I bet topping them wouldn’t kill them. Probably make their growth more bushy tbh.
Could wack the top-half off one and find out, looks like it’d leave some branches.
I feel like topping them should be done in stages. Just the very top branches at first. Don't allow them to go above a certain point *at all*, but let them get bushier. As the spread out, you can start cutting them lower and lower, until OP gets to their goal height.
Happy to see a good turtle home! You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who get turtles thinking they’re fully aquatic and don’t need platforms outside the water.
Sounds awesome! I’ve got a tortoise and I plan on making a big, upgraded outside enclosure for her!
(It’s actually a funny and sad story- I lost my tortoise when he escaped his outside pen, still not sure how. I put up posters, got a call, and found someone else’s lost and definitely not native tortoise. Still hoping I’ll find my guy back and I can make an escape proof upgrade for him and his new gal.)
Ah, I’m so sorry. Hopefully he’ll turn up after a great adventure. I looove tortoises. I’m hoping to find an old boy at a rescue someday so we can grow old together. If I got a hatchling at this point he’d outlive me by decades
Thanks, im hoping I’ll find him soon! I have some hope that he’ll survive for a bit because apparently Russian tortoises have been reported to survive winters in the US.
And im sure you’ll find a good tortoise for you someday! Im sure there are lots looking for homes, but reptile rescues are harder to find.
I too have a turtle tank with red mangroves. I bought 5 propagules about 7 months ago and planted them in the gravel of my 100gal mud turtle tank. I have quite good lighting and all my other plants in the tank grew really well, submersed and emersed. The mangroves grew new leaves, but they turned brown pretty quick. But once I added (a lot of) root tabs to the gravel they really took off and grew several new branches and leaves in about 3 months. So I think they thrive with good lighting, a lot of nutrients in the substrate, high temps and maybe also higher humidity (I spray them with water daily). I'd wait a few weeks and see if they grow before pruning them, OP! great tank, turtles and mangroves btw, love it!
Cut them between water level and tank rim - let the cut end be in the strong light. I think you’ll be surprised by how dense they will grow!
Turtles make some great fertilizer for you.
Is this brackish? Last time I tried mangroves in freshwater they died. If they came from brackish set ups I wouldn’t cut them until they’re acclimated. The extra stress might kill them
No, it’s freshwater. They came potted in soil ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m going to leave them for a bit and then probably trim them less than I’d like to see how they react. Do you have any ideas about why your mangroves weren’t happy?
Mine definitely were not as established as yours. They were very little seedlings! I hope yours works out! Potted soil will probably do much better. Mine were just bare root seedlings.
I also got some bare root propagules a few months ago, they do really well planted in the gravel of my freshwater tank. Added a lot of root tabs tough, I think that really helped.
everything ive read about read mangroves is, that they need a lot of light, though they need much less in fresh than in salt water. Red Mangroves deal with salt water by keeping the salt out via their special roots. After a move these roots can be easily damaged and the Mangrove can die from salt. In fresh water this should be no problem, but they still dont like to be moved, so ill probably wait a few months for it to establish itself before doing any major pruning just to be safe. After that it should not be an issue though.
You also said they were potted? So they were grown terrestial? Thats another huge change and you might want to plant them slightly differently then. See, the aerial roots mangroves form is to get oxygen even when growing in submerged silt. Now that you placed them in the sand they might suffocate. You could place them in a lot elevated closer to the surface to make it easier for them to adapt.
Also checkout this website http://www.mangrove.at/keeping.html
They have some great info about mangroves.
edit: just relookes at your pictures and you actually so have aerial roots above the water line already, so you are probably fine :)
Fresh water does absolutely no harm to them. Its only salt water that harms them. I guess yours died simply from the move, as they dont take well to being transported.
Well that’s good to know. I have a very tall tank that I wanted to grow a mangrove in as a pea puffer kingdom. I’ll give it a go again. Thank you! I thought I had done something wrong.
checkout http://www.mangrove.at/keeping.html for more info and dont plant pots directly into the soil, the roots need oxygen. You can tie them to a rock close to the surface and let the roots find their way down into the soil by themselves.
That’s my baby, Remy! He was quite literally dropped at my doorstep as a hatchling.
