Reef Aquarium Gardening
Part 6
As you would have read from our previous articles, we have talked you through what is needed to setup a reef aquarium garden and what equipment was used. As it has been some time since the original article, it is worth explaining what a reef aquarium garden is and why we choose this type of reef aquarium.
A reef garden is more of a thought process than a new technical gadget or breakthrough within the hobby. Creating a reef garden is a change in approach from hobbyists with regard to the livestock they keep and the way they keep it. A reef garden is a term we use at Reefs UK for keeping a reef aquarium which contains sustainable corals and fish wherever possible. It has become known as a garden as we treat it in the same manner as you would keep a traditional garden.
Treating reef aquariums as gardens encourages the hobbyist to cut corals which are starting to grow too large and are overcrowding other corals. By cutting these corals back, not only keeps your corals in check and provides space for other corals to flourish but allows you to grow out these cuttings into new corals. Propagating corals in this manner ensures that we start to become self sufficient in the corals we use rather than removing corals from the worlds reefs for our own pleasure. The cuttings we produce from our garden can be sold to aquarium stores for them to sell to other hobbyists or swapped with other hobbyists in exchange for new and different corals.
The hobbyist setting up a reef garden should also consider the fish that they wish to keep. A reef garden will contain captive bred fish or fish which have known to have spawned in captivity. The hope is that these fish will spawn and the hobbyist can record these spawnings so other hobbyists can learn what conditions are required to encourage breeding of these fish.
Keeping a reef aquarium garden is an idea situation in which to keep corals and over time will actually produce more corals than have been used to set up the aquarium. By taking cuttings of corals, a hobbyist can provide someone else with a coral taken from a reef aquarium and not a natural coral reef.
So what sustainable corals did we add to our reef aquarium garden? We intended our reef garden to contain mainly soft coral species and have listed these corals below.
Medusa / Colt Coral (Cladiella)
Sourced From
- We continually propagate this coral and added several cuttings from our coral farm.Coral Details
- This species of coral is mainly classed as a soft branched coral. The main body of the coral is trunk like with branches growing from the main body. This coral is brown/pinkish in colour and prefers strong water movement. Light loving but will tolerate lower lighting levels.Propagation Details
- Incredible easy to propagate and as this coral grows fast, it is an ideal coral keep in a reef garden. To propagate, cut a branch from the main coral and attach to a small piece of rock using an elastic band. The coral will attach to the rock in one to two weeks.
Toadstool Leather (Sarcophyton sp.)
Sourced From
- Sourced from our own coral farm. Added a number of cuttings from several generations.Coral Details
- This species common name really does explain its actual appearance. They are cream/brown in colour and look like a mushroom growing from a thick stem.Propagation Details
- Another very easy coral to propagate. Cut the head of the coral off completely and push a toothpick through the top of the head. Use an elastic band to tie the toothpick to a rock and within a few days, the leather coral will attach. To make more than one cutting from the head, cut the head into smaller pieces (like cutting a cake) and attach these cuttings to several different rocks.
Finger Leather (Lobophytum sp. / Sinularia sp.)
Sourced From
- Cuttings from several generations sourced from our coral farm.Coral Details
- Finger like growths growing from a main body. Can be dark and light brown in colour.Propagation Details
- Very easy to cultivate. Cut a single finger from the main coral then push a toothpick through the middle of the finger. Use an elastic band to tie the toothpick to a rock and within a few weeks, the finger coral will attach to the rock.
Button Polyps (Zoanthus sp.)
Sourced From
- Sourced from our coral farm. These have been propagated several times from several generations.Coral Details
- Small round corals about 2mm in diameter. These corals spread quickly to cover entire rocks. We added 2 species, one bright green in colour and one bright pink in colour.Propagation Details
- Very easy. Just tear or cut off a small section from the main colony and superglue these to a small piece of rock.
Mushroom Corals (Actinodiscus sp. / Discosoma sp.)
Sourced From
- Cuttings from our coral farm.Coral Details
- Many different species have been added. Some blue, maroon, red and green in colour.Propagation Details
- Very easy. Just tear or cut off a small section from the main colony and superglue these to a small piece of rock. Pushing the cuttings into the sand bed is another way of attaching these mushrooms to a substrate.
Star Polyps (Clavularia sp.)
Sourced From
- Sourced from our coral farm.Coral Details
- Thin stem with several small branches. A variety of species were added in many different colours including light brown, green and maroon colour.Propagation Details
- Very easy. Just tear or cut off a small section from the main colony and superglue these to a small piece of rock.
Adding Sustainable Fish
It is not just corals that can be sustainable. When considering the fish to add to your reef aquarium garden, there are many sustainable species which can be purchased as captive bred or which have shown signs of spawning in an aquarium. We added the following fish to our reef aquarium.
Common Clowns (Amphiprion ocellaris)
Sourced From
- Captive bred from TMC.Fish Details
- Orange in colour with white bands. Excellent fish for a reef aquarium garden. Purchase 2 very small juveniles and watch them pair up into a male and female.Spawning Activity
- After reaching 2 years old (approx), our clowns spawned on a regular basis. These fish have just been added to the reef aquarium garden so they are still settling in. However, we expect them to start spawning again soon.
Yellow Tailed Damsels (Chromis xanthurus)
Sourced From
- Wild.Fish Details
- Main body deep blue and tail is bright yellow. Excellent fish for a reef aquarium. However like all damsels they can dart around the aquarium chasing each other.Spawning Activity
- These fish have been bred in captivity but not on a commercial scale. We added 4 fish to our reef garden and have already seen some courtship behaviour between 2 of them.
Orchid Dottybacks (Pseudochromis fridmani)
Sourced From
- Captive bred sourced from Clayton Smith claytonjohnsmith@hotmail.com who raises these in captivity.Fish Details
- A long slim fish which is deep purple in colour. Another excellent fish for a reef aquarium with amazing colours.Spawning Activity
- We introduced 2 fish which due to being sourced from the same brood are in fact brother and sister. These 2 fish have paired up and are already showing courtship behaviour. As they have come from the same brood, we do not intend to raise any fry they may produce. However, adding these fish to our reef aquarium garden has had zero impact on the worlds reefs.
Summary
As you can see from the livestock we have added, we have had little impact on the world reefs. We have tried to only introduce livestock which has either been captive bred or propagated. As many of the corals we have added grow quickly and are easy to keep, we now have an excellent choice of corals to trade.
A number of different varieties of each species have been introduced into our reef garden providing not only different coloured species but also different forms of each coral species. This is important when you come to swap/sell any cuttings you make as it will provide you with several different corals to trade. If you continue to trade the same coral time and time again, you will soon exhaust your market.
As mentioned before, all of the fish we have added are already showing signs of courtship. Even in the short time of our reef aquarium being setup, we have proved that fish will spawn in a community aquarium. By keeping the number of fish to a minimum our fish have felt secure enough to try and reproduce.
We hope all hobbyists will consider every purchase of livestock they make and keep in mind that we all need to ensure that the livestock we purchase is sustainable. This will not only help to preserve our natural reefs but also allows us to trade the livestock we have purchased. This has several benefits including reducing the cost of our hobby by selling the corals we have propagated and also allows us to trade these corals with hobbyists and local fish stores for other corals.
Over the last few years, we have seen more and more hobbyists propagate the corals they already keep in their marine aquarium which is very encouraging. By treating your marine aquarium as a reef aquarium garden, we can increase the availability of the amount of sustainable livestock within our hobby.
