Native marine aquaria are pretty scarce. Little information exists on how to be successful in maintaining healthy coldwater marine systems in domestic aquaria.
Hopefully this record of my failures, triumphs and ideas will assist others interested in keeping some of our fascinating, beautiful and often little known sea denizens in aquariums.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Even more pics
A juvenile grey mullet with a corkwing wrasse
A few close-ups of various small areas of the tank showing numerous plant species including corraline algaes.
Its mostly imported initially on 'live' rock. However, if I place a terrestrial stone in the tank it starts to go pink with encrusting corraline algae within a week or 2, within another week or so other desirable algaes also show.
Without grazing by snails though, 1st colonisation - within 2 days - is by Enteromorpha linza. In areas of the tank that snails cannot easily access this algae is predominant - its only when its grazed away that corraline algae is able to gain a foothold.
I would like to be able to carry out an experiment in the sea by creating a snail proof enclosure seeded with terrestrial rock and monitor colonisiation by algaes. I believe that grazing is extremely important to the promotion of corraline algaes and would be interested in proving it.
Did these Corallines seed themselves in the tank from imported seawater or did you introduce them as plants found growing in rockpools?
ReplyDeleteIts mostly imported initially on 'live' rock. However, if I place a terrestrial stone in the tank it starts to go pink with encrusting corraline algae within a week or 2, within another week or so other desirable algaes also show.
ReplyDeleteWithout grazing by snails though, 1st colonisation - within 2 days - is by Enteromorpha linza. In areas of the tank that snails cannot easily access this algae is predominant - its only when its grazed away that corraline algae is able to gain a foothold.
I would like to be able to carry out an experiment in the sea by creating a snail proof enclosure seeded with terrestrial rock and monitor colonisiation by algaes. I believe that grazing is extremely important to the promotion of corraline algaes and would be interested in proving it.