Sea Grasses Found Adjacent to S. haddoni

[WDLV]

I'm looking to find out what some of the typical sea grasses are that are found growing adjacent to S. haddoni and where to obtain them.

If there are a multitude of different types I'd like to know what might be the fastest grower.

- Looking to do a biotope tank.

[Reefvette]

Hey Walt try reefcleaners.org

I used oar grass in my new tank.

[velvetelvis]

Please post pictures once you've set it up! I love biotope tanks. :)

The descriptions are specific to Singapore's habitats, but this is an outstanding source for habitat descriptions and pictures for many clown-hosting anemones and associated species, including. S. haddoni:

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/cnidaria/actiniaria/haddoni.htm

Here are their species accounts for seagrasses found in Singapore:

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/plants/seagrass/seagrassindex.htm

HTH

ETA: I spent a lot of time trying to track down Pacific seagrasses a while back, when I was trying to do a Banggai cardinalfish habitat. They're very hard to get ahold of. If you're willing to substitute similar Atlantic species, Gulf Coast Ecosystems is a great source for marine plants, macros, and grasses, some of them aquacultured.

http://www.live-plants.com/

[velvetelvis]

More...

Here's a blog entry that mentions finding Halophila ovalis with haddoni:

http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/12/exploring-ubins-other-shores-seagrasses.html

[E.intheC]

This sounds like a great idea

[copokie]

Please post pictures once you've set it up! I love biotope tanks. :)


+1 :jester:

[WDLV]

Thanks for the links guys. I seem to be seeing a lot of this. Anyone know what it is?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Vxu_tx5NynY/SxheSxsjMeI/AAAAAAAAd5Y/z8OdrHHKqqo/s1600/_DSC4923m6

[velvetelvis]

I'm not a marine plant expert (at all), but maybe a Halophila species?

[WDLV]

ovalis probably. I was originally thinking of using C. taxifolia despite it's environmental stigmatism and common availability and I'm not writing it off but there are quite a number of sea grasses that are quite beautiful and native to the waters I'm looking at replicating.

[velvetelvis]

I actually used C. prolifera (obtained from Gulf Coast Ecosystems) to replicate a similar type of seagrass in a biotope I'd set up. It looked really good, but was a little high-maintenance; it took vigilance to keep it from taking over the tank.

[WDLV]

I actually want it to take over.
Got any pics?

[BonsaiNut]

Hey Walt;

Can't help you with a purchase source, but here's a species list:

Syringodium isoetifolium
Cymodocea serrulata
Halodule uninervis
Halophila ovalis
Halophila spinulosa

In a general sense, these are the primary sea grasses of the areas around New Guinea. This should get you pointed in the right direction unless you are trying to be much more specific.

Here is a nice sea-grass site for your surfing pleasure (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.seagrasswatch.org/ID_Seagrass/images/S_isoetifolium.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.seagrasswatch.org/id_seagrass.html&usg=__jEdChOmWh3qjSBj6JHNra5IXvLA=&h=371&w=250&sz=27&hl=en&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=9IpMjwj4sewAEM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=82&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSyringodium%2Bisoetifolium%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1) :)

[BonsaiNut]

I actually used C. prolifera (obtained from Gulf Coast Ecosystems) to replicate a similar type of seagrass in a biotope I'd set up.

C. prolifera is actually not a sea grass, but a macro algae. Not sure that it makes a difference for you. It sure looks like a sea grass, however :)

[BonsaiNut]

I was originally thinking of using C. taxifolia despite it's environmental stigmatism and common availability and I'm not writing it off but there are quite a number of sea grasses that are quite beautiful and native to the waters I'm looking at replicating.

Boy you like to cause trouble with your C. taxifolia :) I would stay miles away from that subject. Plus it's an algae anyway - I think the grasses are prettier with the possible exception of C. prolifera.

[velvetelvis]

C. prolifera is actually not a sea grass, but a macro algae. Not sure that it makes a difference for you. It sure looks like a sea grass, however :)

Actually, I meant to say that I was using C. prolifera to replicate the look of a species of sea grass that looked similar to it. I just put it badly. :) If only sea grasses were that easy to obtain and grow! :p

[WDLV]

For the purposes of this discussion, I'm referring to macro-algaes and sea grasses with equal interest. It's more the look and niche accuracy I'm looking at, though I think after more careful consideration I may be looking at different biotopes than that of S. haddoni. I wanted to do a sandy bottom on at least one of my tanks and do like the look of sea grasses/macro algaes.

I'm looking to do species tanks for my existing pairs:

A. thiellei (S. mertensii)
A. leucokranos (H. crispa)
A. latezonatus (H. crispa or E. quadricolor) *leaning toward E. quadricolor
A. barberi (E. quadricolor should work well)
A. ocellaris (Darwin variety) - (I need to research this one more)
A. nigripes (I need to research this one more too)

I want to stick with the most common anemones used by these fish. In the case of the hybrids, I went with anemones common to both parent species. In cases where there is a pretty even distribution of hosts I'm going with the host that is easiest to keep. I will use E-quadricolor wherever possible due to it's ability to propagate in captivity.
Given what I researched last night I want to concentrate on an S. mertensii biotope first as a permanent home for my thiellei clowns.

[WDLV]

Well, I think this sea grass biotope would still be relavent to S. gigantea; which appears to be a good candidate for a Darwin ocellaris host.