Turtle Grass?

[rustybucket145]

I will be making a trip to the gulf snorkeling this weekend and I am planning on bringing a few critters back to add to my mangrove/chaeto refugium. I remember last year seeing clumps of turtle grass that had been dug up by irresponsible boaters propellers in shallow water. I was wondering if I could bring back a root shoot or two to add to my refugium. I want to keep within the law (I will be in a state park) so I am planning on talking to the rangers before I collect anything to make sure it is ok. So I don't want to turn this into a DNR conservation thread.

That said Has anyone here ever kept turtle grass before? Any pointers to keeping it alive? My fuge is established and healthy but I would like to keep adding to the biodiversity of it. I actually find myself looking at the fuge more than I do the main tank . Any comments/suggestions/pointers will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Samala]

Here's a whole article on seagrasses, their needs, general biology, etc.. including turtle grass, Thalassia testudinum.

Any questions after reading through that just let me know! As a tip, you want to collect shoot segments that are a few plants long on the same rhizome. More plants seems to encourage them to take hold. You also might want to try to collect a few handfuls of mud from intact turtle grass beds.

>Sarah

 

[rustybucket145]

Yeah, I had planned on bringing back a good bit of mud and adding it to the section of my fuge where the grass will reside. Are there any hitchikers I should be X-tra cautious of when doing this?

 

[rustybucket145]

Great Article. That pretty much covered everything I wanted to know. Thanks.

 

[rustybucket145]

Do you have a Seagrass tank?

 

[Samala]

Several! Hit my red house to get to the weblog. I did not have great luck with Thalassia, but I did not have native bed or the truly intense lighting I think it needs.

Hitchhikers.. watch for coquina clams and other mussels in the mud. They're not dangerous or anything, just wont live long in your tank. You will also want to exclude the shrimp that cling to seagrass blades -- simply because they eat lots of pods -- and anything that looks like an epiphytic growth of algae. I have come across one or two that even appear to be parasitic on seagrass plants and kill the individual plant they've infected.

>Sarah

 

[rustybucket145]

Thanks, On the lighting My refuge is housed in my sunroom and gets most of its light from the sun. I only have NO Flourescents for supplementation. Do you think this will be ok? I only live 3hrs north of where I will be collecting the grass so the sun should be almost the same. I currently have mangroves, chaeto and corals growing very well in the fuge. It is a pod & polychreate producing factory. I am also thinking of trying to bring some sponges and squirts back from the lagoon. Also I remember seeing baby barnacles last year. Do you have any thoughts on these?

 

[rustybucket145]

Also, sorry for so many questions, but I am new to the Marine Plant forum. I have looked at the sticky's and the plant id sites are great. But what I am looking for is an id guide to the biotype of the grass flats in the gulf of mexico. Do you know of any sites that will contain this type of information. I am only going to collect what I know I can keep. But as of right now I'm not really sure of what I can keep. I do remember seeing some pipefish of some variety, hopefully I'll be able to id them once I see them again. I also remember seeing some type of jawfish (at least that is what it looked like).

Ok, no more rambling, If you can't tell I'm very excited (and ready for the vacation) I leave tomorrow afternoon and should have my feet in the sand by sunset. Any links or information that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rustybucket145]

Ok, well.... I've done as much research as time will allow. So I'm off to the beach. Wish me luck!