For those of you with seagrass, how many epiphyte grazers do you have? I am planning a 120g planted tank which will have seagrass, macroalgae, and gorgonians, and am trying to get an idea of how many epiphyte grazers I should include in my CUC. About half of my tank will be a little "meadow" of Thalassia and Halodule, whereas the other half will have three big rocks covered in macroalgae and gorgonians, with Halophila Engelmannii filling the spaces between and among those rocks. So I am expecting a lot of epiphytes.
Seagrass CUC
- Thread starter JLynn
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3D-Reef
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Sounds like it will be a pretty cool tank!You'll have to put up some pictures when You get it going.
As for epiphyte grazers You probably won't need very many.IME the main epiphyte is coraline algae.I don't know what grazer,if any,might eat the coraline yet leave the grass alone.
The CUC I have in mine is a yellow-eyed tang,a yellow tang,collumbellid snails,a queen conch,and a black cucumber.
As for epiphyte grazers You probably won't need very many.IME the main epiphyte is coraline algae.I don't know what grazer,if any,might eat the coraline yet leave the grass alone.
The CUC I have in mine is a yellow-eyed tang,a yellow tang,collumbellid snails,a queen conch,and a black cucumber.
For seagrass algal epiphytes can hinder growth. In a natural seagrass bed there will be hundreds of different grazers that will live primarily on algal epiphytes that grow on seagrass. This is why algal epiphytes are such aggressive colonizers. There was an interesting article published on JSTOR about seagrass grazers and they have a convenient list of algal epiphyte grazers and their associated plant species http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/johnsonseagrass/Hj%20Website/Reference%20Papers%20and%20Documents/van%20Montfrans%20et%20al.%201984.%20Estuaries%20(7).%20Epiphyte-grazer%20relationships%20in%20seagrass%20meadows_consequences%20for%20seagrass%20growth%20and%20production..pdf
Queen conchs and various gastropods are found among seagrass beds feeding on algal epiphytes. Some gastropods will feed directly on the leaves, while others prefer to feed on fallen leaves helping to breakdown the leaf litter. In addition coepods, amphiopods, and other invertebrates play integral roles in the seagrass biome. If I were stocking a tank for seagrass I would recommend, cerith snails, queen conchs, bristle stars, cowries, nassarius, and even some emerald crabs.
As your seagrass loses it's leaves you will want a clean up crew that can help break the leaves down and enrich the soil. So a diverse group is best. Blennies may also be helpful in the removal of algal epiphytes. I would avoid tangs and any large plant loving fish as they may out graze your seagrasses growth.
Queen conchs and various gastropods are found among seagrass beds feeding on algal epiphytes. Some gastropods will feed directly on the leaves, while others prefer to feed on fallen leaves helping to breakdown the leaf litter. In addition coepods, amphiopods, and other invertebrates play integral roles in the seagrass biome. If I were stocking a tank for seagrass I would recommend, cerith snails, queen conchs, bristle stars, cowries, nassarius, and even some emerald crabs.
As your seagrass loses it's leaves you will want a clean up crew that can help break the leaves down and enrich the soil. So a diverse group is best. Blennies may also be helpful in the removal of algal epiphytes. I would avoid tangs and any large plant loving fish as they may out graze your seagrasses growth.
I would like to revise my previous statement about tangs. Bristle tooth tangs like the kole tang are safe for seagrass and recommended for epiphyte removal.
