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.

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.

Between you and Kryptokoryne (found via your blogroll) I’m green w/ envy.

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…

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. .