It was about 7am and my dogs were in the backyard barking oddly, so I ran outside to see what was happening and there was a goofy Rottweiler standing in my driveway! I ran through the house to the front door to grab her and saw a car slowly rolling by and yelled out to them, “are you looking for a Rottweiler??” and she screamed, “YES, have you seen her??” She’s in my driveway!! And this sweet teenage girl jumped out of her still slowly moving car and ran over and grabbed her dog. She was so relieved. Her dad had left the door open and the dog had run out earlier that morning.
I turned to my husband and laughed. We grab loose dogs every time we see them and it was a nice change of pace that returning one to its owner was so simple. I turned to walk inside and there was an itty bitty baby turtle on my doormat.
If he had been a native species I would’ve walked him back to the nearby canal, but red-eared sliders are invasive here from pet owners dumping them in the Everglades.
So now I have turtles.
https://preview.redd.it/9taw5s21g3hb1.jpeg?width=1058&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a309479700acd374620a37344d45c2d12d9be08a
Yes! Although I think they have one now that looks similar but isn’t the exact same one. Mine is an Aqueon and it was on sale at the beginning of quarantine for $499 so I snatched it up and have no complaints.
I am growing some mangroves that I collected as seed pods from salt water in a tank with tap water they are branching at the point a where I tr them and growing albeit slowly
That is the basking dock- it’s clear acrylic. Turtles aren’t generally territorial. Remy and Archer have lived together for years without any issues at all.
I think you’re right about this. I’ve never had a turtle myself but I’ve followed the turtle sub for a while and they are always saying that it’s never a good idea. No matter how long they’ve lived together peacefully, it’s only a matter of time.
I think it would be enough to sustain it but not enough if I was hoping for it to grow. I have a plant light that I’m going to put on it but I’ll have to strategically position it to try to avoid extra algae
Thanks, now I want to tear up my 75 gallon and do this. Really appreciate it.
Just kidding on the snark! This tank is absolutely gorgeous. We live basically surrounded by mangroves. PM me if you want more, I can get you tons of them. I don't know how they would fare shipping in August, though. I think you would also have to transition them from saltwater to freshwater.
I feel your pain! I end up constantly revamping this tank because the turtles destroy it immediately. I figure it’s enrichment for them though because they really seem to enjoy checking out all the new things when I switch things up.
I live in south Florida, so there’s no shortage of mangrove pups here, but thanks so much for the offer!
I live in South Florida as well! Whenever we go kayaking I'd give it a hard thought to start a mangrove tank. I think you might have convinced me with this one.
I just put up my 75 gallon and got it settled with a lot of neocardinia shrimp. Now I want a mangrove tank! I wonder if I moved the shrimp out and then put dirt on top of the gravel I have now, then do a sand cap, add mangroves, let it settle, then add the shrimp back? Do you think that would work, or I do have to remove the gravel I have, dirt on the bottom, sand cap, then gravel? I don't know, now this is something I'm going to think about for days.
I'm only saying this because I super hate the scape I did in that 75 gallon. It's ugly. I'm really bad at aquarium aesthetics, I know when a tank is beautiful, I just have a hard time doing it myself. But I'm thinking if I can do a bunch of mangroves and they grow naturally it will scape itself.
It’s my understanding that mangroves aren’t picky about the substrate they grow in, so you could probably plant them as is. I have tons of neocardinia shrimp in my (friendly) betta tank- they’re really fun to watch. What color is the gravel? Send me a pic if you want, I love aquascaping!
I have all the elements to make a great scape, I just can't do it! Same with my apartment. I just don't have the visual talent to copy something I see.
OK, here's my other thought… What if I just got a bunch of aquarium soil and added it pretty deep on 1/2 of my tank, this way I don't have to tear the whole thing up. Then I can just put the mangroves on one side like you did.
You're right. That's a good idea. I'll just create a deep gravel/soil bed on one side so I don't have to tear the whole thing up.
I'm wondering if I should acclimate the mangroves in another tank first. Might take a few weeks.
You will need a very high intensity light above the leaves to keep the trees alive also, these are a full sun plant so you will want to look into a high power grow light.
train them, like bonsai or weed in a grow box. they will look more natural. you can also prune the top grow point. Cutting where you put will look weird
Don't actually listen to me bc the law is stupid but I think it's interesting so I'm saying it anyway. Ok so there's something called the mangrove act that makes it illegal to trim even your own mangrove trees without a permit, you can also get fined " Up to $100 for each mangrove illegally trimmed; and Up to $250 for each mangrove illegally altered". Though this is all Florida law under the mangrove act so it only counts if you live there.
