Bonsai Mangroves?

[vipervenom]

I have a mangrove and I was wondering if it is possible to bonsai a mangrove tree for use in an aquarium. My only concern is the use of fertilizers. But what if you kept a tree pruned to the size you want, would it kill the plant or keep it small?

Thanks.

[RTR]

Most woody plants can be bonsai if you handle and prune carefully.

Mangroves are quite light-hungry.

[vipervenom]

The only problem I can see arising, is the fact that you must use a lot of fertilisers with a bonsai'd plant. I'm 95% sure theres not a fertiliser that mudskippers would like to cope with.

[RTR]

? Bonsai are fertilized even more cautiously than heavily planted FW tanks. They must be fertilized, yes, to maintain health and controlled growth, but heavily? No.

[vipervenom]

Sorry, not thinking clearly. I completely forgot about water fertilisers for aquarium plants. The only other problem I can see also is the fact that bonsai's must stay in very small containers, I don't have my mangrove in an container at all so I'm not sure how that would work out.

[RTR]

To a mangrove, a tank is a very small container. Light is most likely to be the limiting fctor.

[vipervenom]

My plan I think was to, when it grows more, to have the top of the tree growing out of the tank, if it gets that big. I think it would be a good idea to hang a flourescent fixture above the tank to help the tree grow.

Any thoughts?

[RTR]

I used two shoplights, 4 48" tubes, over my 20-long with the mangrove.

That same setup is visible at:

http://www.gwapa.org/articles/august2005/index.html

Scroll down to:

Now that's a veggie filter!

It is FW now, with emerse Crinums, but back in the mangrove trial it was BW.

[vipervenom]

Sounds good. My only problem is keeping the inhabitants of my tank in. My mudskippers have a pesky habit of climbing the sides of the tank and would surely escape. I do have a screen cover that I could place saran wrap (sp?) to hold in the humidity.

[demented_lullaby]

Why not go with an acrylic top?

[RTR]

Mangroves are trees, they cannot stay under a solid top no matter what the material.

[Legacy]

I assume we're talking about Red Mangroves? When dealing with Red Mangroves you need to be very careful with pruning. If you prune too early you will damage the tree and it will die. I find these to be helpful links:

http://toptropicals.com/html/aqua/plant ... ve_eng.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... eature.htm

I doubt you will be able to keep a Red Mangrove small. Red Mangroves grow up to 40ft tall, but like most trees they also grow VERY slowly. I've seen specimens that are 36" tall after 3-4 years of growth. Keep in mind that trees have strong roots. Ever see a sidewalk or street that was pushed up and broken because of tree roots? What do you think will happen to your tank when those get big?

My current project is a 200G Mangrove Swamp Paludarium that will contain 10-15 Red Mangrove Saplings that are being sprouted for me in Hawaii at the moment. Fertilizing will be a must. I plan to use two 48" dual bulb fluorescent light fixtures for the lighting, that should be enough. My tank is 24" tall and will have a 12" tall canopy to allow the mangroves to get that much taller. As they grow I'm going to remove some and give them away until I have really only a couple good sized trees.

I'd think you'd be fine with a sapling for a few years. If it gets too big and you can't prune it back anymore maybe you should move it out to a pot/pond and start over. That is if you have that tank anymore. As of right now I find it to be very unrealistic to keep mangroves in a home aquarium... but this will by my first experience with them so only time will tell. My Archers are gonna love them. =)

Oh! I just remembered... I don't think the mangroves will grow prop roots w/o a tidal system. If you want prop roots you'll either need attach the sapling to some PVC and move it up and down now and then until you get prop roots or create a tidal system with a reservoir and some pumps. There are a lot of ways to make a tidal system, the "AquaLog Special: Brackish Fishes" has a decent 2 page explaination of how to do this.

[RTR]

My mangroves never developed knees. The setup was not tidal.

Their root mass was definitley non-trivial, but less than the Crinums now in the same tank. Crinum roots are not woody however, and the mangroves definitely are.

I had no pruning issues with the mangroves, but I have been an indoor and outdoor gardener forever, including bonsai.

Mine were Red Mangroves.