Mangrove tank

[saltwater sam]

I decided a while ago I'm not getting any more fish for this tank, I like having a completely competition-free tank so the clownfish can enjoy stress-free lifestyles.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I get it. Keeping it low stress is great for the fish and for you.

However, herbivore v planktivore is competition free as well. But as Sam.basye can attest, adding fish AFTER clowns can certainly ratchet up the stress.

 

[saltwater sam]

Yeah they can for sure. Everything has been smooth sailing for a while now so I don't want to so anything to mess that up. All in all this is a pretty small tank so odds are pretty high that there would be some serious drama if I added any more fish. When you factor in the high possibility the fish may start brooding in the near future, quite a bit of potential for issues. When I upgrade to my 80 gallon, I think that will be time to get some more fish friends.

 

[saltwater sam]

First new baby leaf <3

 

[saltwater sam]

Alright guys, I know I have brought up the different phenotypes a bunch of times, but I have a couple new pics to illustrate them in detail. Pay attention to the color of the pectoral fins and the dorsal fins. The male's dorsal fin has a blaze orange outline on top of its front and solid orange in back, while the female's is solid black in front and orange in back. Another big difference is that the male's pectoral fins are black, while the female's are orange. The female also has a misbar on her rear stripe. It will be very fascinating to track these traits if I'm successful in breeding these two eventually.

Male


Female




Wild-type percula (for comparison purposes)

 

[saltwater sam]

I was out of town and checked out the LFS, found some new algae! Caulerpa peltata, welcome to the family! I spread out pieces throughout the tank in different light intensities, we will see what does best.





I have been checking my nitrogen levels and they have been pretty low despite my over feeding of the tank. I have decided to start supplementing with tap water (I normally use purified), which has pretty high NH3/NH4+ levels (see picture). I'll be monitoring levels and see what kind of response the plants have.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Nice! My peltata seems to like the fringes of the bright light, but will grow out into the brighter areas, if it has enough nitrate. There's lots of good stuff in most tap water for planted tanks.

 

[saltwater sam]

Caulerpa peltata seems to like growing in the shaded corner the best.

Top down


Through the glass


Shaving brush and C. pasaploides have some babies growing next to each other. Its cool how close their morphology is considering how different they are genetically. I suppose that would be an example of convergent evolution!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Great stuff Sam!

Same here with the peltata. As it gains momentum, it comes more into the light.

Ah, Convergent Evolution-yet another lovely, sciency phrase to add to my lexicon! Like one of your other ones: phenotypic plasticity. I love that one. I've used it in conversation while showing off my tank.

 

[saltwater sam]

Great stuff Sam!

Same here with the peltata. As it gains momentum, it comes more into the light.

Ah, Convergent Evolution-yet another lovely, sciency phrase to add to my lexicon! Like one of your other ones: phenotypic plasticity. I love that one. I've used it in conversation while showing off my tank.

Phenotypic plasticity is a great term, explains the great diversity of single species' morphology which is awesome. Convergent evolution is an awesome concept as well, it explains similar structures in nature from non closely related species (a great example is the simarity in body type of dolphins and sharks, which are extremely disparate species).

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I have observed phenotypic plasticity in my caulerpa peltata in disparate areas of my tank.

Convergent evolution is a fascinating concept. How about flying squirrels and those guys with the wing suits, base jumping?

 

[saltwater sam]

The human gliders would be a form of mimicry which is a behavior, not a phenotypic trait. However, flying squirrels which are placental mammals are mirror images of sugar gliders, which are marsupials, but the "flying/gliding" phenotypes were evolved independently in similar environments. So yeah, flying squirrels are actually a really good example of convergent evolution.

 

[Subsea]

The human gliders would be a form of mimicry which is a behavior, not a phenotypic trait. However, flying squirrels which are placental mammals are mirror images of sugar gliders, which are marsupials, but the "flying/gliding" phenotypes were evolved independently in similar environments. So yeah, flying squirrels are actually a really good example of convergent evolution.

Sam,

Human gliders are a form of insanity, IMO.

Does creativity of the human subconscious mind increase when it is not confined to the box? I think that it does.

Natures evolution and man science came to the same convergent truth with respect to the design of a glider.

 

[saltwater sam]

Galleria de la sexangula

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Very nice!

Sexangula: noun - a type of mangrove; also a scale of difficulty in reference to sexual positions.

 

[saltwater sam]

Bruguiera sexangula- the sexiest of the orange mangroves.

 

[saltwater sam]

Look at this sneaky mermaid's fan emerging out of the Chondria! I thought it was just a piece of C. prolifera, but I looked closer and noticed it was not. I'm a little ashamed of how excited I was when I figured that out.

 

[saltwater sam]

Another week, another mangrove update

R. apiculata


Ceriops decandra + B. sexangula


Bruguiera cylindrica

 

[saltwater sam]

Got a fun new toy, underwater LED strip for a couple extra hours of viewing pleasure per night

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Fun light! Trippy!

On the Bruguiera cylindrica pic, is that a new leaf or stem?