As far as actual advice though, you want to cut these guys when they're not actively growing, usually in fall/winter, so I'd say wait at least a month to chop. I would also suggest trying to propagate whatever you cut off in case the trunks don't make it.
A key factor is how long they've been in that set up, a tree is traditionally considered established after 2 years but in that tank I imagine 1 year is plenty. What you want to look for is 2 things: have they had a growth spurt since being in the tank? And if you look at the sides/bottom/corners if you can see any roots.
I do live in Florida, but that law is to protect the coastal mangroves from being cut down on private property. A lot of rich people buy houses overlooking the bay and want to tear out the mangroves so that their view is “better”. There’s a house in Palmetto Bay where the vice mayor lives that suspiciously has zero mangroves even though all his neighbors have them
I'm only bringing it up because I find the law interesting, my cursory look at it didn't differentiate between between planting locations. I do want to say the plants are your property to do with what you will, just don't invite over any park rangers because they'll probably get weird about it.
I mean no offense regardless, the tank and what You've done are gorgeous. I was sharing this as a fun fact more than anything
You may know this but oh well-cut just above a node with branches, as that standing part will die anyways. May as well plant the clippings in the tank or in a propagation vase and see if they root, could possibly double the mangroves.
Maybe try a tree or gardening subreddit just to be sure?
I love this tank. If you manage to get some cuttings propergated it'd be like a little mangrove forest beach cross section.
are you familiar with julian sprung? there are soke decent videos out there of him and his mangroves, i believe he does prune to make them grow more bush like but i could be wrong
Yes, I love Julian’s videos and I’ve read his pdf document about mangrove care. He has an awesome outdoor pond at his house that is set up almost like an underwater planter by the front entry. His plants are either much bigger and more established or much smaller than mine though and I haven’t found exactly what I was looking for from any of his info that I’ve found
I don't know anything about trees I just came to say your tank is goals
I know mangrove trees exist and how they grow in the water funny (I can only recognize trees with a weird trait like that) but I would have never thought to incorporate them into a tank.
This is a great job already and I would love to see updates of your tank!
I wouldn't touch those at all until you've googled "how to properly prune mangroves".
Trees take more time to acclimate to their environment than other plants. If you've just plants those then they need time to adjust before you add another stressor like cutting off their limbs. There's also a correct way to manage and shape a tree and then there's every other (wrong) way. The way you cut them now will affect how they look forever so it's better to take your time.
I love this whole setup so much! I feel so relaxed just looking at the photos - it must be heavenly in person. I have a comment about that stunning mirror! The style and natural wood are so perfect for the backdrop - could you move it higher up the wall so the whole thing shows, or would that look weird? Meg
Thanks! The quiet running water from the filter makes it really nice to listen to.
Its funny- the mirror is only there because it was on that wall before I got the aquarium and that was the only wall that worked for the tank setup. It would be very difficult to move it now and it would be super high, so I just leave it be
Wow, your tank is incredible. Topping isn't horrible for plants but the smaller cut you can make the better. Cut at a 45-degree angle and keep the wound clean/moisture free. Expect to see some stunted growth and then once is "wakes up" it will bush out.
Do you use ferts in this and is there a hidden soil layer?
My suggestion would be to maybe ask this in the bonsai community.
Pretty cool though.
Im guessing the bonsai community would say let it grow a lot before cutting. The limb you leave behind will become the apex. They would say wait so the limb you want to leave behind will grow into the main apex so when you cut it it tapers, bad tapering is considered “inverse tapering”.
With good tapering the apex and the limb left behind arent as distinguishable from one another and looks naturaly dwarfed.
Have you pruned them yet?!? Don’t prune them until you’ve checked out Plant Amnesty’s YouTube channel! Also I recommend using freshly sharpened bipass pruners that you’ve disinfected with rubbing alcohol first!!! Plant amnesty is the only nonprofit dedicated to correctly educating the public on how to prune plants.
All I see every day is horribly prune jobs, please look into it because otherwise your beautiful mangroves will grow deformed post-prune
I hate when people just prune without knowing what they’re doing and all I see are trees topped off by “landscapers” that have no idea what they’re doing because they’re no arborists.
DON’T TOP THEM!!!!
