The mangroves I ordered came in a lot sooner than I expected. They are about 9 inches tall and have good roots and leaves too. The problem is my water level is about 4 inches taller than the tops of the plants so I wasn't sure what to do. Does anyone have any experience with mangroves?
mangroves in- what to do?
- Thread starter sixpack_ey
- Start date
from what I understand, mangroves should not be kept with the green part submerged. they will occasionally exchange gases through their tops, so keeping the whole thing underwater could lead to it "drowning". You could try placing the bulb/root part in some foam so that it floats with the leafy part above water level.
Just to be clear, is this what you mean: find some foam maybe an inch or two thick and cut holes in it for the plants to fit through and half of the plant (the root side) will hang in the water and the other half (the leaf) will stick out of the top? Thanks for the advice. How long do you think it will take for the plant to grow the extra 4 inches to be planted? Sounds like for the meantime my aquarium will be pretty unattractive. I know it will be worth it in the end though. Does anyone have any pics of their mangrove aquarium they could post?
i spent a lot of money trying to get those things to grow. i tried 3 times wth a batch of four and they just gradually deteriated every time. i think they are a specifically challenging aspect of the hobby, and you dont hear of many tanks with them thriving. if you find any good info or have much success let me know
sixpackey, I think that's exactly how to do it. I got that from this site http://toptropicals.com/html/aqua/plants/mangrove/mangrove_eng.htm
Having never grown them myself, I can't tell you how long it will take to grow the extra 4 inches. But in nature, you always see them with only the trunks and root parts submerged. During high tide, it's OK for most of the leaves to be underwater, as it is temporary. As long as they get some "breathing" time, I think they're OK.
Brackishguybob, they do seem like a finicky plant! Very attractive and cool biologically, though
Having never grown them myself, I can't tell you how long it will take to grow the extra 4 inches. But in nature, you always see them with only the trunks and root parts submerged. During high tide, it's OK for most of the leaves to be underwater, as it is temporary. As long as they get some "breathing" time, I think they're OK.
Brackishguybob, they do seem like a finicky plant! Very attractive and cool biologically, though
i always thought it would be fantastic to have a tank full of them and a suspended lighting system above.
my archers would love it.
but when it comes to mangroves im tired of failing :duh:
my archers would love it.
but when it comes to mangroves im tired of failing :duh:
oooh, they'd love it. Especially if you placed a nice juicy bug on the top of its leaves... Pewwn! (I didn't know how to write a shooting sound 
)
)
Tender Roots
I have 7 healthy mangroves in a tall (15"x30"x45"?) tank that is half full. So, envision a tank that is taller than it is wide. The substrate in my tank fills roughly half-way upward on one side of the tank, with driftwood as a barrier in the centre, leaving the remainder 50% of the tank's bottom with roughly only a 2" substrata, compared to the other half's 7-10" depth. The mangroves are planted in the section of the tank with the deepest substrarta. As my seven (of originally 9, see below) mangroves reach the height my tank's rim i will then level the substrate, evening it throughout the bottom of the tank. When they, once again, reach the tank's top (and thus the my light's glass-platform -- a local glass shop cut it to my specification for maybe 20USD) i will either research the material for a higher-powered hanging light or websearch mangrove pruning tactics (i'd like them to form multiple branches, not just 1 upward with multi-rings of leaves on each).
Mangrove Murder... Top & Bottom Methods Explored:
Preface: I should first disclose that i'm a theorist more than a practicalist. I researched and purchased mangroves for their natural-filtering mechanism. I hate water changes: i love the concept of a bio-sphere that requires minimal human maintenance/intrusion (i.e., i'm a prtentious lazy ******* who hates changing water or subtrate-cleaning!). So, enter 9 Mangroves and let the drama begin. Note: These things are expensive if you live in the colder areas of our little sphere!
[1 - Murder by Bottom]
The hardest part about utilizing the cleansing properties of mangroves in a pre-existing tank is planting the tender things. I used rocks. In so doing i, somehow, managed to work out a techinique of weighing down the root of a plant with one or more sea rocks (so nice-n-flat!) and then hand-shoveling substrate on top of it all, slowly weighing down the plant in a stable mound of rock and sand. It's a little tricky. Tricky technique or not, i also broke more than one plant's root system (2! ..and they later perished). I should've been more gentle. I should have taken my time. If you feel a root crack, you're mangrove is in trouble. I would recommend purchasing some plyable metal lead strips that can be wrapped around the mangrove's base, and then easily covered over with substrate while the plant remains weighted down in position. I discovered these at the local superpet_mecha_store only after my mangrove murders.
[2 - Murdering Top-to-down, slo-mo]
Remember that glass platform i mentioned that supports the light from on-top? Well, in an effort to keep moisture inside the tank (remember, i want to do less water changes! i hate effort!) i made sure the glass top of the tank kept most of the moisture from escaping. The subermisble-filter's and heating-element's electrical cords, however, lifted the glass plate away from the tank's rim maybe only a centimeter allowing some water vapor to escape. I thought it was sufficient aeration. I was wrong. The leaves were constantly moist, which i initially thought was a good, healthy condition (dreaming of a Jurasic-Park type mangrove_utopia). But, horror -- mold started to form (and kill!) 1 mangrove plant whilst away on business.
So, thusly so, 9 became 7.
