans that are a bit lighter on their feet!
 
Here's the wiring that I did on my older mangrove.

This is before I wired, you can see that the two smallest branches connected to the main branch are growing into the leaves of the main branch

I opted to wire these branches and bend them in directions away from the main stem



Here's what the plant looks like now, several weeks later
 
Here's a couple shots of the growing macro forest

If you look closely, you can see the sexy anemone shrimp in the front and the peppermint shrimp in the background. The peppermint dwarfs the sexys!
 
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