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My first - "3 of life" :)

While doing some cleaning today i realized i didn't update on this project for a while. Actualy i'm neglecting this setup a little, since i'm planning to refurbish the kitchen all this is standing in. But somehow i yet didn't come to that. But definitively needs to be done. So this tank is just standing there waiting to be stripped.A lot of plants i took out, reverted it back to low tech quite some time ago. Reduced the light to more than 50% and hung it much higher to reduce the BBA at the slow growers close to the surface. It kinda worked well.

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What caught my eye and thought you might find interesting is the almost 3 years worth growing of Anubias nana petite at the left hand side.. It all started out with one little pot and grew into this without ever prunning it, looking like far over 20 pots by now..
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:)
 
I'm not sure yet.. My initial plan when the kitchen is refurbished with a new counter and floor etc. i would like the build a minimaly 80cm high (closed) paludarium with a 30 cm shallow water area in the niche which is in the wall behind this tank now. Since all fish in this tank are south american spp. and need a new home i want them in there and the paludarium emersed and submersed exclusively SA plants. Not absolutely biotope, but sort off more aimed towards the emersed back wall section with mosses ferns and orchids. :)

So for this new idea the Anubias wont fit in. I didn't yet think of it what to do whit it. Maybe reuse it with wood and all, make a super small Anubias cube on the kitchens counter and grow it on. Or maybe just play santaclaus and give it away. Dunno yet.

For the Echinodorus i'm thinking of a glass cilinder vase with substrate on the bottom and grow it on as is on the dining table.
 
:) thank you.. It's been a while it looked like this. I'm not sure which plant you're excactly refering to..
I asume the left for ground with the feathered leaf that's Aeschynomene fluitans (Giant sensitive fern)
Even more to the left, small round leaf is Anagallis tenela (Bog Pimpernel)
Big leaf at the top left is Echinodorus Kleiner Bär, or Jungle star No2 from Dennerle..
 
Thanks, i meant the feather leaf, although i am planning on using bog pimpernel too.. just have to find somewhere that sells them now...
 
just have to find somewhere that sells them now...

I guess it works the same in UK.. Wait a few more weeks and hop into a pond shop well stocked with pond plants. :) Pond plants are meant for in the garden ofcourse. And pond shops start booming when weather starts booming and everybode dives into the garden. In general last nightly frost in our region is avaragely end of may. Around this time pond shops start stocking and displaying more outdoor plants.

If they do not have it in stock they can surely order from their wholesaler. It shouldn't be hard to get, all tho regionaly a rarety and on the red list, it's still an indiginious plant sp. Tho the ones in the shop are cultivars, depending on where you live you might be able to find it in the wild as well..

Note this little plant requires a lot of light to thrive and it likely still will not flower indoors, unfortunately. I gave it a try above an averagely low light low energy tank and it slowly withers away. :)

Same actualy goes for the Aeschynomene fluitans..

Good luck.. :thumbup:

And if you are absolutely unable to find it.. I'm not sure if i still have it, maybe in the garden if i do an extensive search i might find some back. Dunno it's still to early to see and find out. But if i remeber correctly i believe @dw1305 has it in the garden as well. You might want to send him a wink then..
 
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Man I loved watching this threat
Thank you!.. :) This tank was a nice ride indeed

I did try that giant sensitive plant, it came in half dead and it slowly rot after that the leaves never even opened up..
It's a very light hungry plant, not easy to grow under artificial lights.. For me it was a strugle too..
 
Was searching for an enchinodorus that could grow emersed leaves for in my tank remembered this threat came here to find out it is an kleiner bär, what is klein (small) about this? :eek:

I guess it depends how and where you grow it.. In submersed form it keeps relatively small.. I'm also growing it emersed outdoor in a basket but rather shallow. Than it also stays a lot smaller, not in leaf size but in stem lenght. It's a very addaptable plant sp. and its size is depended on the depht it is planted in. If planted in deep water it transitions to submersed form first, than if these leaves grow up to a 30cm tall. In this case the leaves also reached the watersurface at this lenght sticking a leaf tip into the atmosphere.

What i find most remarkable is the plant seems to sense this. When the submersed form leaf tips start to dry out, it seems this damage is a stress signal for the plant saying here is the surface and it wants to grow emersed. The plant is triggered to start growing a tiny emersed grow form leaf on a stem from iits rosette. Than this stem keeps growing rather fast towards the surface with a tiny leaf to it. Once the stem made it that far and the leaf is finaly emersed, this leaf starts growing bigger and the stem even longer.

Offspring from this plant that is planted in more shallow water grow much shorter leaf stems yet also not taller than +/- 30cm.

Ive seen very tall discus tanks growing out Echinodorus like this.
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I guess it isn't Kleiner bär but it grew in the same fasion. It's final tallness is definitively related to the planting depth. Another tank, don't know if it serves the right to be called discus tank but it contains them and also an E. palaefolius var. latifolius.
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https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/165366617541104629/

And this is an E. palaefolius var. latifolius grown in my livingroom with only wet feet. Rather small, it has no need to grow long stems.
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And most likely it's size depends on humidity and also maturity when grown emersed in a proper climate.. Artificialy this is difficult in the northern hemisphere. Because it always recieves a negative set back during the winter without enough artificial light and proper humidity. Than it has to start over again next summer keeping rejuvinating the plant and stays relative small.

Also light is an important factor, the kleiner bär from the tank in this topic grew under rather high light. The last 6 months it grew without any artificial light and only some indirect day light. And it was slowly turning back to submersed form. But it didn't get this far completely because the tank is torn down. :) But it definitively was shrinking after the light was taken away.

Currently i'm also playing with E. Regine Hildebrandt.. That is a rather small cultivar very easy.. But not sure if it will suite your ideas and it grows agonizingly slow. It's a cross breed from E. ozelot x E. uruguayensis. Maybe taking one of these is a beter option..
 
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