H. erectus with Eelgrass

[Fishfreak2009]

Anyone done a setup like this in a home aquarium? Hippocampus erectus with Zostera marina? My wife and I have been planning a seahorse build, and stumbled on some really nice Zostera marina washed up on the beach while on vacation, roots, runners and all.

I'm thinking it should do well at room temp (69-70F), with low to moderate flow, and a sand bed around 6" deep. Anyone think I should add some planted aquarium substrate (flourite) as well, for better growth, or just leave it as aragonite?

Maybe add a couple of the cooler water clams/oysters from the seafood market?

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

I have no idea but sounds awesome!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Anyone done a setup like this in a home aquarium? Hippocampus erectus with Zostera marina? My wife and I have been planning a seahorse build, and stumbled on some really nice Zostera marina washed up on the beach while on vacation, roots, runners and all.

I'm thinking it should do well at room temp (69-70F), with low to moderate flow, and a sand bed around 6" deep. Anyone think I should add some planted aquarium substrate (flourite) as well, for better growth, or just leave it as aragonite?

Maybe add a couple of the cooler water clams/oysters from the seafood market?

I've tried to keep tropical eelgrasses alive a number of times and was never able to do so. They need strong lighting and good water flow (currents and alternating waves). The best I've ever ben able to do is about 1 year and it looked pretty sad - the leaves were all contorted, etc.

Zostera marina would be even more difficult, and needs cold water during the winter.

Jay

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I've tried to keep tropical eelgrasses alive a number of times and was never able to do so. They need strong lighting and good water flow (currents and alternating waves). The best I've ever ben able to do is about 1 year and it looked pretty sad - the leaves were all contorted, etc.

Zostera marina would be even more difficult, and needs cold water during the winter.

Jay

Thank you for the insight!

I'm still going to try some since I found a bunch on the beach, and I'll be sure to document. Not out anything if it doesn't grow. I am going to skip the flourite.

Hopefully it will grow around 70 F.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Zostera marina should grow alright at 70F, though lower would be better, with 50-68F being the optimal range (oddly, it also prefers brackish salinities - 10 to 25ppt, instead of 35ppt)* - assuming you can get the flow and things right of course. Fair warning, though, temperature impacts the leaf shape of Z. marina pretty heavily**, so it might look a bit odd growing at that temp. They also do better with "nutrient enriched estuarine sediments"*** - so adding some mud under the aragonite sand might be helpful.

*

Effects of salinity and water temperature on the ecological performance of Zostera marina

We tested the effects of salinity and water temperature on the ecological performance of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in culture-experiments to identi…

www.sciencedirect.com

**

Morphogeographic variation under controlled conditions in five seagrasses, Thalassia testudinum, Halodule wrightii, Syringodium filiforme, Halophila engelmannii, and Zostera marina

The morphogeographic evidence udner controlled conditions demonstrated variation in leaf width that correlated with the leaf patterns in the indigenou…

www.sciencedirect.com

***

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1526-100X.2010.00693.x