|
|
 Posted 4/11/2006 6:26:10 AM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/24/2008 3:59:47 PM
Posts: 566,
Visits: 4,173
|
|
Seacrop has Halophila ovalis... Sarah, where do you see Halophila decipiens?
Halophila engelmannii seems to be the prettiest of the group, but I also don't see that for sale anywhere I can find.
Don't count your gobies before they've metamorphosized.
|
|
|
|
| Posted 4/11/2006 10:06:39 AM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/12/2006 5:31:53 PM
Posts: 44,
Visits: 66
|
|
I have tried to release both to the commercial guys but no one wants to take on the challenge to grow them. So for now stargrass is only available through other hobbyists and the same for H. decipiens.. though I havent had a chance to start sending out frags to people I think will do well with it. Half the battle is getting it out into a few tanks to guard against losing the species. That is HUGE news with H. ovalis being offered at Seacrop, I just put in my order.  >Sarah
"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!"
|
|
|
|
| Posted 4/11/2006 10:43:48 AM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/24/2008 3:59:47 PM
Posts: 566,
Visits: 4,173
|
|
Have you talked to Mary at Seacrop? She's been very enthusiastic for new species' in the past, although do doubt there is a limit on the pace at which she can take on new species'. She is really getting a fine collection of critters and algaes going. Our club is going up to visit her facility soon, and I am looking forward to seeing her aquaculture facility. Too bad she doesn't do will-call -- it seems silly to ship livestock 24-48 hours to go a 1-2 hour drive away! (Although I sympathize with the logistical challenges of operating a pick-up window.)
Since I have basically two tanks plus a refugium to work with, I may be able to take H. engelmannii and H. decipiens frags off your hands.  There is a lot of interest locally in different macroalgaes, but only the usual suspects available. One or two new varieties available at frag swaps would probably be recieved with enthusiasm.
For a while, my refugium will be infested with caulerpa so I can seed the new tank with life from the fuge, but then I will pull all the rocks out of there and replace with clean (non-caulerpa infested) rock and sand. I will probably want to keep rock rubble in there as a pod nursery, but I already have a deep sand bed in the fuge, although the particle size is too large to be optimal for seagrass. Not big enough for denitrification, IMO, but deep enough for seagrass roots.
I haven't decided on a configuration for the goby tank yet. I would like to give these guys a more natural environment, but not so natural that the pistol shrimps can build deep homes where the gobies can lay their eggs out of site and possible collection. Their 20g tank is lower flow and therefore tends to collect detritus, so it would make a nice refugium if the 4 of them (2 gobies and 2 shrimp) didn't decimate any unlucky pod that gets sucked into their tank. I have a nice 2x65w light fixture sitting in the garage that I can put over that tank -- lotsa light. The particle size is also too large in here, but there is not much sand right now and if I introduced another inch and a half of fine sand plus some more rubble and shell pieces, the shrimps might have more building material plus the grass could be happy.
In theory, perhaps the main tank could take one Halophila ovalis with it's fine, shallow bed, the goby tank a second Halophila species with a slightly deeper bed, and finally the refugium could take the Halodule wrightii in a nice 4-5" bed.
Too many ideas...
On another topic, I was researching lagoonal fishes -- and having a hard time with it. If I evict the assessors, I was thinking of getting a crowd of small gobies. Unfortunately, the only ideas I can come up with are from different geographics regions! Here are my ideas so far:
Elacatinus puncticulatus (Red Head goby) -- East Central Pacific
Elacatinus multifasciatum (Green-banded goby) -- West Atlantic
Eviota guttata (Red-striped goby aka Spotted Pygmy goby) -- tiny! West Indian Ocean
Salarias fasciatus (Lawnmower blenny) -- Indo-Pacific
I've always wanted a Midas blenny (Ecsenius midas, Indo-Pacific/African), but I have such poor luck with these blennies, I don't know if I can bring myself to buy another, as much as I want one.
Availability of aquaculture specimens is spotty, although Inland Aquatics can probably supply the E. puncticulatus and E. multifasciatum tank-raised and S. fasciatus captive reared.
It's really hard to put together a biotope, unless you live in Florida and want a Caribbean tank! It seems like everything I think about, based on actual availability, ventures farther away from my Indo-Pacific lagoon. 
There seems to be a slight possibility my S. ocellatus and a S. fasciatus might be aggressive to each other. They have different diets, but similar appearance.
Don't count your gobies before they've metamorphosized.
|
|
|
|
| Posted 4/12/2006 8:50:39 PM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/24/2008 3:59:47 PM
Posts: 566,
Visits: 4,173
|
|
Here's the red algae I have in my refugium that I am thinking of moving to the main display.
It doesn't appear to be Caulera racemosa to me. It looks like it, but it does not grow like it (up instead of sprawling sideways), and the bubbles don't attach to the stalk like the closeups on algaebase. Nor does it have the pronounced rootlets.
Don't count your gobies before they've metamorphosized.
|
|
|
|
| Posted 4/27/2006 11:35:40 AM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/24/2008 3:59:47 PM
Posts: 566,
Visits: 4,173
|
|
Sarah, did you get your H. ovalis, and how is it doing so far?