Lessons Learnt:
[a] Aclimate your plants after shipment. Expose them to light, but keep the root-systems moist halfway in a container of your tanks water (not completely submerged). Do this for a few days, no rush. Let the plants unstress from being sealed and packed. Trust me, this helps merely from my horticultural experiences, never mind mangroves. This is the first step in learning to treat these plants with tenderness.
Take your time planting them in your tank. Do it gently. Never grab the root system and push it down in the substrate. *Place* the mangrove on the bottom, and then just slowly cover it with substrate. Be gentle and slow and use the task as a moment to relax -- enjoy the process of planting these amazing plants. This is a hobby, not a task. Remember?
[c] Take pains to make sure their leaf-system is dry. Mold is a quick mangrove killer.
Hope this helps!
Do not abandon these plants; They are the perfect compliment to your tank!
Try again, be slow, and be *gentle*. REMEMBER: Natural solutions are the best solutions. Technology is a short-cut, and short-cuts *always* have negative consequences.
Learn to build beauty *within* the flow of nature.
I never change my water or clean my substrata in my brackish tank, almost 2 years now. I only add water, and only little each week, from its neighboring 40g freshwater convict cichlid's tank.
Hope this helps on the Mangrove front.
("Enjoy the process, it's just as fun as reaching the goal.")
rob@egoz.org
I have 7 healthy mangroves in a tall (15"x30"x45"?) tank that is half full. So, envision a tank that is taller than it is wide. The substrate in my tank fills roughly half-way upward on one side of the tank, with driftwood as a barrier in the centre, leaving the remainder 50% of the tank's bottom with roughly only a 2" substrata, compared to the other half's 7-10" depth. The mangroves are planted in the section of the tank with the deepest substrarta. As my seven (of originally 9, see below) mangroves reach the height my tank's rim i will then level the substrate, evening it throughout the bottom of the tank. When they, once again, reach the tank's top (and thus the my light's glass-platform -- a local glass shop cut it to my specification for maybe 20USD) i will either research the material for a higher-powered hanging light or websearch mangrove pruning tactics (i'd like them to form multiple branches, not just 1 upward with multi-rings of leaves on each).
Mangrove Murder... Top & Bottom Methods Explored:
Preface: I should first disclose that i'm a theorist more than a practicalist. I researched and purchased mangroves for their natural-filtering mechanism. I hate water changes: i love the concept of a bio-sphere that requires minimal human maintenance/intrusion (i.e., i'm a prtentious lazy ******* who hates changing water or subtrate-cleaning!). So, enter 9 Mangroves and let the drama begin. Note: These things are expensive if you live in the colder areas of our little sphere!
[1 - Murder by Bottom]
The hardest part about utilizing the cleansing properties of mangroves in a pre-existing tank is planting the tender things. I used rocks. In so doing i, somehow, managed to work out a techinique of weighing down the root of a plant with one or more sea rocks (so nice-n-flat!) and then hand-shoveling substrate on top of it all, slowly weighing down the plant in a stable mound of rock and sand. It's a little tricky. Tricky technique or not, i also broke more than one plant's root system (2! ..and they later perished). I should've been more gentle. I should have taken my time. If you feel a root crack, you're mangrove is in trouble. I would recommend purchasing some plyable metal lead strips that can be wrapped around the mangrove's base, and then easily covered over with substrate while the plant remains weighted down in position. I discovered these at the local superpet_mecha_store only after my mangrove murders.
[2 - Murdering Top-to-down, slo-mo]
Remember that glass platform i mentioned that supports the light from on-top? Well, in an effort to keep moisture inside the tank (remember, i want to do less water changes! i hate effort!) i made sure the glass top of the tank kept most of the moisture from escaping. The subermisble-filter's and heating-element's electrical cords, however, lifted the glass plate away from the tank's rim maybe only a centimeter allowing some water vapor to escape. I thought it was sufficient aeration. I was wrong. The leaves were constantly moist, which i initially thought was a good, healthy condition (dreaming of a Jurasic-Park type mangrove_utopia). But, horror -- mold started to form (and kill!) 1 mangrove plant whilst away on business.
So, thusly so, 9 became 7.
Lessons Learnt:
[a] Aclimate your plants after shipment. Expose them to light, but keep the root-systems moist halfway in a container of your tanks water (not completely submerged). Do this for a few days, no rush. Let the plants unstress from being sealed and packed. Trust me, this helps merely from my horticultural experiences, never mind mangroves. This is the first step in learning to treat these plants with tenderness.
Take your time planting them in your tank. Do it gently. Never grab the root system and push it down in the substrate. *Place* the mangrove on the bottom, and then just slowly cover it with substrate. Be gentle and slow and use the task as a moment to relax -- enjoy the process of planting these amazing plants. This is a hobby, not a task. Remember?
[c] Take pains to make sure their leaf-system is dry. Mold is a quick mangrove killer.
Hope this helps!
Do not abandon these plants; They are the perfect compliment to your tank!
Try again, be slow, and be *gentle*. REMEMBER: Natural solutions are the best solutions. Technology is a short-cut, and short-cuts *always* have negative consequences.
Learn to build beauty *within* the flow of nature.
I never change my water or clean my substrata in my brackish tank, almost 2 years now. I only add water, and only little each week, from its neighboring 40g freshwater convict cichlid's tank.
Hope this helps on the Mangrove front.
("Enjoy the process, it's just as fun as reaching the goal.")
rob@egoz.org
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