Caulerpa 101?

Jahdiel · Post by **Jahdiel** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:15 pm

Of the Caulerpa species, which will not go sexual? Cheatomorpha and.......................? For the life of me I can't remember.

Thanks,

Billy

sb1227 · Post by **sb1227** » Mon May 16, 2005 10:12 pm

I don't think Chaetomorpha is actually in the caulerpa family. Are you thinking maybe something like Gracilaria?

Jahdiel · Post by **Jahdiel** » Tue May 17, 2005 8:17 am

What we were trying to find out is, other than the Chaeto and the cup shaped caulerpa, is there any other that does not go sexual?

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Tue May 17, 2005 10:06 am

cup chaped will go asexual, or will at least all turn white at once, if you're not careful... it's pretty hardy tho generally.

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Tue May 17, 2005 12:34 pm

If they are not taken care of (i.e. exhaustion of appropriate nutrients, inorganic carbon, etc.), all Caulerpa species will sporulate and shed through the cell wall. The trick with any species is to make sure that it doesn't get starved of any particular important nutrient (which may be difficult in some reef tanks). Also, although some may disagree, unnatural light cycles will cause sporulation, as will drops in CO2, O2, and pH. This is also why it sporulates when you don't keep it trimmed back as well. One other trick I have learned is to pinch the "stems" until they form a darkened clot. Then you can remove it without cellular contents leaking out (another cause of sporulation).

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:31 pm

Amphiprion wrote:...One other trick I have learned is to pinch the "stems" until they form a darkened clot. Then you can remove it without cellular contents leaking out (another cause of sporulation)...

You're kidding right?

How many pieces of algae do you have? I've got a little 10G and I think it would take all night to do this! Since I need to remove my algae pretty frequently, then I think this could be a problem!

I don't mean to be negative, but do you really do that?

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:47 pm

Sure. Usually I grab a bunch at once and squeeze at a certain point. You are right to think that it would be impractical to do this one "stem" at a time. BTW, This is in my 20 gallon seahorse tank in which he can barely move through from all the Caulerpa, so it does work en masse.