I like the look of the Cryptocoryne nevelli and the Schismatoglottis prietoi as well, but it seemed like they were on the wrong sides of the tank.  The C. nevelli got larger than I thought it would so blocked the view of the Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’ and the recently re-attempted Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’.  (Must… get… Alternanthera… to work!)  Meanwhile the shorter S. Prietoi left a lot of empty vertical space on the right side.

A good amount of the original biOrb ceramic filter media was pulled out by the roots of the plants being extracted.  I replaced the lost volume with aquasoil.  Pulling up major amounts of plant mass like this always releases lots of fine debris and it took several large water changes and repeated cycles with the portable filter to get these particulates cleared up.

Crypt nurii in vitro plantlets
 in vitro plantlets

Sold by Tropica in a tissue culture cup as Cryptocoryne nurii, this small crypt is doing very well in the Fireplace Aquarium.  Unlike the smaller bright green leaves in the tissue culture form, the new growth submersed form leaves are larger and have a very pretty mottled dark green and dusky rose colouration.  Sometimes this plant is sold under the name ‘Rose Maiden’ which does seem suitable.

I was hoping for a cryptocoryne with some red colouration but after the disappointment of pretty much no red at all on Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘flamingo’ , and a prominent striped light and dark green pattern but no actual pink on Cryptocoryne petchii pink confidence was not very high…

Continue reading “Planting Cryptocoryne nurii”

Riccardia chamedryfolia pieces
Riccardia tissue culture pieces

According to the British Bryological Society (naturally), Riccardia chamedryfolia, also known as ‘Jagged Germanderwort’ is a liverwort with a thalloid growth form and is naturally occurring in most parts of the world including commonly in the UK.  There is a lot more biology-talk about liverworts vs. mosses vs. hornworts that I don’t understand, but I did manage to pick up an in vitro pot grown by Dennerle from Aquarium Gardens and thought I’d give it a try growing on hardscape.  The secret hope is always to find something that will be able to grow in the Shrimphaus river even though many, many plants have failed there.  It turns out that always wet with flowing water slate chippings exposed to typically low humidity indoor air is a quite austere environment.  Still, hope springs eternal and I thought I could try out both the Shrimphaus river and also that wedged into cracks of the Fireplace Aquarium mountain would make a nice effect.

Continue reading “Planting Riccardia chamedryfolia”

Two months after the massive pruning of the Bucephalandra caterina and the Anubias nana ‘Pinto’ in an effort to control the black beard algae (BBA) that was colonising them, the battle is lost.  Further, inspection showed the BBA had thoroughly colonised the Cryptocoryne parva as well.

I have come around to thinking of BBA as a symptom rather than a problem – in other words the BBA indicates something is wrong that needs to be addressed.  In this case I believe it is a build-up of organic waste in the aquarium, and also perhaps the natural life cycle of some of the plants.  The caterina was planted 2.5 years ago and the parva 2 years ago where a gradual loss of fitness means they have a hard time fighting off algae.

Continue reading “Tearing out the epiphytes”

Another big epiphyte trim 10 months after the last one
another big epiphyte trim 10 months after the last one

The last massive epiphyte trim was nearly 10 months ago, so time to go at it again.  I didn’t actually mind the overgrown appearance and the fish seemed to like hanging out under the middle layer of Anubias nana ‘Pinto’.  There was considerable shading of the bottom of the Fireplace Aquarium but I didn’t notice that particularly being a problem for either the Cryptocoryne petchii pink or the Microsorum pteropus ‘Windelov’ so that was ok.  What finally pushed me to get the scissors out was the increasing amount of black beard algae that was growing on the leaves of the Bucephalandra caterina at the top of mountain on the side in the middle that gets the most light.  BBA that gets established is notoriously difficult to get back under control so I figured the best way was to remove it physically altogether.

Continue reading “Taming the epiphytes”

I haven’t had much luck growing plants on the Shrimphaus river.  Mostly they dry out either immediately or eventually, or sometimes they rot away.  This roots and bottom bits wet all the time but leaves out in the air niche is pretty challenging.  Some internet digging revealed plants that thrive in this setting are called marginal plants:  those growing on the margins of bodies of water, and they are popular for people with ponds.  Ok, so that’s the right setting, but outdoor ponds are much larger than the Shrimphaus so only the smallest marginal plants might work.  Some shopping around led me to try Bog Arum (Calla palustris), Golden Buttons (Cotula coronopifolia) and Golden Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’).  All of these are listed as growing to a maximum height of about 6 inches.

The plants arrived well-packed in wet newspaper and the first surprise was how big they all were.  The pond world operates on a much larger scale than the aquarium world!  

