…continuing on from the Big Fireplace Aquarium Rescape, it was clear after only a few days that the Rotala ramosior ‘Florida’ wasn’t going to make it. That meant a new prime-position real-estate opportunity for some lucky plant. Blyxa japonica to the rescue! New plants from nelson131 (ebay) Nelson131 is another new vendor for me and […]
Read more →Category: Plants
Aquatic plants, either submersed or emersed: species notes, growth, trimming, planting, algae/plant interactions, and care.
It was time to fresh up the look in the Fireplace Aquarium again. The last major rescape happened 8 months ago and things had pretty much gone over to jungle status. I also was noticing some of the dreaded black beard algae coming up on the roots of the Anubias barteri ‘Mini Coin’ on the […]
Read more →Filed under “never seen that before” it looks like green spot algae (GSA) is in retreat in the Shrimphaus. The conventional wisdom (and my previous experience) is that algae colonies, once established, never spontaneous regress. You can remove damaged leaves to allow for new growth, and you can spot-treat hardscape and you can prevent new […]
Read more →Schismatoglottis prietoi, apparently increasingly known as ‘Philippine anubias‘, is a brilliant aquarium plant with an unpronounceable name so don’t let that put you off! Schismatoglottis prietoi requires almost no maintenance This what makes this plant so special. A lot of aquascaping plants go through a number of stages. You first get them and they are […]
Read more →I love Aquarium Gardens. Such a great aquascaping shop. They recently opened a new larger operation in Peterborough, so I thought I’d check it out. Owned by Dave Pierce (no relation) they stock plenty of aquascaping kit and plants. They also have a showroom where you can get some inspiration. They only moved in two […]
Read more →It is a struggle to find plants that can thrive in the Shrimphaus. The combination of low-KH high-GH “low tech” not-CO2 injected water seems to make things difficult. I recently gave up on the reputedly “easy” Staurogyne Repens. Still, lots of plants left to try. This time we’re having a go with another “easy” plant: […]
Read more →The Fireplace Aquarium was looking pretty overgrown and I hadn’t done a water change in a couple of weeks so time to get stuck in for some maintenance. For me, once I get going on this kind of thing it tends to get a little more vigorous than first anticipated, but it has a way […]
Read more →I recently put some Rotala rotundifolia ‘Blood Red’ into the Fireplace Aquarium and it came in more of a burnt ochre shade of dusky reddish orange than ‘blood red’ as such. I looked around for the (potentially mythic) ‘Singapore’ (SG) variant of the Rotala which is claimed to be more red under a broader set […]
Read more →Having some red in the Fireplace Aquarium gives some nice contrasting colours. I picked up some AquaFleur Rotala rotundifolio ‘Blood red’ to see how that would do. Red aquarium plants There are lots of good choices to provide some red colour in a planted aquarium. I had very good success previously with Ludwigia palustris mini […]
Read more →Staurogyne repens is an ‘easy to grow’ and popular aquatic plant. I have been resisting trying this plant for some reason… too easy, too popular? Anyway, it has a low growth habit but isn’t a carpeting plant, so seems like it might be right for the Shrimphaus. I usually prefer potted plants, but at the […]
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