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utricularia graminifolia

murph

Member
Joined
21 Apr 2010
Messages
224
Location
Irvine
HI,

I've read through the various posts on this plant in the forum and would like to use some for my new tanks carpet.

260L
2*39watt T5's
EI and C02 injection



I intend having a good stock of CRS shrimp and maybe some Amanos, Will this plant interfere with the breeding of the CRS's? i.e will it eat the baby shrimp?


Has anyone had any sucess with this plant recently? The tank is being set up from scratch and I'd rather get things right first time round!
 
Ug wll not eat your baby shrimp;)
With sufficient Co2 and EI you`ll manage Ug fine in your tank. The plant is somewhat sensitive before its rooted properly, much like Hc. When well established its quite tough in my experience.
 
Thanks!

Will dosing through the water column be alright? My subsrate is pretty inert, would in feed on the live food fed to fish?
 
If you search the forum there's a couple of threads with how to achieve best results. I've asked about on stateside forums and the advice that comes out is lots of co2 very soft water and when ever possible grown out emersed in aquasoil in the tank before flooding it. I echo Cegs words, it's most definately not a beginner plant I tried and failed a few times, my waters just too hard. If you're really serious you could go more wrong than to grow it in the tank before filling, also, Tropica has a page with the water hardness levels favoured by it and how to get best results during start up if you don't grow it out.
And no, it won't feed on live food unless you're feeding protoplancton.

Also, Shrimp love to eat it. Especially amanos.
 
I have grown it in play sand with EI dosing levels. My tap water was very soft. It is a strange plant in the sense that I have seen it in tanks that have done well in the IAPLC ,where it looks leggy to me, and nothing like the compact growth I was getting.

One bit of advice I can give is don`t let any shrimp near it until it is rooted. They will pick it to shreds.

Dave.
 
Darrel, I'm confused, how can a plant that's not aquatic live underwater? It even develops floating "mouths' when grown emeresed as part of it's underwater growing "form"? Am I missing something somewhere?
 
Hi all,
Garuf it does produce bladders, I think all bladderworts do, even the terrestrial ones. They tend to have tiny traps that feed on protozoans, nematodes and rotifers etc. swimming in the water film around the soil particles. These are like a lot of carnivorous plants, they live in perpetually wet, acidic, nutrient poor environments that are neither aquatic or terrestrial but just have variations in the degree of wetness. Because of their environment roots are not acting in the traditional primary manner of searching for water and the salts dissolved in them, but as structural supports for the bladders and physical anchors for the plant, with nutrient gathering a secondary role.

Somebody may know more, but all the aquatic bladderworts I know of don't have complete leaves, but very dissected or reduced leaves (as in Utricularia gibba, U. vulgaris etc.).

My suspicion would be that if you can produce soft, acid water, reasonable light and added CO2 the plant doesn't really "realise" that it is immersed.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,
I've just read that even "nutrient gathering as a secondary role" was overplaying their part, they don't have any roots and most scientists don't think that their leaves are actually true leaves either, but all parts (other than the flowers) are modified stems, so they are truly weird plants.
Darrel
 
Hmm, very interesting, when I saw you'd posted again I was half expecting it to say "infact, it's probably not even a plant".

I'm not sure about the idea of it not knowing it's underwater, I've seen pictures of it from a Thai forum where it was growing much like a moss in the shallows of a lightly tannin stained stream so maybe it does have the ability of growing submerged in the wild but it's something that it doesn't like to do?
 
Hi all,
Garuf, I'm not sure about U. graminifolia in the wild, but it may well be that it is under-water for part of the year, very much like a Cryptocoryne.

Was it this page? http://www.extraplant.com/blog/page/9 it certainly looks like it is growing as an aquatic there, although it may be that even that stream channel is dry at some times of the year.

Also found this http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32161 which is very interesting.
I'll get a photo of mine growing in with the moss and insectivorous plants as soon as the lab. is empty. It looks a lot less lush than the one in the last link, so it would possibly benefit from being much wetter.

cheers Darrel
 
Great info guys but looks like it might be a bit beyond me then eh?

I might get a wee plant and attempt to grow it but not use it as my main carpet, its just so pretty!

Is there anything that looks similar but that i might not kill straight away?
 
It's the first link! Glad you found it.

Murph, I'm afraid there really is nothing like it. Hairgrass or tellenelus is similar but at the same time nothing like it at all.
 
Sorry, I was cross replying, I should have included the prefix of "Darrel,".

Ug is a brilliant plant, I'd suggest trying to grow some as Darrel has in a container and then trying it once you have enough stock of it so that it isn't a total waste.
 
Cheers Garuf.

Anyone know where i can get a hold of some of this and how I should treat it to grow it like Darrel has?

I kill parsley on the windowsill!
 
Cheapest place is triffids nursery but it might not be as good a strain as aquafluers or tropicas but it is very cheap compared.
 
Hi all,
Here is my emersed Utricularia graminifolia, growing amongst the moss with other CP's Drosera, Pinguicula etc.

utricularia_graminifolia_emersed.jpg


It certainly looks much less good than
SS851205.JPG


from the http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32161 link, although it will look a bit bigger and healthier in a month or so's time.
cheers Darrel
 
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