Continue reading “Marginal plants”

Microsorum pteropus ‘Windelov’ also known as Leptochilus pteropus is one of the many varieties of Java fern.  I picked up a pot from Pro Shrimp in an order that also included Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’.  Developed by Tropica, the ‘Windelov’ version I received was grown by Aquadip.

The ‘Windelov’ arrived totally overgrown and just a touch ratty on the ends in places as if it had been waiting for a sale for a long time.  I don’t mind actually, and the pot separated out into a nice variety of sizes and forms of plantets.  Java fern is a rhizomatous plant where a thick lateral ‘stem’ sprouts leaves growing upwards and roots growing downwards.  Although there are many terrestrial plants that grow with rhizomes underground, the conventional wisdom in the aquarium trade is that rhizomes must never be buried in substrate or they will rot and kill the plant.  Accordingly, best practice is to attach the rhizome to a component of hardscape, usually rock or driftwood, either by tying it on with thread/line, or more simply by ‘supergluing’ it on using a cyanoacrylate-based adhesive.  It is also possible to wedge the rhizome into a convenient crack in the hardscape where eventually the roots will naturally bind the plant on.

Continue reading “Planting Microsorum pteropus ‘Windelov’”

After an unsuccessful go with Alternanthera reineckii (didn’t thrive) and another with Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’ (eaten by Amano shrimp), I’m giving it try with Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’.  This AR ‘Mini’ came from Pro Shrimp, and was grown by Tropica.  I have had mixed results purchasing aquatic plant tissue culture cups before, but this AR ‘Mini’ cup is one of the best I’ve ever seen.  The plants arrived in superb condition, with a huge number of goodly sized, mostly correctly structured plantlets.  Sometimes tissue culture plants can have a confused growth structure where it seems the plant doesn’t really have a good sense of top (leaves) from bottom (roots) and in some quarters tissue culture plants have a reputation for being more fragile than their potted counterparts, but I’m really optimistic about this latest batch.

Continue reading “Planting Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’”

It’s been more than four months since the Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’ got planted in the Fireplace Aquarium, and whilst it seemed to be doing well initially, after 11 weeks things weren’t looking so great.  I thought lack of light from overgrowing Bucephalandra caterina might have been contributory, so I did a massive epiphyte trim to restore light to most of the tank.  That had very positive effects on the Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘Flamingo’ but didn’t really improve the alternanthera.  There were floating fragments of what looked like otherwise healthy Rosanervig leaves and I have from time to time noticed some suspicious interest in the alternanthera from the amano shrimp.  Some surveys of the interwebs suggests that amano shrimp eating alternanthera species is a known thing which could explain the observed damage.

As an experiment, I have shielded the top of one of the Alternanthera stems inside a mesh bag.  The aquarium denisens haven’t particularly noticed, although I did see a cheeky amano shrimp sitting on the bag – it scampered when I tried to take its picture.  We’ll do an updated report after a while to see how the bagged plant compares to its non-bagged counterparts.

Two week update:  shrimp-proof bag fail

Well… it seemed like a good idea anyway.  Whilst the shrimp-proof bag did keep the shrimp away from the alternanthera, the bag became a major breeding substrate for black beard algae and the plant inside the bag with no meaningful flow and no access to a cleaning crew did not thrive.  Not only that, but I couldn’t get the bag off and wound up tearing the head off the plant in the process!  Looking at it after the fact showed a few new leaves had sprouted so the plant was giving it a try.

That being said, in the ensuing carnage I did notice there was an alternanthera plant not in the bag that seems to be doing reasonably well, so I moved that over to the front of the aquarium and we’ll see how that does.

eaten Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’
eaten Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’

Amano shrimp eat Rosanervig

They really do!  I tried it again with the Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’ and the amano shrimp thanks me for the expensive, highly decorative tasty snack.  Honestly!  I wonder if it’s just the Rosanervig they find particularly yummy since the Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’ seems to be doing ok (but not super great).

It’s been around 18 months since the Bucephalandra caterina and Anubias nana ‘Pinto’ were planted in the Fireplace Aquarium so time for a massive trim!

Ephiphytes on the mountain before and after trimming

The bucephalandra and anubias have both done really well, overachieved in a some ways in fact.  The caterina at the top of the mountain in particular is close to the light and grew across to make an impressive sombrero hat that did a nice job of shading most of the aquarium below.  This shading has been a challenge in particular for the new cryptocorynes on the right, nevelli at the back and wendtii ‘Flamingo’ in the front, but also I suspect for the Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’ over on the left side.