Are there any interesting emersed echinodorus ?

[Myrtle]

So front to back is 17 inches (45cm) and side to side is 23 inches (60cm) and total height is 35 inches. Hum. Or did i get front/back and side to side backwards ?

Yes, that's right It's not huge but you can get loads of different sizes and it might be worth picking one up second hand to practise with before starting your big expensive one. I practised with the open fronted one and I'm glad I did as the expanding foam backgrounds aren't as good for attaching epiphytes and climbers to as the cork bark and sphagnum moss. Though I expect I'd have had more luck with a closed front and misting system, for my needs the cork bark and moss is better.
I do have a terrestrial Dubia cockroach living in mine but only because she hitched a ride on my cork delivery! I've looked into a few things, vampire crabs for one but not keen on the fact they're almost all wild caught. I'm now looking at ornamental isopods as I have plenty of areas for them to climb out if they fall in. As yours is a full aquarium at the base, I'd advise against anything to live in the arboreal section - simply because if it falls in and drowns it could foul the water pretty fast if you don't spot it in time (as well as being an unpleasant death!). Springtails would still be a worthwhile addition as the fish will happily eat any that fall in!

 

[anewbie]

Yes, that's right It's not huge but you can get loads of different sizes and it might be worth picking one up second hand to practise with before starting your big expensive one. I practised with the open fronted one and I'm glad I did as the expanding foam backgrounds aren't as good for attaching epiphytes and climbers to as the cork bark and sphagnum moss. Though I expect I'd have had more luck with a closed front and misting system, for my needs the cork bark and moss is better.
I do have a terrestrial Dubia cockroach living in mine but only because she hitched a ride on my cork delivery! I've looked into a few things, vampire crabs for one but not keen on the fact they're almost all wild caught. I'm now looking at ornamental isopods as I have plenty of areas for them to climb out if they fall in. As yours is a full aquarium at the base, I'd advise against anything to live in the arboreal section - simply because if it falls in and drowns it could foul the water pretty fast if you don't spot it in time (as well as being an unpleasant death!). Springtails would still be a worthwhile addition as the fish will happily eat any that fall in!

I posted in that forum you suggested but didn't get any sort of response - however i did more searching and found this - what do you think of it ?
Amazon product ASIN B08V262JX5

 

[Myrtle]

Have you looked through some of the journals on there? If you search for cork mosaic backgrounds you should find plenty of food for thought! I just ordered boxes of medium sized cork flats and silicone them in a mosaic fashion to the back walls. I left gaps in between which were stuffed with sphagnum to hold moisture. I think if you use the big pressed sheets you won't get as much moisture held for any plants.
I'm currently redesigning my practise one after it failed and it'll probably end up more like a riparium this time, like yours. I would have gone for another exo-terra but the footprint won't fit on my unit so I'm having to DIY one again. I've seen people use pumice as a background material as it's light and holds moisture but it's a bit pricey for me.

 

[anewbie]

Have you looked through some of the journals on there? If you search for cork mosaic backgrounds you should find plenty of food for thought! I just ordered boxes of medium sized cork flats and silicone them in a mosaic fashion to the back walls. I left gaps in between which were stuffed with sphagnum to hold moisture. I think if you use the big pressed sheets you won't get as much moisture held for any plants.
I'm currently redesigning my practise one after it failed and it'll probably end up more like a riparium this time, like yours. I would have gone for another exo-terra but the footprint won't fit on my unit so I'm having to DIY one again. I've seen people use pumice as a background material as it's light and holds moisture but it's a bit pricey for me.

Ok thanks. I'm not too concern about background holding moisture as I think i'll cover it with pothos which doesn't require much; for the stuff in front of it i will use a mister for the anubias and crypts orchid and sword plants and i don't think there will be much more room. I just want something that (a) i can set against the back but not perm. attach - or easy to remove; doesn't have any sort of chemical that will leach and harm the fishes and doesnt' require much skill on my part since i'm pretty clueless and lack talents.

 

[zozo]

There are many interesting Echinodorus sp. to grow emersed... You might find the below thread dedicated to emersed growing sword plants interesting. It already runs till 2018 and continues going to this day, tho it's in German, you might need a translator or watch pics and read the plant names to find out about potential varieties.

<The Year of the Echinodorus.>
I guess there is nothing much to add to this thread that isn't tried before.

Flowgrow also has one of the most extensive databases regarding aquatic plants and its growth habit descriptions are also in English with a complete Sword plant list.

Flowgrow

TODO

www.flowgrow.de

I have grown quite a few Sword plants in emersed form and they are rather very interesting plants that seem to have a type of mechanism that senses the environment they are in and it will grow accordingly. If planted submerged they tend to grow larger than their normal terrestrial form. As seen in the picture @Tim Harrison posted. If these plants are planted as small young plants at such depth, they first transition back into submerged form and tend to keep growing till the leaves reach the water's surface, then the leaf tip will stick out of the water into the atmosphere and it will start to dry out and wither away. Now I have to speculate a bit and it's what I experienced watching this plant's behaviour. What most people will do, is cut this damaged semi-emerged leaf off the plant since it's damaged anyway. I didn't and then other leaves will follow doing the same thing. Now it looks like this is a trigger point for the plant to let it know where the surface is. And it stops making submerged leaves and it will revert to only growing long leafstalks whit a tiny young leaf in emerged form. Once the stalk is long enough for the leaf to get to the atmosphere the leaf will grow bigger. After a few leaves have reached the surface it will start to develop flower stalks and flowers. According to the depth it is planted the plant's genetic build-in mechanism feels the difference between being submerged or being in the atmosphere, plant it 30cm deep or 50cm deep it will grow accordingly with longer submerged leaves and longer emerged leaf stalks. Thus the deeper the plant is planted the taller it will grow this might have some genetic limits per sp. that I do not know. I had a Kleiner Bär planted 30cm deep that grew into a 60cm emerged form plant, when I grew offshoots from this same plant completely emerged in a pot it didn't grow much bigger than 20 to 30cm. There was no water level to overcome to get to the atmosphere thus no need to grow long leafstalks and stays a lot smaller.