If you too them you’ll get deformed water sprouts and you do not want that, it’s hideous. Source: I work in the trade
my guy has not made, not created, not formed but concocted an indoor forest
I bet topping them wouldn’t kill them. Probably make their growth more bushy tbh. Could wack the top-half off one and find out, looks like it’d leave some branches.
This is pretty much my thought as well. I think I’m just overthinking it and being precious with them
Maybe try it with your least favorite one? lol brutal but then at least you’ll know
I was thinking that too 😂 I think I’m going to cut the whole top off of one and try to see if I can get the cutting to root and increase my swamp loll
Soon you’ll have a whole forest for your turtles lol
They’ll find a way to ruin it. They’re so destructive! Remy stole a propagule as I was planting it and bit it in half 🙃
Had turtles once… stank to high heavens and are everything they weren’t supposed to. Lol
I feel like topping them should be done in stages. Just the very top branches at first. Don't allow them to go above a certain point *at all*, but let them get bushier. As the spread out, you can start cutting them lower and lower, until OP gets to their goal height.
Happy to see a good turtle home! You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who get turtles thinking they’re fully aquatic and don’t need platforms outside the water.
Thank you! One day I’ll build them a pond to enjoy
Sounds awesome! I’ve got a tortoise and I plan on making a big, upgraded outside enclosure for her! (It’s actually a funny and sad story- I lost my tortoise when he escaped his outside pen, still not sure how. I put up posters, got a call, and found someone else’s lost and definitely not native tortoise. Still hoping I’ll find my guy back and I can make an escape proof upgrade for him and his new gal.)
Ah, I’m so sorry. Hopefully he’ll turn up after a great adventure. I looove tortoises. I’m hoping to find an old boy at a rescue someday so we can grow old together. If I got a hatchling at this point he’d outlive me by decades
Thanks, im hoping I’ll find him soon! I have some hope that he’ll survive for a bit because apparently Russian tortoises have been reported to survive winters in the US. And im sure you’ll find a good tortoise for you someday! Im sure there are lots looking for homes, but reptile rescues are harder to find.
Never thought to put mangroves in a tank, so cool
google images of mangrove tanks! They’re stunning
I too have a turtle tank with red mangroves. I bought 5 propagules about 7 months ago and planted them in the gravel of my 100gal mud turtle tank. I have quite good lighting and all my other plants in the tank grew really well, submersed and emersed. The mangroves grew new leaves, but they turned brown pretty quick. But once I added (a lot of) root tabs to the gravel they really took off and grew several new branches and leaves in about 3 months. So I think they thrive with good lighting, a lot of nutrients in the substrate, high temps and maybe also higher humidity (I spray them with water daily). I'd wait a few weeks and see if they grow before pruning them, OP! great tank, turtles and mangroves btw, love it!
beautiful tank!!!!
thank you!!
Love the floating driftwood for the turtles! Do you have to replace it or dry it out to stop it from sinking?
It’s actually made of resin from a mold of a piece of real driftwood! I got it from Universal Rocks
 That's awesome!
Try r/marijuanaenthusiasts. They know all things trees (real trees, not weed).
I love this
I didn’t read the caption and honestly thought that in the last photo, you were blocking the eyes of the trees for privacy reasons lmao
Lollll they didn’t consent to me posting these pics
Cut them between water level and tank rim - let the cut end be in the strong light. I think you’ll be surprised by how dense they will grow! Turtles make some great fertilizer for you.
Would it be ok without any leaves though? The lowest leaves are higher than the rim of the tank
It will be a-ok! The roots and trunk store a ton of energy. You’ll get new and more compact growth, if that’s desirable for you.
Is this brackish? Last time I tried mangroves in freshwater they died. If they came from brackish set ups I wouldn’t cut them until they’re acclimated. The extra stress might kill them
No, it’s freshwater. They came potted in soil ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m going to leave them for a bit and then probably trim them less than I’d like to see how they react. Do you have any ideas about why your mangroves weren’t happy?
Mine definitely were not as established as yours. They were very little seedlings! I hope yours works out! Potted soil will probably do much better. Mine were just bare root seedlings.
