My first Sargassum tank

[reeformadness]

I recently obtained this

pelagic Sargassum

and this...

Any ideas on dosing or other reqirements.

 

[KUDA]

Thats will be pretty cool when it grows. How big is that sargassum angler? It looks tiny.

 

[ClamIAm]

Sweet! I always wanted to do something like this considering I think my 2 favorite things in marine aquariums are frogfish and plants. Just remember that sargassum anglers aren't fans of other tankmates (well I guess they are because they enjoy eating them)

 

[KUDA]

BTW, it would make it stand out better IMO if you put a black background on it.

 

[reeformadness]

The sargassum fish is about 2" long, but I hear it will grow fast. I will probably end up giving it away though, because I would prefer a more diverse mix of species. Like the background idea.

 

[graveyardworm]

Here's a fairly recent thread where another member was building a Sargassum biotope.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1023795&highlight=sargassum

 

[reeformadness]

Wow. Great thread, David. Thanks.

 

[Samala]

How big does that frogfish get?

I love the idea and concept. I wonder what else is biotope correct that you could add to the mix? There are sargassum affiliated nudibranch, crabs, shrimp, and then there's all the baby fish and even the sargassum filefishes. (Tesselated? Tassled? Something like that I think.) But what is small enough for the size of the biotope you're trying for? That's the real question.

I'm eager to see how this goes.

>Sarah

 

[Fishfreak218]

cant wait to see this! I originally started this post:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...light=sargassum
but never went through with it. I cant wait to see what this looks like!

 

[sunfishh]

Great concept for a tank. I think floating algae is really interesting. Where did you find the sargassum?

 

[piercho]

Histrio histrio, Sargassumfish is a larger anglerfish. Scott Michael gives description and lists other typical Sargassum raft dwellers in Reef Fishes Volume 1. Never kept one but I think its a great tank to try.

I don't know the secrets for keeping Sargassum long term. It did grow faster for me under metal halide daylight-spectra lighting.

 

[reeformadness]

Thanks everybody. Can't see that thread fishfreak.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10131109#post10131109 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Samala
How big does that frogfish get?

I wonder what else is biotope correct that you could add to the mix?

Not sure on the max size, but I know they can get 4 or 5 inches quick is they're fed well. They will eat things that are nearly their own size! Their are many associated organisms. I would love one of those nudibranchs (there are several species). I have something that might be, but it is too small to tell at this point. I do have many small anemones that associate with it as well as some serpulid polycheates, so I am happy about that. If I can get the Sargassum to grow, I will certainly be upgrading to a larger tank.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10132626#post10132626 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sunfishh
Where did you find the sargassum?

I work at a scientific research lab and had my friend pick some up on their last cruise (Sargassum research). It was in the northcentral Gulf. I was invited, but I couldn't make it unfortunately.

 

[reeformadness]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10134137#post10134137 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by piercho

I don't know the secrets for keeping Sargassum long term. It did grow faster for me under metal halide daylight-spectra lighting.

piercho, did you have long-term success keeping Sargassum? Was it the pelagic kind?

 

[sunfishh]

You are lucky Reeformadness. It seems floating sargassum is very hard to come by commerically.

 

[piercho]

I had Sargassum growing on Pacific-origin rock, not sure of the specie, but similar to hystrix. The fronds I pulled off could be floated in the sump and grew just fine there for a while. When I tranistioned to a turf scrubber I removed the Sargassum from the sump. The Sargassum in the tank slowed down and eventually stopped growing. I was using 250W 6500K metal halides bulbs over both the tank and the sump at that time. During that time the only nutrient I added was iron. I'd speculate that adding nitrate might have helped keep the Sargassum going in my system but I don't know.

I don't think you will need to add nutrients to your tank since I don't see any other nutrient sinks except the Sargassum.

 

[sunfishh]

Reeformadness are you running PCs over the sargassum? If so how is it working?

 

[reeformadness]

Thanks piercho. Yes, I have 96W of PC lighting over it now. So far, everything is doing well, but I still can't tell if I'm getting any new growth. I hear that it may do well for a month and then just crash for no apparent reason. I dosed with KNO3 to 4 ppm a couple days ago.

critters I've found so far:

3 types of nudibranchs (very small)
anemones
copepods
serpulid polychaetes
spider-like creature (a crab I'm guessing)
unidentified worm-like creature
barnacle-like creature

Still waiting to find some more so I can get some shrimps and crabs. Any less aggressive fishes would be great too.

 

[sunfishh]

Do you have a macrolens? I would love to see these creatures. Especially the anemones living on the algae

 

[Cristi]

I have quite a bit of sargassum growing in my tank. The tank has been running for about a year now and the sargassum still grows quite well. I am constantly pruning it. I always feel bad about throwing away the pruned stuff so a lot of the time I throw it in my quarantine tank and it floats and lives well in there too. My lighting is (2) 96W PC's in the main tank and 80W PC's in the quarantine tank. I used to dose iron ocassionally, but I have not done it much lately.

 

[Dwarf Seahorses]

Reeformadness,

If you new help identifying all those critters you've found ask Dr. Shimek on the marine depot forums. He has his own invert forum there and he directly answers your questions.