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Okay, I need help. I thought I knew the plants but they are not what I was told they are. These plants have since died and I want to replace them with the same species. Can you name them?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellysfishylife/



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Kelly ;o}

Kelly

They are all called the Yellow no photo.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Sorry, I was trying to post pictures directly, but I can't.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Hi Kelly,
They look like small swords. As a group, swords
need around 2-3 watts per gallon. They are also known
as "heavy root feeders" requiring sub gravel fertilizer.
I suspect your gravel is a size or two, too large.
You could put a layer of SeaChem's Flourite or one of
the other "plant friendly" substrates under that
gravel and that would supply the iron the swords need
as well as giving them something they can "sink their
roots into." With gravel that large, I believe I'd stick
with plants attached to driftwood such as Anubis and use
lower watts per gallon, down in the 1.5 - 2 wpg.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hmmm, it doesn't look like all the plants in the pic are all the same species, but they all look like swords. The one in the middle-right looks like a Brazilian Sword.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Yea, I have flourite on the bottom layers, the other gravel is just to cover the top layers.

Yeap, I know they are various swords, but I'm having a problem when I look under "Brazilian or Amazon" sword at the "Tropica" website as well as AZ gardens. They just don't look the same as what I had to me. Unfortunately, "Tropica" uses drawings/sketches. And the ones at AZ gardens, the coloring and shapes are not right.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Kelly have a search on Melon Swords

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

In my order with AZ, I ordered and received 4 Brazilian swords (spathiophyllum tasson) and one Blassi Melon Crypt (Crptocoryne blassi) neither "look" like what I "had" in the tank when they arrived. I'm still going to plant them up, but I still want what I had before....

The search continues...

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Okay the 2 front plants have been narrowed down to ----> Red Flame Echinodorus, Red-Spot Ozelot or Red Rubin. Since my root ball still has baby leaves coming up I'm holding out hope that it will recover. The back row is really giving me a headache. I purchased spathiophyllum tasson thinking that was right, but the leaves are too narrow and a much darker green.

The only plant I am completely 100% positive about is the Anubias nana.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Kelly

I have never used Fluorite and know nothing about.

I always had trouble growing Crypts until I started growing them in my 45lt tank. Now they are practically out of control. It is completely impossible to do a gravel vac I was told by the Aussie grower and a few so called crypt experts dont remove the mulm (plant waste on the substrate) it looked shocking and dirty but I still never removed it, apparently this rots down to give the plants its natural fertlizer food.

You dont have to agree with any of this and I would not blame you one little bit. This is not way out new science method it is nothing but getting down to basics.
The liquid ferts would be what is found in their natural living conditions in the wild.

The Substrate is close to 4ins deep, 1-3mm, plus I have a small 3-4mm dia terra cotta/clay type porous balls this apparently holds the good bacteria.

I also only use Seachem liquid ferts daly and every 3 months the Seachem plant pellets.

What I am trying to say I think your substrate is no where deep enough. I would mix in with those larger stones a 1-3mm natural river gravel to bring the total depth up to at least 3ins and 4ins would be even better.

With any rooted plant I am a firm believer in letting it float float for a min of 4-5 days. I know the leaves will curl under but dont worry as soon as they are planted and start to get established they will also straighten up.

The next part many will shudder with shock I ALWAYS trim the roots and remove any damaged or unhealthy plant growth.
By trimming the roots you are removing any damaged ends and this also promotes new growth.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I don't know if this is applicable, but many aquatic plants are grown out of water at nurseries before they are sold. The out of water appearance is different from the way the leaves look when the plants are grown underwater. This might be why the plants don't look exactly the same.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

You can't tell from the photo but the flourite is actually about 4 inches deep, (in the back) with an additional 1-2 inches of the decorative stone. The stone wasn't my choice, I wanted something a little smaller. I was out voted by the other half and kids at the store. We sloped it so it was a lot shallower in the front then in the back. Believe me, it was a pain to gravel vac that deep.

Since we had to do a slight re-scaping, we have since evened it out. The 1/3 where the driftwood is more shallow than the other 2/3 of the tank. I saw a baby leaf poking out of the gravel today in the front. But nothing in the back. We planted the Brazilian swords and the Melon crypt.

I may have to go back to the store I purchased the back row from and see if I can weedle a specific name out of them. I don't want to purchase random plants, hoping I get what I want.

Thanks Shinigami, I did think that the plants may have been grown emerged or at least semi-emerged. The feel of the plants are stiffer, if that makes any sense. Time will tell if they change under water. But the shape of the leaf is what bothers me the most. They're just so narrow.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}