• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Marshlands

To make a long story short, we got a greenhouse delivered two weeks ago, and of course it was the day we had just had 5+ cm of snow drop on us the previous night ... Anyway, the goal is to keep it heated to about 7-8C and it has a small pond in it (about 200 liters), so out went everything from the flowerpot pond (we’ll see how the Echinodorus does, I have had it survive temperatures just above freezing before but I’m not sure how it copes with being cold for any longer duration).
IMG_20211123_091947.jpg IMG_20211123_091908.jpg
With the flowerpot pond free I decided to move the stuff from the seasonal aquarium there, to give the Cyperus some more head room. The water level will be raised once the Cyperus is properly established, and maybe it can become something like this in the future Killifish "hole" on a flooded meadow, Wonga Wongue Reserve, the Ogooue basin, Gabon, 20 L • Biotope Aquarium, but with actual clay walls :)
IMG_20211123_092405.jpg
That left me with an empty tank on the desktop (you can see where this is heading right?), and next up was the sump neighbor who is now the desktop companion. So the little experiments got an upgrade, and now they just need some time to settle in and resume growth. The whole process was surprisingly simple, they all had enough roots in the substrate to allow me to lift the whole thing out and then drop it in its new place, but that's enough of big moves for now.
IMG_20211123_095521.jpg IMG_20211123_100727.jpg
 
Out of interest how much kwh are you using to heat the greenhouse to 8c outdoors?

Sent from my BV5500Plus using Tapatalk
 
Not quite sure were it will end up yet Angus, the windows have double glazing and there is insulation around the foundation, but we are still working out a few kinks around the weak spots and with the air circulation. We have a 9kW heater on standby that managed to heat it 20C on its own (and not even at full power) so we should hopefully be fine even during cold snaps. As soon as the sun comes out (not a very common occurrence here at this time of year though) it heats up by itself quite a lot as well, something that will improve once we get a proper layer of snow.
 
Finally managed a half decent full tank shot of the paludarium, I’m still using a phone camera and there were a few reflections I didn’t manage to block so it’s nowhere near the quality made by some of the other people here, but now you have at least a hint of what the water portion looks like (the light varies a bit to much for me to get a good exposure on everything).
IMG_20211123_143135.jpg

Took some pictures of the land portion and the whole thing with the sump as well while I was at it:
IMG_20211123_143048.jpg IMG_20211123_143310.jpg
 
Love the congo's
Yes nothing beats their colours when the tank get some morning sun light during spring and autumn. They had been on my fishy bucket-list pretty much since I first read about them, and finally got some about a year and a half ago. However, one of the things I had read about them, in an ancient Mergus aquarium atlas, were that they could be incredibly shy and might not feed while any people were still in the room. So while in quarantine, under a thick layer of floating plants, I was a bit worried if they were getting enough to eat, even though they were mainly fed on live blackworms. Needles to say, once I moved them into the paludarium they were pretty chunky, and have been eating everything since that (even new Anubias leaves). The original eight also spawned during quarantine, so now I have a school of 19, and they are still spawning among the plants most mornings.
 
The paludarium has started handing out Christmas presents. The timing is pretty much spot on, it's always good to have something to look at for all the non-aquarium minded relatives turning up, and to steer the conversation away from "why don't you have more fish in there" and "some frogs would look nice" (sure they would, but they would also be a hassle to feed and the congo tetras would probably go full piranha on them if they ever fell into the water).
IMG_20211216_100336.jpg IMG_20211216_100133.jpg IMG_20211216_100205.jpg IMG_20211216_100055.jpg
 
Second Phalaenopsis is taking over in the paludarium now, as the first one has faded from yellow to pink.
IMG_20220104_111753.jpg IMG_20220104_111815.jpg
The new pitcher is also providing some colour, with it’s lovely lip :)
IMG_20220104_111911.jpg
As for the slightly more aquatic side, the desktop “mini-marsh” is starting to look like it’s heading in the right direction. The Sphagnum is still alive (and growing), with the Utricularia spreading throughout the land section, and starting to perk up below the surface as well. The Hydrocotyle and Limnophila are doing well too (a bit too well...) despite me only using rainwater for this tank (or more accurately melted snow), so I guess there are still some nutrients leaching out of the muddy bottom.
IMG_20220104_112047.jpg
 
Starting to get where I want with the “mini-marsh”, and this might be something for you @Stan510 . No water changes for the last few weeks and the Hydrocotyle, which was growing in the Sphagnum, started to struggle. So I think that I have got most of the nutrients out of the water column, although the Limnophila growing in the muddy bottom is still doing well. The Sphagnum itself is developing nicely, and has already needed a bit of pruning, with the emersed Utricularia looking happy and spreading throughout the moss and starting to venture down into the water. The submerged Utricularia is spreading, but with rather leggy growth (probably not enough light), hopefully it will perk up once I start to remove the Limnophila though.
IMG_20220124_105237.jpg IMG_20220124_105349.jpg IMG_20220124_105308.jpg
 
Finally, the Utricularia graminifolia has decided to start flowering. Not sure why this one is the first though, the "leaves" are looking much healthier in other setups (I might have gone a bit over the top with nutrients in this one initially), maybe it's reacting to increasing daylight? Anyway, I find it really cute and there are at least 5 more flower stalks on the way.
IMG_20220212_082422.jpg IMG_20220212_082354.jpg IMG_20220212_080952.jpg
 