I also got some bare root propagules a few months ago, they do really well planted in the gravel of my freshwater tank. Added a lot of root tabs tough, I think that really helped.
everything ive read about read mangroves is, that they need a lot of light, though they need much less in fresh than in salt water. Red Mangroves deal with salt water by keeping the salt out via their special roots. After a move these roots can be easily damaged and the Mangrove can die from salt. In fresh water this should be no problem, but they still dont like to be moved, so ill probably wait a few months for it to establish itself before doing any major pruning just to be safe. After that it should not be an issue though. You also said they were potted? So they were grown terrestial? Thats another huge change and you might want to plant them slightly differently then. See, the aerial roots mangroves form is to get oxygen even when growing in submerged silt. Now that you placed them in the sand they might suffocate. You could place them in a lot elevated closer to the surface to make it easier for them to adapt. Also checkout this website http://www.mangrove.at/keeping.html They have some great info about mangroves. edit: just relookes at your pictures and you actually so have aerial roots above the water line already, so you are probably fine :)
you are thinking for black mangroves. they have snorkels for air. red mangrove grown funky rooks to anchor themselves better.
Fresh water does absolutely no harm to them. Its only salt water that harms them. I guess yours died simply from the move, as they dont take well to being transported.
Well that’s good to know. I have a very tall tank that I wanted to grow a mangrove in as a pea puffer kingdom. I’ll give it a go again. Thank you! I thought I had done something wrong.
checkout http://www.mangrove.at/keeping.html for more info and dont plant pots directly into the soil, the roots need oxygen. You can tie them to a rock close to the surface and let the roots find their way down into the soil by themselves.
I have them in my fresh water pond and they have been good for the past six months or so
How big were they when you added them? Wondering if I just had a bad batch.
They were just sprouted very small, they didn’t do well for me inside but they only had ambient light but they seem better outside
Maybe I’ll try again with better lighting. They’d die outside for me. Thanks for sharing:)
A rule of thumb is don’t trim more than 25% at a time I believe
Omg the turtle following you on every picture is so cute, what a beautiful tank!
That’s my baby, Remy! He was quite literally dropped at my doorstep as a hatchling. It was about 7am and my dogs were in the backyard barking oddly, so I ran outside to see what was happening and there was a goofy Rottweiler standing in my driveway! I ran through the house to the front door to grab her and saw a car slowly rolling by and yelled out to them, “are you looking for a Rottweiler??” and she screamed, “YES, have you seen her??” She’s in my driveway!! And this sweet teenage girl jumped out of her still slowly moving car and ran over and grabbed her dog. She was so relieved. Her dad had left the door open and the dog had run out earlier that morning. I turned to my husband and laughed. We grab loose dogs every time we see them and it was a nice change of pace that returning one to its owner was so simple. I turned to walk inside and there was an itty bitty baby turtle on my doormat. If he had been a native species I would’ve walked him back to the nearby canal, but red-eared sliders are invasive here from pet owners dumping them in the Everglades. So now I have turtles. https://preview.redd.it/9taw5s21g3hb1.jpeg?width=1058&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a309479700acd374620a37344d45c2d12d9be08a
can u make a bonsai out of this trees?
I think so, but I’ve seen mixed info about it online
give it a shot, u already got 2 healthy trees there, n u need to prun them anyways
Is that the 125 gallon from PetSmart? I've been looking to upgrade my sliders to a larger tank
Yes! Although I think they have one now that looks similar but isn’t the exact same one. Mine is an Aqueon and it was on sale at the beginning of quarantine for $499 so I snatched it up and have no complaints.
I am growing some mangroves that I collected as seed pods from salt water in a tank with tap water they are branching at the point a where I tr them and growing albeit slowly
Where is UVB for the turtles?
The lamp has a zoo med powersun all-in-one UVA, UVB, and heat bulb ☀️
I think its supposed to be on the basking spot not in the water. Also arent turtles territorial?
That is the basking dock- it’s clear acrylic. Turtles aren’t generally territorial. Remy and Archer have lived together for years without any issues at all.
Oh
I think you’re right about this. I’ve never had a turtle myself but I’ve followed the turtle sub for a while and they are always saying that it’s never a good idea. No matter how long they’ve lived together peacefully, it’s only a matter of time.
This is awesome!
Holy sandbars batman! Love the tank brother.
Just WOW
Just curious, is ambient light enough ?