Don't count your gobies before they've metamorphosized.
|
|
|
|
| Posted 4/27/2006 12:10:53 PM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/12/2006 5:31:53 PM
Posts: 44,
Visits: 66
|
|
| Arrived just this past weekend! The ovalis is doing.. well, about what I expected. It arrived in okay shape but after transplant has since started to lose most of its leaves. The growing points of the rhizomes are extending though and there are new leaf sets forming, so I have hope. H. engelmannii was not much better at first after wild collection, gave me a heart attack! Have you been able to decide on a gobie population? By the way, definitely not Caulerpa racemosa for that gorgoeous red macro posted above. Many of these forms are being ID'd as Botryocladia genus but there are several forms of 'bubbly reds', and ID at our level would hinge on how the bubbles are arranged on the frond.. I'll look at my notes and see if I cant suggest a better genus or two to compare against AlgaeBase. >Sarah
"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!"
|
|
|
|
| Posted 4/27/2006 1:15:20 PM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/24/2008 3:59:47 PM
Posts: 566,
Visits: 4,173
|
|
I haven't decided on the gobies yet. I went through so much to get the assessors, I'm loathe to get rid of them, so I've been wobbling. Baby clowns are slowly getting sold as they get big enouhg, so I should have a free tank for them in a couple of weeks.
The red algae CAN attach itself, but it doesn't seem to feel the need to. Most of this algae in my refugium is free-floating; only a frond or two is attached. it is growing much better since I dramatically trimmed the caulerpa down to nothing, so it seems sensitive to competitive chemicals.
Don't count your gobies before they've metamorphosized.
|
|
|
|
| Posted 4/29/2006 8:27:01 PM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/24/2008 3:59:47 PM
Posts: 566,
Visits: 4,173
|
|
A minor bit of progress today; I picked up two leather corals -- a neon green sinularia (the So Cal special) that's about 6" tall, and a lobophytum of some sort, I think. Both aquacultured, of course. The lobo came with a rhodactis shroom and a discosoma shroom, as well as a couple of tiny bits of xenia. No worries about the xenia; I am quite effective at killing it. although I am a little stumped that it's actually pulsing this time. When I DON'T want it, watch... it will live. Maybe I will start the xenia in the refugium instead, since I am moving algae to the main tank. 
Since I already have some discosoma and rhodactis that apparently I will not be able to completely remove, I think they have joined the tank plans. I will weed mushrooms out as the opportunity presents itself.
The sinularia is a fast grower and will be a big colony in no time. Other than possibly picking up a long neon green polyped toadstool (should I ever find one), that's it for the corals -- 3 large leathers (sarcophyton, lobophyton, sinularia), the lobophyllia, and a smattering of discosoma and rhodactis mushrooms. (Plus, possibly, xenia.)
The new live rock is very thoroughly cured, but still in tubs. All fish are in still in the tank, pending me having free tank space to move them out to. If my clowns' eggs hatch on schedule tonight, I will move them to their QT tomorrow, which is open, and have the new owner of their frogspawn host come pick it up. The scooter will also get moved into the clowns' QT tank when I can catch her, but her capture will probably have to wait until I can take out all the rock and drain the tank -- she and the assessors will be hard to catch.
Don't count your gobies before they've metamorphosized.
|
|
|
|
| Posted 5/1/2006 10:15:58 AM |
|
|
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 9/24/2008 9:57:01 AM
Posts: 275,
Visits: 870
|
|
NicoleC (4/29/2006)
A minor bit of progress today; I picked up two leather corals -- a neon green sinularia (the So Cal special) that's about 6" tall, and a lobophytum of some sort, I think. Both aquacultured, of course. The lobo came with a rhodactis shroom and a discosoma shroom, as well as a couple of tiny bits of xenia. No worries about the xenia; I am quite effective at killing it. although I am a little stumped that it's actually pulsing this time. When I DON'T want it, watch... it will live. Maybe I will start the xenia in the refugium instead, since I am moving algae to the main tank. Since I already have some discosoma and rhodactis that apparently I will not be able to completely remove, I think they have joined the tank plans. I will weed mushrooms out as the opportunity presents itself. The sinularia is a fast grower and will be a big colony in no time. Other than possibly picking up a long neon green polyped toadstool (should I ever find one), that's it for the corals -- 3 large leathers (sarcophyton, lobophyton, sinularia), the lobophyllia, and a smattering of discosoma and rhodactis mushrooms. (Plus, possibly, xenia.) The new live rock is very thoroughly cured, but still in tubs. All fish are in still in the tank, pending me having free tank space to move them out to. If my clowns' eggs hatch on schedule tonight, I will move them to their QT tomorrow, which is open, and have the new owner of their frogspawn host come pick it up. The scooter will also get moved into the clowns' QT tank when I can catch her, but her capture will probably have to wait until I can take out all the rock and drain the tank -- she and the assessors will be hard to catch. Pretty funny on that sinularia..... I think everyone i know has a frag or two of that. We have a few here ourselves in the office. As for that leather you're after, a few folks have it... hugo and anthony are the most accessible ones. There's a huge one at Anthony's store..... right next to the huge (4 basketballs huge) sinularia colony that came from Keith's (argi's) tank. More pics.... more pics...... more pics
|
|
|
|
| Posted 5/1/2006 11:08:40 AM |
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/24/2008 3:59:47 PM
Posts: 566,
Visits: 4,173
|
|
That sinularia is a huge aquaculture success story: attractive, hardy and fast growing and almost everyone likes it. I remember seeing the tank Anthony set up with the leathers from Keith's tank -- it was lovely with all the sinularia standing up on top.
Will do more pics when I have something new to show!
Don't count your gobies before they've metamorphosized.
|
|
|
|