Spring has come to the paludarium! Twice a year the sun finds its way into the paludarium and both fish and plants love it. The congo tetras put on their best colours and spawn en-masse every morning (will try to get a picture of it one of these days), while most of the plants have shed any flowers they might have had to get on with some serious growing instead. I got one Phalaenopsis with some flowers left, and a Brassia which has already completed one growing cycle and is putting out a flower spike instead, otherwise it's mostly green (apart from the ruby lips of the pitcher plant).
IMG_20220329_105002.jpg IMG_20220329_105052.jpg IMG_20220329_104807.jpg
No big changes compared to the November photo, just the ongoing struggle to keep any plant from taking over completely. I removed a meter or so of Davallia rhizome, with the rest of the ferns, as well as the ficuses, due for pruning over the next weeks, but that's about it. As you can see from the top down views, there isn't much risk of it starting to look sparse ;)
IMG_20220329_105211.jpg IMG_20220329_105202.jpg
On a more fishy note, one of my cousins were closing down their aquarium and was hoping that I could take care of their last remaining fish, some kind of catfish they didn't know the name of. Last time that happened I ended up with this girl:
IMG_20220310_132210.jpg
She was crammed into a 180L tank and barely able to turn around, now she lives in the paludarium and is one of the reasons I struggle a bit with aquatic plants in there (at least she doesn't eat them like the congo tetras does though). She's about 35cm long and must be around 20 years old, but with a great personality (begging for food at the surface). So unless I could find someone truly dedicated to take her, I will gladly put up with some bulldozing. Anyway, in this case it turned out to be an Otocinclus macrospilus (phew!) which now resides in the sump. It looks to be in quite a good shape, just a bit camera shy, and I'm currently debating getting a few more and maybe try to breed them.
 
A couple of photos of congo tetras in morning sunlight, mind you, they are not good ones. Between them being excited for breakfast and the mormyrid photo-bombing it was a struggle, but they should give you an idea of what a bit of sunlight can do.
IMG_20220331_080153.jpg IMG_20220330_073720.jpg IMG_20220330_073737.jpg
 
Still very much alive:
Paludarium20220917.jpg

IMG_20220917_125709.jpg IMG_20220917_125650.jpg IMG_20220917_125518.jpg IMG_20220917_125733.jpg IMG_20220917_125717.jpg IMG_20220917_125725.jpg
The main benjamina fig had started to come loose (got a bit top heavy probably) so had to be divided and reattached, but that and the underwater light being moved a bit to the left is pretty much all that have been done to the main "tank". In the sump the swordplant has been switched, although most of the monster that was growing in there before has just moved up a step. Fingers crossed that the new one will stay a bit smaller and I wont have to keep swapping them once a year or so.
IMG_20220910_111214.jpg IMG_20220917_130004.jpg
 
Thanks Darrel!
and your Hygrophila is flowering well.
Yes so I can't bring myself to pruning it back properly. For now I have settled with cutting of the top once it reaches the lights, but we'll see how long that works. So far it's responded by putting out a lot of side branches, and hopefully I can keep it going for a while longer.
IMG_20220917_175159.jpg
 
Some annoying news; the thrips are back. I had some problem with them earlier this year but thought I had got rid of them over summer, well I guess not. In the paludarium they target some of the orchids, Anubias, and the pitcher plants (below), while the rest are ignored (phew), so manual removal works quite well there.
Thrips.jpg
In the sump they are more of a problem, spreading through the Hygrophila, and here I might have to try some biological control instead*. The Hygrophila doesn't seem that bothered though, with new flowers appearing and littering on my floaters.
IMG_20221104_095210.jpg IMG_20221104_095141.jpg
The plants are also back-budding (?) putting out fresh submerged growth near the bottom of the stem. This is new for me, previously any flowering Hygrophilas have focused all their energy on emersed growth instead.
IMG_20221104_095036.jpg

* For those interested in biological pest control: I think I'm dealing with Hercinothrips femoralis, making the usual Orius bugs ineffective, although hopefully Franklinothrips vespiformis would work.
 
Hi all,
* For those interested in biological pest control: I think I'm dealing with Hercinothrips femoralis, making the usual Orius bugs ineffective, although hopefully Franklinothrips vespiformis would work.
I think Franklinothrips are pretty catholic in what they eat, so it wouldn't matter which "pest" thrips you have.

cheers Darrel
 
Update from the marsh-room, it's that time of year again:
IMG_20221214_105124.jpg IMG_20221214_104156.jpg IMG_20221214_105157.jpg IMG_20221214_104724.jpg
Not much else going on in the paludarium though, so I'm experimenting with growing Utricularias instead. First U. graminifolia emersed in clay, which it seem to quite like, although it has to fight a bit with all the various mosses that sprouted. Then some U. intermedia in the desktop nano, with new growth and its first set of bladders on the way now, its supposed to be possible to grow year-round at warm temperatures (it stopped forming turions when I brought it inside) but we'll see.
IMG_20221214_104920.jpg IMG_20221214_105017.jpg IMG_20221216_121139.jpg IMG_20221216_120156.jpg IMG_20221216_120342.jpg IMG_20221216_120653.jpg
 
Back
Top