Project Badis

Huh, thanks for that Jake. I'll need some time to digest all of your thread with regards to B. nov. Kind of "fat leaved" b. japonica. Google search made it look much more colorful but it's all about tank conditions, mine are lame as you may know...no co2, medium light & less than good ferts...but I have sand & root ferts in a couple tanks...That's part of the trouble I believe, lol.

That prinz kliener sword looks very nice! I'm not sure I would know the difference between "bar" & "prinz" kliener swords without you help. I don't always "listen" (or read well).

I wish we lived near each other, I have a lifetime supply of some form of iron somebody gave me, a bag'o'red dust lol. I'm too scared to try it, I hear too much iron can result in some kinds of algae...
 
My fear or trying something like putting iron in the substrate is impact on the fishes. I use co2 but try to think my tank are fish first; and i have some really nice fishes in this tank so i would be scared to try putting iron in the substrate. Like wise i avoid do it yourself fertilizers and i'm reluctant when i use fertlizers in general and use it very sparingly. This tank has my borelli opal and Laetacara araguaiae and i would hate to poison them. It also has some orange laser cory but i never get to see them... cept when they are hungry. At least as a youngster the borelli is extremely attractive and quite a bit of personality; i will never buy another cockatoo.

[Very sorry NoodleCats NoodleCats for hijacking your thread this will be my last off topic post.]

fishorama said:
Huh, thanks for that Jake. I'll need some time to digest all of your thread with regards to B. nov. Kind of "fat leaved" b. japonica. Google search made it look much more colorful but it's all about tank conditions, mine are lame as you may know...no co2, medium light & less than good ferts...but I have sand & root ferts in a couple tanks...That's part of the trouble I believe, lol.

That prinz kliener sword looks very nice! I'm not sure I would know the difference between "bar" & "prinz" kliener swords without you help. I don't always "listen" (or read well).

I wish we lived near each other, I have a lifetime supply of some form of iron somebody gave me, a bag'o'red dust lol. I'm too scared to try it, I hear too much iron can result in some kinds of algae...
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fishorama said:
Cool tank NC & a nice fat badis. Your son has good taste in fish.

Good luck with the blyxa, it never grows well for long in my tanks. It doesn't grow many roots for me & uproots.

Jake, I hadn't heard of b. nov., it looks cool! I tried "big blyxa" aubertii? once, not happy either (sniff). How are you growing it?

I've loved HM both as a cute little mound & as a stem plant.
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Well, I gave him options to pick, given limited space in the tank. Had to be either a solo nano fish or a pair, so did some research on the better options for it, let him decide haha.

Well, I am interested to see how it does, I've been recommended the blyxa a few times, so why not give it a shot. It's a nice looking plant. Worst scenario, I can move it to my Asian community tank, as that's a high light tank.


J jake72 no worries on high jacking!! I love your posts and it's great to discuss other things too.

I am trying out a new fert line from a small Canadian company, see how I like it. The price was good (they ship it as a dry fert mix that you make with RO/distilled water yourself), see how I like it.
My understanding with root tabs though is the nutrients from them still end up in the water column, and aquatic plants take in nutrients from their leaves, where their roots are mostly functional to stay in place, so can dose liquid ferts just fine instead with similar results.

That said, I still like to tab nutrient hogs like swords, just for an added boost. They take up a ton of nutrients but aren't super fast growers so can get outcompeted faster, so I like to give them a little extra in case I forget to dose enough times a week lol

As for the iron, can test your tap for iron and see where your levels are at, and can dose liquid iron for what you need
 
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I'm sure NoodleCats understands the need to go sideways on her threads sometimes. We are hoping the best for your new fish NC, & that you'll keep us updated on its & the newest plants' progress. We all learn this way.

I see you were typing as I was NC, glad you're not offended in any way ;) I didn't think you would be :)
 
I'm a bit confused about your comments with root tabs; because what i generally hear (or read) is the tabs are needed for root feeders like swords. My substrate is fairly deep 2 1/2 to 3 inches and i try to put them in pretty deep. I do use nilgoc thrive+ and iron liquid just not at their recommended dosage. I will be switching to sachem iron as someone i trust recommended it over nilocg based on igrediants list. Still it was only idle speculation that the issue with the blyka was iron it could be something else - but it does turn a nice orange under the right conditions. To be honest i'm moving more towards crypts now that I have a list of about 6 or 7 very colourful ones they just aren't easy to obtain.
 
My experience has been that fertilizing both the substrate and the water works best, especially in more high tech or heavily planted tanks.

Some aquatic plants which have roots in anaerobic areas of the substrate will transport oxygen down to their roots where they release it. This creates aerobic zones where there were none. This in turn fosters nitrification. Because the end result of that is nitrate, anaerobic zones above and below that establish denitrification.

Because plants can uptake NH4 more rapidly than the bacteria use NH3, the results of the above is the plants get more nitrogen as a result. The plants do not create nitrate, but the bacteria do. And this is handled by the anaerobic denitrification that develop above and below he aerobic zone created but the plant.

Finally, unless he revised what he wrote in the past, Tom Barr stated that it is best to fertilize both the water and the substrate in many cases.

I have used a "risky" but very inexpensive substrate fertilizer method. I use Jobe's Fertilizer Spikes for Lush Ferns and Palms (12-2-6). These work great unless you are a regular re-scaper. if you uproot the spikes so it gets into the water column you will quickly earn your MBA degree (Mastered By Algae).

The nice thing about the spikes is they are easy to cut into smaller size pieces. This lets one fertilize less for smaller or younger plants and as they grow one can use bigger pieces. I also tend to use several smaller pieces and push them into the substrate from different sides of a plant. I have usually added the Jobe's every 90 days or so in March/June/Sept./Dec. which makes it easy to know when it's time to fertilize.

Perhaps the biggest difference between aquatic and terrestrial plants is the stem structure. land plants need a stemm that can hold the plant upright. Aquatic plants do not need such a stiff stem and they are less dense than the water and tend to "float." Tamk a plant out of the water and it cannot stay erect.

I have used Tropica ferts now for most of the past 20 years. For a while I used dry ferts and I now use some of the SeaChem liguid ferts. While the Tropica/SeaChem are more costly. I am willing to pay up for the convenience and decent results.
 
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Harvested some mosquito larvae from the water lettuce planter in the backyard.

Happy badis
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That's a big bite for your little guy. Great pic!

I've always been hesitant to bring mosquito larvae into my house. When I recently had a pond/pot I used mosquito bits to keep them from hatching on my patio. Maybe you don't get the mosquito borne diseases we do here or on the US east coast...
 
fishorama said:
That's a big bite for your little guy. Great pic!

I've always been hesitant to bring mosquito larvae into my house. When I recently had a pond/pot I used mosquito bits to keep them from hatching on my patio. Maybe you don't get the mosquito borne diseases we do here or on the US east coast...
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Oh we do! They found west Nile this year in our county.

I have the larvae stored in an established jar with a lid on it so if they become adults, they can't get out. And adults will be fed to our pet mantis or spiders lol.

Though have to say the larvae are pretty fascinating on their own to watch too. They kinda nibble on the substrate and plants looking for food. Kinda neat, if they didn't turn into obnoxious disease riddled vermin.

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Trying to fatten him up a little more.
But hes getting more colour, he seems pretty happy and pigged out on quite a few larvae and all the seed shrimp I put in yesterday are gone lol
 
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