Question about Mangroves

[SWMWTHDAFISHES]

Can I put mangroves temporarily in the main tank? The reason that I ask is that I would like to go ahead and take delivery of the mangroves that I have ordered for my sump, but it will probably take a week (I'm guessing) before I can use the sump to give the silicone time to dry (is that right?). Can I put them in the main tank until then and how exactly do I do that? Thanks so much.

 

[hyrookin]

I would think that the fish in your tank would make short work of them.

 

[SWMWTHDAFISHES]

I only have a figi blue devil damsel and a yellow tang in my tank right now. I thought that I saw a pic somewhere of Navarre having his mangroves in his main tank, but maybe I was mistaken. Navarre, what's your take on this?

 

[Navarre]

I have my mangroves in my main tank at the moment (they keep getting knocked over in the sump). The fish dont pay any interest in them at all.
My mangroves are kept on a polystyrene board. Basically i cut out a panel of polystyrene froma box thats used to transport fish to the shops etc. I then pushed a pencil through the panel to make a hole for each mangrove. Space these holes out over the panel to give the mangroves the best stablility available. Simply make the holes larger to ft thesize of mangrove that arrives. You want 1/3 of the mangrove under water and the rest of the stem above water. Be careful not to let the stems go under the water for any period of time or the salt will slowly burn into the softer part of the plant. (this happend to 3 of mine due to them overturning in the sump and i didnt realise). If they do get covered in salt water then simply wipe the stems down with a wet cloth (freshwater) to remove any salt residue. Once they are established then the salt wont do any harm to them.

Just allow them to float on the surface with thie polystyrene panel. As i have mentioned, the fish in my tank do not show any interest in the roots at all.

Hope this helps.


This is a very old piccy of the sump with the mangroves. You can see how they are fixed to the platform and this gives an excellant boyancy and stability to the plants.

(Excuse the sump it looks a mess as it was nely setup and maturing at the time ) )

 

[SWMWTHDAFISHES]

That's the pic I saw. Thanks so much!