Tue 9 Jun 2009
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- Tuesday, Jun 9th, 2009 at 10:43 am
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- Worldbuilding and creatures and plants
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June 10th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
hey this is awesome. that is a great fish. i have been accumulating plants here and there with the idea of setting up a brackish system, but i haven’t moved on it yet.
would you like to try another mangrove? i have some spare black mangrove (Avicennia germinans). apparently this one has not been kept in aquariums much. i have a couple of other salt-marsh plants that might work too, though i haven’t tried to grow these in brackish water.
i would really be interested in knowing more about your Cryptocoryne ciliata. this is a great plant–one of my favorites. i have several going in my high-humidity riparium. this link goes to a shot of one with an open spathe C. ciliata spathe. so you have had that one going for a while? i have heard about these growing in brackish conditions. it really would be fantastic to get a tank going with healthy mangroves and thick ciliata foliage. .
June 11th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I’d love another mangrove – I’ll email you my meatspace address later today!
I chose the ciliata because I’d heard they adapted well to brackish conditions. I started with 4 and am down to one after a year. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong – my hope is that if the mangroves take off (as they seem to be doing – knock wood) and pull all the nutrients out of the water column, the ciliata will also respond, since it can pull what it needs from the substrate. We’ll see – I may need to watch eBay again for a few more…
June 11th, 2009 at 8:59 am
PS – I recognize the basket your ciliata is in *grin*.
Between you and Kryptokoryne (found via your blogroll) I’m green w/ envy.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:59 am
I got your emails with information and flickr invite. Thanks a bunch! At present, I am bed-ridden with a severe back strain. I don’t know when it will improve to the point where I can descend the stairs to the fishroom, but I’ll try to put together your plants as soon as I can and send you a notice before I ship.
I’d count that as a success that you have had that ciliata going for a year in brackish water. I have certainly run into references to growing them in brackish setups, but I have ever seen any pictures or real descriptions and wonder if these might just be based on biotope records.
I would like to discuss plant selection for brackish systems. Like I said, I have a couple of other possibilities, but I don’t know if I can really take any divisions from these right now. Is that some kind of Nymphoides water snowflake you have in that picture from 7/17/08? Is that still going?
Ghanzafar’s blog is an amazing place. I imagine that he has bloomed more crypts than any other American. If you look you will see that his culture setup is quite low-tech and easy-care. I would like to know more details about his photo studio. I have to figure out how to get better specimen shots.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:01 am
…and oh yes, that’s called “product placement”. I understand that you can also use those clear plastic baskets in your sink to dry flatware, but growing plants in them is much more fun.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I’d seen biotope pictures of ciliata growing on mud flats in mangrove swamps (of course, now I can’t find the image), so I thought I’d be OK. It may be that there are specific morphs/cultivars that are adapted to brackish, but I intend to keep trying – mangroves and a carpet of crypts _would_ be a good thing.
Good eye! That was a Nymphoides cristata – it didn’t do well with the tranistion to brackish, but I have more growing in my whiskey barrel lotus garden, so I may try again – more gradually.
Don’t worry about hurrying on the shipping – take care of yourself – I had my first back strain session a year ago and it was no fun at all.
The other 2 plants I’m trying out in the tank are the bombproof old favorites – Java Moss and Java Fern. The moss is already taking off; the fern is taking it’s time. Look forward to further brackish plant discussion.