Mangroves are the trees that you will find the most throughout the coastline of South Florida, where they have not been cut down of course. It is illegal now to cut down mangrove trees so you can also find them in in the Florida Keys, which are the continuation of the mainland, you can only find the islands that you can get to by car on a map, but altogether there is about 200 most of which are preserves.

Besides the Red (Rhizophora mangle), you can also find these throughout Florida: black (Avicennia germinans) and white ( Laguncularia racemosa).

On the picture you can see the grove of the red mangroves.

The water in these parts of the mangrove forest is quite murky, because of tannin, which is emitted when organic material decomposes in the water.

Red mangroves are sometimes called "walking" trees. Because their massive root system is slowly moving towards the water taking up more and more territory as it progresses. The roots grow from the main stock towards the soil through the thickness of the water. The tree is able to set itself on thin "legs", and afterwards create soil, trapping and saving organic sediment (many islands were formed this way).

The roots of the tree provide shelter for many organisms such as fish and various invertebrates. One of the most fascinating are mudskippers, which can be seen eating a piece of shrimp on the picture.

These groves can be almost impassible to any animal or man, but to some birds, they make up a great place for a home. A few miles off the coast, towering mangrove groves can be seen, where birds such as pelicans and herons nest.

Where the water washes over the roots of mangroves the water itself is very clean, that is because the roots of the tree absorb the organic material from the water. In these groves you can find many invertebrate which in their turn form a reef.

Red Mangroves trees are viviparous,meaning the seeds mature while they are still on the tree, and only afterwards do they fall in to the water. For the seed to reach its full level of maturity, it needs to spend about a month in the water. During this time, the seed collects the water in its lower portion of the body and floats vertically, with the bud facing skyward, and roots facing down. These seeds will be floating in the salt water for months until they are washed on the shore. One of the conditions needed for the seed to start growing, is absence of disturbances. This is the way nature makes sure that the plant will grow in good conditions. This seed will spend almost a year securing itself in the soil before becoming a young tree.

Red mangroves have the ability to replace sodium ions, which are present in salt water, with magnesium ions. If you have a salt water tank, it is recommended to look after the level of magnesium present in your aquarium, the plants can consume it quite fast. When level of magnesium ions is low, mangrove couldn't replace sodium ions. The plants during that time are in condition of stress, the leaves become yellow and rough. In my aquarium with mudskippers, where the water is somewhere in between salt and fresh (brackish), I regularly add magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) which can be found in a drug store. If you grow mangroves in freshwater you don't have worry about anything.

On the picture you can see a maturing seedling that still hasn't fallen off the tree.

Black mangroves can be distinguished by a system of roots that stick out of the water like pencils, covering the surface in a carpet like formation. These roots contain sponge-like structure and allow gaseous exchange to take place. The seeds of this black mangrove are considerably smaller than that of the red mangrove, which allows the current to carry them further in to the rising-falling tide area of the swamp. Strong currents push the seeds in to thick swamp mud where the seeds shed off their "skin" and cast roots. That is why they are mostly found on high ground, even though I have seen them together with the red mangroves, like on the picture to the left.

The seeds of white mangroves are similar to the black mangroves' and grow on highland areas. White mangroves are unique because they can get rid of salt through their leaves.

You can receive the "seedling" in various forms:

1. Without roots or leaves, only with a bud up at the top (this is the way I had gotten my first mangroves)

2. With roots just beginning to grow, but without leaves

3. With small roots and growing leaves

4. With roots and leaves

It is most likely that you will get yours in the first, or second stage. Nothing to be afraid of, you will only need to spend more effort acclimatizing your seedling, and the results will follow a few months later.

On the picture to the left - I am trying to grow mangroves from seeds on my balcony in a pot. The right plant already has some leaves showing.

The seeds which you had bought have not seen the light for quite some time, so you should gradually "walk" the plant out of the condition of stress. Please find out to what kind of water was the seed adjusted to (fresh or salt). If your aquarium that the mangrove is going to live in has different water than what the plant is used to, than you must slowly acclimatize it to the water type you have, throughout two weeks

Put the plant in to a moist atmosphere, for example, in to a hothouse, or just enclose the pot in a plastic bag, in which you will gradually make holes, to "teach' the mangrove the atmosphere it will be inhabiting. Usually mangroves prefer high humidity (no less than 60%), and high temperature - about 25 degrees Celsius. In an aquarium you will have somewhat similar habitat. If, however, you are growing them in pots, you will have to worry about the humidity.

Do not cascade the light, fertilizer, etc. do it gradually, and in a few weeks you will notice how from a bud a few little leaves are peaking out.

In a salt water tank, with the volume of 55 gal (about 200 liters), 8 mangroves with small roots were added to the habitat. Obviously the nitrates in the duration of the day were "eaten" almost completely.

(William Horst from Eastern PA Reef Club's Newsletter articles )

A. Thiel has conducted a special research. Three aquariums with the volume of about 22 gal (about 80 liters) and three aquariums with mangroves. Each aquarium had aproximately 20lb ( somewhere around 10 kg) "live rocks". In each one of those aquariums sat an ordinary yellow tang. Every one of them had the same protein skimmer.

Obviously magroves work very effectively in removing nitrates-phosphates, which are the main cause of the algae problems

The thing you must always remember when growing mangroves (or anything else related to aquarium) is patience. The results will be only in a couple of months, and they will be.

We grow mangrove in our outside pond and even as "lucky mangrove" - stones, water and fertilizer.

You may buy mangrove plants here.