Amazing to witness a bog plant having a kind of genetic build-in intelligence to feel and know where it's at and switch forms and grow accordingly...

I guess all bog plants with aquatic and terrestrial forms have this potential in one way or another, rosette plants and the way they grow might be a tad quicker at it. ( I've seen Bolbitis grow like this too if given the time.)

For indoor success with Swords in their terrestrial form, the Swords require enough light and temperature and humidity to thrive... Outdoor in the sun almost all of them will do good during the summer and maybe might survive a soft winter if the rosette and roots don't freeze. Moving them to a well-lit and warm greenhouse during the winter might be a better idea.

 

[anewbie]

There are many interesting Echinodorus sp. to grow emersed... You might find the below thread dedicated to emersed growing sword plants interesting. It already runs till 2018 and continues going to this day, tho it's in German, you might need a translator or watch pics and read the plant names to find out about potential varieties.

<The Year of the Echinodorus.>
I guess there is nothing much to add to this thread that isn't tried before.

Flowgrow also has one of the most extensive databases regarding aquatic plants and its growth habit descriptions are also in English with a complete Sword plant list.

Flowgrow

TODO

www.flowgrow.de

I have grown quite a few Sword plants in emersed form and they are rather very interesting plants that seem to have a type of mechanism that senses the environment they are in and it will grow accordingly. If planted submerged they tend to grow larger than their normal terrestrial form. As seen in the picture @Tim Harrison posted. If these plants are planted as small young plants at such depth, they first transition back into submerged form and tend to keep growing till the leaves reach the water's surface, then the leaf tip will stick out of the water into the atmosphere and it will start to dry out and wither away. Now I have to speculate a bit and it's what I experienced watching this plant's behaviour. What most people will do, is cut this damaged semi-emerged leaf off the plant since it's damaged anyway. I didn't and then other leaves will follow doing the same thing. Now it looks like this is a trigger point for the plant to let it know where the surface is. And it stops making submerged leaves and it will revert to only growing long leafstalks whit a tiny young leaf in emerged form. Once the stalk is long enough for the leaf to get to the atmosphere the leaf will grow bigger. After a few leaves have reached the surface it will start to develop flower stalks and flowers. According to the depth it is planted the plant's genetic build-in mechanism feels the difference between being submerged or being in the atmosphere, plant it 30cm deep or 50cm deep it will grow accordingly with longer submerged leaves and longer emerged leaf stalks. Thus the deeper the plant is planted the taller it will grow this might have some genetic limits per sp. that I do not know. I had a Kleiner Bär planted 30cm deep that grew into a 60cm emerged form plant, when I grew offshoots from this same plant completely emerged in a pot it didn't grow much bigger than 20 to 30cm. There was no water level to overcome to get to the atmosphere thus no need to grow long leafstalks and stays a lot smaller.

Amazing to witness a bog plant having a kind of genetic build-in intelligence to feel and know where it's at and switch forms and grow accordingly...

I guess all bog plants with aquatic and terrestrial forms have this potential in one way or another, rosette plants and the way they grow might be a tad quicker at it. ( I've seen Bolbitis grow like this too if given the time.)

For indoor success with Swords in their terrestrial form, the Swords require enough light and temperature and humidity to thrive... Outdoor in the sun almost all of them will do good during the summer and maybe might survive a soft winter if the rosette and roots don't freeze. Moving them to a well-lit and warm greenhouse during the winter might be a better idea.

Thank you @zozo this is very helpful. I grow some variant of rubin sword plant in my 120 (an aquarium that is 24 inches high); and i can tell from experience it will over time grow longer and longer steams until the leaves reach the top at which point i will cut off all leaves to reset the plant (this aquarium has a lid on it to keep the loaches from jumping out so there is no point in allowing to attempt to grow emersed). My ruffle sword plant did the same thing - but my amazon sword plant (Bleheri?) has never attempted such and the leaves always stay fixed at the bottom so the height is only around 18 or so inches. I'll look through the thread and try to find some that look interesting emersed. I definitely want to try purple aflame and kleiner prince since it is quite lovely submersed though i suppose emersed it is not so nice.

 

[hydrophyte]

Might have been mentioned already above, but years ago I grew 'Marble Queen' emersed and it generally would repack only 10" or so in height.

 

[Mat H]

Have a plain sword Emersed, would have liked my Chocolate Marble 'if that's what it is' to grow Emersed too and will if it sends such shoots out - as it was it was sadly crowding out everything else in the tank.

A little before and after weekend trim and picture of one of the Chocolate Marble leaves (though I see chocolate and no marble).