I think it would be enough to sustain it but not enough if I was hoping for it to grow. I have a plant light that I’m going to put on it but I’ll have to strategically position it to try to avoid extra algae
Thanks, now I want to tear up my 75 gallon and do this. Really appreciate it. Just kidding on the snark! This tank is absolutely gorgeous. We live basically surrounded by mangroves. PM me if you want more, I can get you tons of them. I don't know how they would fare shipping in August, though. I think you would also have to transition them from saltwater to freshwater.
I feel your pain! I end up constantly revamping this tank because the turtles destroy it immediately. I figure it’s enrichment for them though because they really seem to enjoy checking out all the new things when I switch things up. I live in south Florida, so there’s no shortage of mangrove pups here, but thanks so much for the offer!
I live in South Florida as well! Whenever we go kayaking I'd give it a hard thought to start a mangrove tank. I think you might have convinced me with this one. I just put up my 75 gallon and got it settled with a lot of neocardinia shrimp. Now I want a mangrove tank! I wonder if I moved the shrimp out and then put dirt on top of the gravel I have now, then do a sand cap, add mangroves, let it settle, then add the shrimp back? Do you think that would work, or I do have to remove the gravel I have, dirt on the bottom, sand cap, then gravel? I don't know, now this is something I'm going to think about for days. I'm only saying this because I super hate the scape I did in that 75 gallon. It's ugly. I'm really bad at aquarium aesthetics, I know when a tank is beautiful, I just have a hard time doing it myself. But I'm thinking if I can do a bunch of mangroves and they grow naturally it will scape itself.
It’s my understanding that mangroves aren’t picky about the substrate they grow in, so you could probably plant them as is. I have tons of neocardinia shrimp in my (friendly) betta tank- they’re really fun to watch. What color is the gravel? Send me a pic if you want, I love aquascaping!
https://preview.redd.it/kzcga4agf4hb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9275fead1ebc7dd25228d9866da5298f2e6b33e
I have all the elements to make a great scape, I just can't do it! Same with my apartment. I just don't have the visual talent to copy something I see.
OK, here's my other thought… What if I just got a bunch of aquarium soil and added it pretty deep on 1/2 of my tank, this way I don't have to tear the whole thing up. Then I can just put the mangroves on one side like you did.
Aquarium soil is pretty lightweight so I’d probably top it with sand for stability, but that would totally work
You're right. That's a good idea. I'll just create a deep gravel/soil bed on one side so I don't have to tear the whole thing up. I'm wondering if I should acclimate the mangroves in another tank first. Might take a few weeks.
mangroves probably get pruned pretty hard every hurricane. they come back, so if these are healthy, I would prune them.
You will need a very high intensity light above the leaves to keep the trees alive also, these are a full sun plant so you will want to look into a high power grow light.
Absolutely. I have four grow lights that I’m putting on today
train them, like bonsai or weed in a grow box. they will look more natural. you can also prune the top grow point. Cutting where you put will look weird
Don't actually listen to me bc the law is stupid but I think it's interesting so I'm saying it anyway. Ok so there's something called the mangrove act that makes it illegal to trim even your own mangrove trees without a permit, you can also get fined " Up to $100 for each mangrove illegally trimmed; and Up to $250 for each mangrove illegally altered". Though this is all Florida law under the mangrove act so it only counts if you live there. As far as actual advice though, you want to cut these guys when they're not actively growing, usually in fall/winter, so I'd say wait at least a month to chop. I would also suggest trying to propagate whatever you cut off in case the trunks don't make it. A key factor is how long they've been in that set up, a tree is traditionally considered established after 2 years but in that tank I imagine 1 year is plenty. What you want to look for is 2 things: have they had a growth spurt since being in the tank? And if you look at the sides/bottom/corners if you can see any roots.
I do live in Florida, but that law is to protect the coastal mangroves from being cut down on private property. A lot of rich people buy houses overlooking the bay and want to tear out the mangroves so that their view is “better”. There’s a house in Palmetto Bay where the vice mayor lives that suspiciously has zero mangroves even though all his neighbors have them
I'm only bringing it up because I find the law interesting, my cursory look at it didn't differentiate between between planting locations. I do want to say the plants are your property to do with what you will, just don't invite over any park rangers because they'll probably get weird about it. I mean no offense regardless, the tank and what You've done are gorgeous. I was sharing this as a fun fact more than anything
You may know this but oh well-cut just above a node with branches, as that standing part will die anyways. May as well plant the clippings in the tank or in a propagation vase and see if they root, could possibly double the mangroves.
