Please ID the macro..check out the Aip

Got tired of watching this monster extend a good 3/4" from under a rock to get feed so I did what I didn't want to have to do and removed the rock from the bottom of a stack. I gently dislodged the Aip and dropped in my fuge just long enough to let it recover and get these pics..then into the rubbing alcohol it went;D Also would like to know if the macro is calupera or what?

Extended...


Holding the grass up under it w/ spoon in an attempt to give proportion


Thank you

 

Any all nighters have an idea what time of grass that is?

*edit* it's late...what TYPE of grass it should read.

 

it looks like aptaisia

 

LOL Ingtar! I know it's an aipitasia in the spoon. I was 'killing two birds with one stone' by posting pics of the aip and trying to get the grass I won on RE's auction last week ID'd. ;D

 

And I finally found it..Caulerpa Prolifera..Care page totally in spanish Now if I can find one that isn't. LOL

 

I just logged on and indeed, that is C. prolifera. As far as care needs are concerned, there's not a whole lot. Look at the species name. Does it remind you of the word "Proliferate"? In Binomial Nomenclature of plants, 'prolifera' means that the species proliferates (spreads easily).

It's legal to own in California because it spreads less aggressively than some other Caulerpas. However, unless you're building a planted tank, only put it in a refugium. Once the holdfasts get into the rock, it's a pain to get them back out. Trim back once the growth gets too large. Make sure it gets good lighting. In most reef tanks it rarely becomes limited by Iron, Iodine, nor Phosphorus.

 

Good to know..thank you. I found a sellers care page that says it uses mag. so between it, my mangroves and corals guess I better go buy a few more pounds of snow melt before it's all gone for the summer.
I also read that it makes good hitching posts for ponies which made me very happy because I am slowly converting my rubbermade tote fuge to a glass display fuge that will be home to a pair of H. Fuscus. So can I just leave it floating or will it do better with the runners in the sand? And does it have less or the same chance of going sexual as other caulerpas?

 

If planted, it's less likely to go sexual because the portion on top won't be shading the portion of the algae on the bottom. It's also more like a seagrass hitching post for your seahorse that way too.

Don't worry about Magnesium. The amounts used by mangroves is neglible....you would have to have hundreds of mangroves to even notice Mg uptake.

 

hahaha, sorry reefmonkey, im an idiot lol

 

You're not an idiot! If we all never made a mistake we'd all have a different singular identical name