Mangrove growth thread

[Eric R.]

Want to document and share the growth of my mangroves. I've been growing them out in a standard FW 20 long tank for just over a year now. I'm going to slowly transition that tank to full salinity (35 ppt) to make a macro/mangrove display tank in the next couple of months, just need to move out the FW fish I've been keeping in there (rainbow krib pair and one juvenile male).

I found that when I started growing these a year ago, I couldn't find a lot of well documented information about growing mangroves, especially from threads that weren't years old from people no longer active on forums. Also I couldn't find a lot of information about trimming growth stems on mangroves to achieve a "bonsai" style effect. I did this and it seems to be working well so far, so I'm going to continue to document this as well.

I received the mangroves in the mail on Feb. 8, 2021, shipped from a seller in Florida. Was supposed to be 3-day shipping, but they were delayed over the weekend and it ended up taking 5 days. I live in Vermont, so February gets VERY cold. I bought them from a seller on ebay, 5 propagules for $30 shipped, with some roots and 1 pair of leaves. They are red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle). Experience with seller was so-so, and it doesn't look like they are selling on ebay anymore, so I can't particularly recommend who to buy from.

Here's how they were shipped (wrapped in plastic grocery bags and put in a shipping envelope):

Here's how they looked when I got them (numbered for reference once planted):

Note the one on the far left had the growth tip/apical stem snapped off in shipping, and the one second from right has a browned/blackened growth tip. The effects of these are noticeable later, and I'll mention it then.

I put them in a bucket while I setup the tank. A week later (2/15/21), they were planted and looked like this:

And just for fun, a picture of a ladybug on a mangrove! More picture updates to come.

 

[Eric R.]

A bunch of pictures over the last year:

3/9/21

4/22/21, different angle. Note that the one in the back, the farthest left in previous tank pictures, isn't doing well. This was the number 4 in the first image with them all lined up on a desk, that had the black/brown growth tip when I received it. It's lost one of the two leaves it had then. The one that's tip fell off in shipping hasn't died, but hasn't grown new leaves. The others are growing well, and starting to put on their second pair of leaves.

4/27/21 - new leaves!

6/2/21 - the #1 mangrove in the first picture is putting out new growth!

6/22/21 - more new growth!

10/24/21 - Summer is nice in Vermont, I missed a few months of pictures. Look at all the new growth and leaves! The one grew tall very quickly, and the #1 mangrove that had lost it's growing tip but then sprouted two new ones has since gained a few inches and two new pairs of leaves! I removed the #4 mangrove, it had lost its other leaf and turned a shriveled brown/black. It never really recovered from the damage it received while shipping. I also decided to try trimming the growing stem on two of them to try to start working on a "bonsai" style effect (and keep them from getting too tall for the space!).

Before trimming the growing tip:

After trimming the tip:

 

[Eric R.]

11/22/21 - the shorter one that was trimmed has a new growth tip! Nothing very noticeable on the tallest one yet however.

12/12/21 - more growth on the shorter, trimmed mangrove (#5 from the original photo), and some visible new growth on the taller mangrove (#2 in the original) as well!

#5:

#2:

 

[Eric R.]

12/30/21 - Started spraying down all the leaves (to keep them from getting dusty mostly, since they are in freshwater still, not salt). Several individual shots as well as some root pictures:

#3

#1

#2

#5

#3 (roots, from the front of the tank) Note - the reason more roots are exposed is because the mangroves are planted at the top of a slope on one end of the tank, but the kribs were excavating a cave in the slope and eroding sand out from the slope as a result, exposing more of the roots. Good opportunity for some roots pictures before gently replacing the sand.

#3 (from the end of the tank)

#5 roots (from the end of the tank)

 

[Sean Clark]

Following along. I have been growing mangroves for a long time but I have always had relatively low nutrients so they grow pretty slowly. This has always been a "I wonder if I could" kind of project. Not really trying to grow a bunch of trees in my house or use them for nutrient control.

 

[Eric R.]

Reserved for updates

 

[Eric R.]

One thing I've noticed is that the mangroves seem to have been growing more slowly these last few winter months compared to over the summer. My bedroom is upstairs, and we don't have heater vents upstairs (plus the house is old and poorly insulated), so while the downstairs is 70-71 during the day and 66 at night, the upstairs is about 5 degrees colder usually. I wonder if temperature has much to do with it?

 

[SauceyReef]

Sweet thread! Thanks for sharing

 

[Kimosobey]

Thanks for sharing! About to dive into the mangrove world tomorrow. 6 going into the sump

 

[Sean Clark]

This is old and I only have six of these plants currently.

 

[Eric R.]

I emptied the 20g tank the mangroves were in, so I replanted them in a 5g bucket with sand and osmocote plus pellets, and put them outside for the summer. I brought them to school in Sept., and they've been in the greenhouse attached to my classroom since then. Here are some pictures from today. I've been replacing the water when I do a WC from the classroom planted FW tank, still haven't transitioned to SW yet. Once I have a tank for them I will. I need to find my bottle of DIY mix trace elements as I haven't dosed that in a while.

Should hopefully have a lot more branches soon! I think it's interesting that the growing stem split on both branches of the tallest one without me cutting the apical stem this time.

 

[Eric R.]

Here’s are some photos from today. No idea why the other 3 have always been so stunted, they came from the same seller and have been in the same conditions. The tallest one I do think was the straightest propagule.

One of the two main branches was snapped when I had it in the school greenhouse for a while. I tried to glue the snap back in place, but that part died off after a few weeks. I need to get bonsai wire to train the branches asap.

 

[Eric R.]

It looks like #2 in the original picture in my first post of this thread is the tallest mangrove in my most recent post. But it’s always been the tallest.

I transitioned the from freshwater to 35ppt saltwater several months ago, by topping off first with 18ppt water, then replacing partially with tank water when doing water changes. Now I just top off with RODI and partially replace water during tank water changes. I also spray down the leaves regularly with RODI, since I run a dehumidifier in my basement at 50% RH.

Have been pondering how best to move them to a display that I’m setting up in the next few months. I think root damage is the concern. I’m wondering if in the future, moving to a tank before acclimating to saltwater would be better, so that any damaged roots have the chance to recover in freshwater first.

Well, it’s all a great experiment.

 

[Eric R.]

Some more closeups on the roots (you can see a bit through the water, though these don’t have any noticeable prop roots), and of the smaller one.

I’ve also kept all the leaves that have fallen off for the bottom of the bucket. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them, but fallen leaf litter seems to be a natural part of a mangrove ecosystem, so I think it would be interesting to try incorporating them.

The other mangrove that I cut the tip off on originally had one of the new stems die off at one point. The other grew up so straight that it’s not easy to notice. I noticed the same thing with the tall mangrove, when the one side stem was snapped off, the other started growing much more straight up than before, and became the main stem.

 

[CHSUB]

I’m wondering if in the future, moving to a tank before acclimating to saltwater would be better, so that any damaged roots have the chance to recover in freshwater first.

Imo, yes! Damaged roots to full salt has never worked for me; even when tree was already in saltwater. Must exercise extreme caution…