planted tanks

[Roan Art]

. . .
BTW, the Marimo balls in the 55, as well as the A. nana petite in the left foreground of that same tank are from Aquabotanic, Robert Hudson's site. You can see it in a clickable version with more detail as the featured current tank on the main page of the GWAPA site at: http://www.gwapa.org/

Well said! I like the distinction you made between a planted tank and a planted fish tank.

Also, I did end up placing an order with Robert H's Aquabotanic site. I went over everything with a fine tooth comb but I couldn't find a search engine on his site

It wasn't until I did a Yahoo! search that I found a bunch of posts he made a while back that I realized he was carrying a VERY rare (in North America) vallisneria from Australia/Papua New Guinea/Malaylasia that is found in my targeted biotope area.

I almost screamed when I saw it. It's the only val I've been able to find that's on the list I have. Oh, doh, it's Vallisneria caulescens, gorgeous! I ordered three of them to start

Looks like I'm going to have to hang around Robert's forums and see if he's going to manage to get the six new (and horribly rare) Australian aponogetons.

Roan

 

[RTR]

LOL! I have a bit of an issue among many plant tank folk, as their emphasis is 180 degrees away from mine. Too many plant folks are prejudiced about their aquascapes and compositions of 50+ varieties of plant material in a moderate size tank. It may be a beautiful as a composition, but it 'sho ain't nature' -not that keeping plants in glass boxes ever really is. I appreciate the effort and design sense folk invest in those, but it is not me at all. I keep fish. Plants are a support function.

I much prefer sweeps of many of the same plant type (much reduced from what you see in the wild, but closer), and if I get more than 4-6 different plant types in a tank I start getting concerned about it. Two or three plant types would be more natural, one or two probably better yet, but it gets difficult to make that look like much. I confess that Amano's old "plains" and "mountaintop" tank setups would be my ideals, and if I ever pull the big tanks back into use planted, I just might try for such.

RPH (Aquabotanic) and I have agreed to disagree about many things over the years, but he is an honest man and a valuable plant source IMHO & IME. I would never hesitate to suggest him as a source of quality plant materials.

 

[EcoPit]

My tanks are not plant tanks, they are planted fish tanks. That dichotomy is very real to me, as I have lots of tanks, each and every one for the fish that live there, none for the aquascape. BUT, the appearance of the tank is important to me in order to show my fish, and to be healthier for them.[/url]

I love that distinction RTR--that is exactly how I feel. I love gardening, indoors and out, but the one thing I love more is fish. They are why I keep aquariums. The tanks in that contest look amazing, but I will never have one. (Both because I am not good enough at keeping aquatic plants and because I like lots of fish.) I am trying my hand at planted tanks because I think they look better than plastic and are probably healthier for the fish, but so far they are a lot of upkeep.

 

[RTR]

It does get easier, at least for me. With time I have selected for the things which do well for me, and do not mourn those which do not. I keep trying new things, so it is not same-old at all times, but convenience is big thing for me with so many tanks.

 

[ljse]

However, I do like swords, but I think I want to add "grassy" plants, so what can anyone recommend?

If you want grassy plants, try java moss, its easy to grow because you can just put it on the gravel and it grows, although some might come loose and get stuck on the filter intake, which is a problem I have because my cabomba gets stuck on the filter. Even though they look the "grassiest" out of the plant I've seen I dont recommend getting microswords if you have gravel, because mine are growing very slowly and are constantly floating out of the gravel which gets very annoying when every morning I find them attached to the tops of other plants or the filter intake. The only way to get them to stay is to use sand but I dont feel like changing my substrate.

Wisteria is very easy to grow. I bought a small bunch and after 3-4 months, I had to do some major pruning.

To add some contrast, you could get a couple of bunches of ludwigia, which has reddish green leaves.

Try java fern, it looks great, grows well and is one of the easiest plants to care for. It also readily produces spores.

Can anyone tell me how to post pictures?

 

[pwrflpills]

Thanks, ljse. I think I've seen java fern, and I like the lushness of the pictures I've seen. Easy = big plus.

BTW, I couldn't help but notice your 20 gal tank stats. That's a lot of fish!!! Does the 20L gal mean you have one of those longer tanks, which means with a bigger "footprint" you can get more fish? Does having plants help manage your fish bio-load and allow you to have more fish? This is all new to me.

 

[ljse]

Yea I have a 20 gal long. So far I have not had any problems with diseases because of overcrowding, I think the plants help a lot because the water stays clean pretty long, and the fish stay around the bottom so there doesnt seem to be any lack of oxygen. It also helps that all of the fish I have are no longer than 2".
I think its a good idea to add live plants because they look amazing after they get settled and you dont have to change the water as often.

 

[ddayton21]

ljse, same here with the 20 gal. long. I haven't had any problems with my fish being crowded. Granted, I just got the serpaes yesterday but they seem happy and active. I'm not sure about adding any more but I would like to think I have a little extra room incase something catches my eye.

I'm just starting with the whole plant deal and right now I have java ferns and anacharis. Neither look terribly healthy but thats how they came from the store and have been in the tank less than a week. I'm still kinda nervous to see how they turn out but they aren't dead yet so thats promising!

 

[ljse]

Dont worry about the fern, I got a really sickly looking one from petco, the kind they have in plastic tubes in some kind of jelly, it was the first plant I got. Now its doing great.

 

[Robert H]

RTR and I used to have "discussions" years ago when I thought I had an opinion on everything! I have since learned to focus my attention a little more! :huh: Robert, when did you move to Washington DC?

Those aponogetons from Australia you want are not in the hobby, grown commercially by anyone, anywhere in the world to my knowledge.So don't get your hopes up! You may have to convince someone in Australia to dig some up for you! V. caulescens is cultivated in Indonesia plant farms. Why I have no idea, but that is how I get it.