58g Planted w/overflow and sump
- Thread starter myswtsins
- Start date
Ok, I suck at taking before pictures! I just start working and then think "huh should have taken a pic first, oh well" and continue working. As you can see I removed ALL the C. usteriana and brought it to my local club (where I hope it sold, didn't stay for auction cause there was nothing I wanted and I had other plans too). There was a lot in there! Looking at it outside the tank I wondered how it ever all fit in there and this was the second weeding of it lol. Over 30" long
Had to take it out in 1 chunk about a foot by a foot triangle of roots. Made a huge mess! see below
And there were 2 spathes on their way up! See the messy tank in the back?
Empty side view. Look at my wittle roselines, I love them. BTW they seem to be doing just fine in this tank, if they had grown to their full size though I don't think that would have been the case.
Still don't know what I'm gonna do with that corner but I have the freedom to do it now! Gonna straighten up the tank this week though and get back to you guys.
Just to touch on something.... None of my fish ever grow to their normal sizes (except 1 mbuna who was on his way to being massive when I had to get rid of him). I will admit to being a light feeder up until a couple years ago but even with heavy feedings and mostly regular WCs my fish just don't grow. Some of my molly fry, that are what over a yr old?, are still fry size and no they are not new babies. The biggest is ~1.5". My SR BN are still small but a couple are FINALLY getting tiny bristles and my roselines are only 3" (spent most of their until recently in a 4' 72g). I'm gonna blame my water again
I don't really mind their size, love them anyways but just another oddity.
Wow, Jen, you really did some big time weeding! I'll miss the crypt. u. but I know (hope) you have some back ups in another tank. Those were some awesome roots!
Yeah, I blame your weird water for some of the fish stunting. But (trying to make you feel better), my F1 & 2 sewellias are much smaller than any wild caughts I've ever seen...by almost half...your dennisoni barbs look great! They don't "look" stunted, nice body shape & color, maybe they're just slow growers for you...
Yeah, I blame your weird water for some of the fish stunting. But (trying to make you feel better), my F1 & 2 sewellias are much smaller than any wild caughts I've ever seen...by almost half...your dennisoni barbs look great! They don't "look" stunted, nice body shape & color, maybe they're just slow growers for you...
Last edited:
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the read, makes it all worth the effort of documenting it. Swords will do that lol
It was an amazing plant to experience, just bulletproof like no other plant I've ever encountered. I still have a couple pieces of it floating in my 20L with an old tube light that I rarely remember to turn on and is housing like 3 shrimp so NO bio-load for several months now! And it grows so big and beautiful, very rewarding. But of course I have more lol. It has half taken over my low light/tech 29g in the past few months. It certainly can't stay there though! Not after I've see these roots lol. I want to try it in the pond next summer, even though it's not a fast grower.
The barbs are like 7 yrs old, I don't think they have much growing left to do lol. I agree they don't look "stunted" but they are half the size they could have been. I've been watching my goldfish growth rates too and they are behind as well but still gathering data there and it's only been a couple yrs and I'm only judging the fish born in the pond. They had very good growth this year though but no new babies. (secret sad face cause I love baby fish but don't need to be overrun with them either lol) Funny story, I had julidochromis in this tank before I went planted, talk about SLOW growth OMG.
True confessions: my c. u. from you is also stunted Both my BN & peppermint loach constantly dig near/on it. It's still alive...but nowhere near 30 " 
. I don't know why they like to dig there, maybe you gave me some fish attracting roots 
. I have the same root tabs in other places but they don't notice.
Both my BN & peppermint loach constantly dig near/on it. It's still alive...but nowhere near 30 " . I don't know why they like to dig there, maybe you gave me some fish attracting roots . I have the same root tabs in other places but they don't notice.
That's weird! lol My BN and kuhli don't bother any of my plants or dig. But I think your growth issue is to do with hardness. These crypts seem to love the hard water I have. One more reason I hate getting rid of them, one of the few plants that not only tolerate my water but actually like it.True confessions: my c. u. from you is also stunted
Weird as it may be, my BN irritates me because there's at least one plant every week that's floating when it was planted previously. He's the only fish big enough to do it, so there are no other culprits in my case. I can vouch for BN undoing your planting work.
