seagrass fruit or seeds how to get?

[zoebeaglezoe]

was reading an article in coral magazine on seagrass aquariums
and the article said seeds and fruit could be collected from the beach does anyone have any ? who/where and is this the best way to get started growing seagrasses. which is the best one to grow in refugium not looking for anything that grows to tall.

Thanks Bryan

[Samala]

As far as I know there are no practical sources for seagrass fruit or seeds right now. A few people find turtle grass seeds/fruit occassionally but its not a constant source and there is a fair amount of luck involved. Fruit and seeds for other species are reported in the scientific literature, but again, no practical sources.

The seeds may end up becoming a great way to start seagrasses. Colonies that are sent as fragments always have a survival percentage, sometimes very low and sometimes pretty decent. Until we have people culturing grasses for the aquaria trade though, we wont be able to overcome this problem with fragments and access to seeds.

That said, seagrasses are not always the best choice for a refugium. I think the plants are lovely but they definitely have requirements.. lots of light, decent flow, good nutrients either in the soil/substrate or in the water column. Without all of these they do not grow and do not do well. For a fuge setup macroalgae still is the easier, less time intensive group to choose.

If you want to pursue it let us know, we could probably help you to set one up. I would suggest, for seagrass species if you choose to do it, Halodule beaudettei (shoal grass) and possibly a Halophila. Neither of these get very tall (8" or less).

>Sarah