I have been considering floating plants for a while, but they always looked kind of big and dangly and nasty to me which has put me off. Then the Aquatic Plant Society had a get together at Aquarium Gardens and I saw this pretty new (to me) much smaller floating plant from Tropica: Salvinia minima. […]
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Aquatic plants, either submersed or emersed: species notes, growth, trimming, planting, algae/plant interactions, and care.
I have tried many plants with emersed growth on the Shrimphaus river over the years, mostly without success, but one of the few that has made a go of it is Anubias gracilis. Not much seems known about Anubias gracilis It has a pretty name: ‘gracilis’ is Latin for slender and ‘anubias‘ is Latin for […]
Read more →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… […]
Read more →Bacopa caroliniana is a super easy stem plant that does very well in the Fireplace Aquarium. Grown by Tropica and purchased from Pro Shrimp in May 2023, the bacopa transitioned smoothly to submersed growth. Attractive branching stem plant I like the bacopa vs. for example ludwigia because the bacopa fills out laterally rather than just […]
Read more →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 […]
Read more →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 […]
Read more →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 […]
Read more →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 […]
Read more →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 […]
Read more →Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘flamingo’ is an (allegedly) bright pink variant of Cryptocoryne wendtii. I thought some bright colour might be nice in the lower front of the Fireplace Aquarium, so I picked up a pot from Aqua Essentials. I used my favourite cryptocoryne planting technique – cut all the emersed leaves off – which worked a […]
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