Anubias nana ‘Pinto’ is an interesting smaller type of anubias with variegated white and green leaves. After initial planting, the pinto has done very well and is thriving, in stark contrast to the smaller and all-white Anubias nana ‘Snow White’. I wasn’t convinced I was going to like the pinto when I first planted it, but […]
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Aquatic plants, either submersed or emersed: species notes, growth, trimming, planting, algae/plant interactions, and care.
Jurijs Jutjajevs’ (of Tropica) has a “pro tip” for avoiding ‘crypt melt’ and getting Cryptocoryne species more rapidly adapted to submerged growth in an aquarium: cut off all the emersed form leaves when planting. It’s quite a dramatic thing to get your new plants in from the vendor and then immediately cut all the leaves […]
Read more →Golden creeping Jenny in an aquarium Also known as ‘moneywort’, the golden form of creeping Jenny came up in the weekly sales email from Aqua Essentials and even though I know impulse buying isn’t a good way to go with a planted aquarium, I was looking for a plant that gets to around 30 cm […]
Read more →How to avoid crypt melt I’m really liking the look of Cryptocoryne lutea ‘Hobbit’ in the front of the Fireplace Aquarium and it might be nice to put in a second row but it has taken this slow growing crypt more than four months to really get going. Is there a way to speed up […]
Read more →Time series of Lobelia cardinalis ‘Dwarf’ (bright green, left side, midground) and replanted tops of Ludwigia palustris mini ‘Super Red’ (dark red, left side, background) Lobelia cardinalis ‘Dwarf’ is very similar in appearance to Lobelia cardinalis ‘Wavy’ with round, bright green submerged-form leaves. The main difference is supposed to be in the maximum height of […]
Read more →Unusual view* down into the Fireplace Aquarium during a major water change. On the top of the mountain on the right is Bucephalandra caterina, with newly installed Anubias barteri nana ‘Pinto’ further down. The flopped over red plant is Ludwigia palustris mini ‘Super Red’ with bright green Lobelia cardinalis ‘Dwarf’ just below it. The low […]
Read more →Planting Anubias barteri nana ‘Pinto’ Filed under “I know I’m going to regret this”, even though the Anubias nana ‘Snow White’ was a disaster, I’m still enamoured of the concept of a white(ish) plant adding some colour contrast. I’ve been kicking around the “only partially white” Anubias nana ‘Pinto’ option, and when I saw they […]
Read more →It’s been nearly seven weeks since the Bucephalandra caterina went into the Fireplace Aquarium as a replacement for the failed Anubias nana ‘Snow White’ so let’s check in and see how things have progressed… Bucephalandra caterina submerged growth Bucephalandra (or ‘Buce’) is a genus of several hundreds of species and poorly-defined sub-species originally found in […]
Read more →Refreshing the Ludwigia palustris mini ‘Super Red’ “Stem plants” are those that have leaves coming off a central stem and contrast with rosette plants with leaves sprouting from a central locus. Stem plants grow fast, and can get big so require some maintenance. The easiest method is to simply cut off and discard the tops […]
Read more →After spending some time thinking about how to deal with the top-heavy mature form of Lobelia cardinalis ‘Wavy’ even after a very aggressive trimming, I decided to pull it out and replace it with a (hopefully) smaller form: Lobelia cardinalis ‘Dwarf’. There are still challenges with aquatic plant supplies so when I got notified by […]
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