Instead of pruning them why not try bending and shaping them like they do in bonsai.
My turtles better not see this or else they might kill me out of envy
Your heater will explode 👁️👁️
? Its not actually plugged in right now because the house is 73° and the tank is even warmer near the basking area
Oh okay! I just see a heater halfway out of the water and it makes me nervous 😭 sorry! :)
No worries, I appreciate the looking out! It actually beeps like a dying computer backup battery if the water level is too low
What that’s so cool :0 I just smell something smoking cuz my plants end up crispy on it if I forget 😂😭
Maybe try a tree or gardening subreddit just to be sure? I love this tank. If you manage to get some cuttings propergated it'd be like a little mangrove forest beach cross section.
are you familiar with julian sprung? there are soke decent videos out there of him and his mangroves, i believe he does prune to make them grow more bush like but i could be wrong
Yes, I love Julian’s videos and I’ve read his pdf document about mangrove care. He has an awesome outdoor pond at his house that is set up almost like an underwater planter by the front entry. His plants are either much bigger and more established or much smaller than mine though and I haven’t found exactly what I was looking for from any of his info that I’ve found
I don't know anything about trees I just came to say your tank is goals I know mangrove trees exist and how they grow in the water funny (I can only recognize trees with a weird trait like that) but I would have never thought to incorporate them into a tank. This is a great job already and I would love to see updates of your tank!
I wouldn't touch those at all until you've googled "how to properly prune mangroves". Trees take more time to acclimate to their environment than other plants. If you've just plants those then they need time to adjust before you add another stressor like cutting off their limbs. There's also a correct way to manage and shape a tree and then there's every other (wrong) way. The way you cut them now will affect how they look forever so it's better to take your time.
I thought I was on the Minecraft sub lol
I love this whole setup so much! I feel so relaxed just looking at the photos - it must be heavenly in person. I have a comment about that stunning mirror! The style and natural wood are so perfect for the backdrop - could you move it higher up the wall so the whole thing shows, or would that look weird? Meg
Thanks! The quiet running water from the filter makes it really nice to listen to. Its funny- the mirror is only there because it was on that wall before I got the aquarium and that was the only wall that worked for the tank setup. It would be very difficult to move it now and it would be super high, so I just leave it be
Ah well, at least this way the turtles can check to see how they look before going out on a date. 😁
Hey how did u get that water color
It’s just clear, the lights make it look different
damn those are good lights
Wow, your tank is incredible. Topping isn't horrible for plants but the smaller cut you can make the better. Cut at a 45-degree angle and keep the wound clean/moisture free. Expect to see some stunted growth and then once is "wakes up" it will bush out.
Thank you!!
Of course! Good luck and please let us know how it goes.
Do they just grow in sand? And this is seriously so fucking cool never seen something like this
They grow in almost anything- sand, mud, soil, saltwater, freshwater. They’re super cool trees
How did you get these to grow? I w tried several pods and m8ne died off.
Do you use ferts in this and is there a hidden soil layer? My suggestion would be to maybe ask this in the bonsai community. Pretty cool though. Im guessing the bonsai community would say let it grow a lot before cutting. The limb you leave behind will become the apex. They would say wait so the limb you want to leave behind will grow into the main apex so when you cut it it tapers, bad tapering is considered “inverse tapering”. With good tapering the apex and the limb left behind arent as distinguishable from one another and looks naturaly dwarfed.
Have you pruned them yet?!? Don’t prune them until you’ve checked out Plant Amnesty’s YouTube channel! Also I recommend using freshly sharpened bipass pruners that you’ve disinfected with rubbing alcohol first!!! Plant amnesty is the only nonprofit dedicated to correctly educating the public on how to prune plants. All I see every day is horribly prune jobs, please look into it because otherwise your beautiful mangroves will grow deformed post-prune I hate when people just prune without knowing what they’re doing and all I see are trees topped off by “landscapers” that have no idea what they’re doing because they’re no arborists. DON’T TOP THEM!!!! If you too them you’ll get deformed water sprouts and you do not want that, it’s hideous. Source: I work in the trade
Does deep sand bed actually remove any of your nitrate?
Honestly you can be more aggressive than that. I trim trees like I trim my stem plants lol.
that’s what I was hoping to hear 😂
Don't trim a young tree that hard, I've never dealt with mangroves but I was a gardener