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Gang,

I need some help in deciding the plants for the 125G. I pre-selected a variety of plants (actually I consider them all) that would be available to me.

I would need the answer by tomorrow morning though so I can plant this Saturday (no pressure though).

Here is the list with Name – Position - Quantity:

Echnidorus martii – Solitary – 1
Echnidorus Rubin Red – Solitary – 1
Echnidorus Ruby – Solitary – 1

Anubias Barteri – On Rock – 2
Anubias Nana – On Rock – 2
X-Mass Moss – On Rock – 4

Cryptocoryne Wendtii De Witt Red – Front – 2
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green – Front – 2
Saggitaria Subulata Narrow Leaf – Front – 20
Saggitaria Subulata Dwarf – Front – 20

Mayaca Fluviatilis – Border Front-Middle – 10
Lobelia Cardinalis – Border Front-Middle – 2
Bacopa Australis – Border Front-Middle – 2

Eusteralis Stellata – Middle – 1
Hemianthus Micranthemoides – Middle – 4
Didiplis Diandra – Middle – 3
Egeria Najas – Middle – 10
Heteranthera Zosterifolia – Middle – 3
Micranthemum Umbrosum – Middle – 10
Ludwigia Narrow Leaf – Middle – 10

Hygrophilia Difformis – Back – 8
Vallisneria Corkscrew – Back – 30
Vallsineria Jungle – Back – 30
Cryptocoryne crispulata var. Balansae – Back – 3

I know that I am weak on the front section as I don’t have any lawn forming plant (like glosso and HC) but this will come at some other time.

What do you think? Too many, too much variety, or what? Please don’t suggest additional plants as I am limited to this list. I somehow have the feeling that I have too many different plants listed here.
EDIT: I might be able to get a few pots of Dwarf Hairgrass and some Blixia Japonica (sp?).

Thanks a bunch ( pun intended),

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 19-Sep-2005 13:15

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 19-Sep-2005 17:45

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Wonderful variety of plants...

Suggestions: Move the bacopa toward the rear and forget the jungle val. Keep the corkscrew val in front of the bacopa and the balansae. Be prepared to ruthlessly rip out the corkscrew val once the runners start... Bacopa will easily grow to the surface in the 125, trim when it is 3 to 4 inches from the surface and plant the stems in bunches... Balansae is very well behaved but will grow to the surface plus 6 inches. Leaves will not portrude but lie flat on the surface. H. difformis will burst into bushes in the tank. As it reaches for the surface it will spawn rooted plantlets, if plantlets are 3 to 5 inches in diameter. Easy to trim by plucking plantlets. Place anubias beneath other plants to give it the lower light levels it prefers...

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Nice choice of plants nice mixture of color and leaf shape sizes.

I'd be a bit careful with starting out with Stellata and Diandra. Both can be a bit on the fussy side. Limnophilia Aromatica would be a good replacement for the Stellata, as they are so similar as to be often mistaken for one another.Rotala Nanjenshan for the Diandra for the same reason.

Hemianthus Micranthemoides and Micranthemum Umbrosum are almost identical so I'd just pick one - the Hemianthus.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

H. difformis will burst into bushes in the tank. As it reaches for the surface it will spawn rooted plantlets, if plantlets are 3 to 5 inches in diameter. Easy to trim by plucking plantlets.

Bob, your description sounds more like Water Sprite then Difformis, a very similar looking plant.I've never known Difformis to behave this way, but water sprite certainly does, part of the reason I hate the plant.

Ingo,
On the swords all those varieties will get seriuosly big. If I had to big one it'd be the Rubin. It's a bit slower growing so easier to control and is quite simply a stunningly beautiful solitary plant. The Marthi is a bit ho hum IMO.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I ordered the plants with a few minor changes based on the input I got from you guys.

Saturday is planting day

I am going to be soooo busy, I don't even have the tank set up yet

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 20-Sep-2005 12:57

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

As you probably saw from my previous tank I used
H. Difformis not as a background plant but to depict depth going on an angle front to back and swaying around rocks,e tc. This required alot of pruning, but the plant did start to grow bushy and crept along the bottom. Obviously the plant will grow different, based on conditions.



Last edited by tetratech at 20-Sep-2005 14:25

My Scapes

tetratech,

The Hygrophilia Difformis is in the tank to fill it up initially with a lot of fast growing plants to avoid an algae outbreak. But I am sure you knew that .

I am rather sure that at least some of it will be removed once the tank is all settled and I found "prettier" replacements.

Nevertheless, thanks for the information as it shows that you care,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yup, definitely do care

IMHO the HD is actually a pretty nice looking plant, because growth sometimes looks different from stem to stem.
(thus the name difformis).

I will defintely contrast with many other plants, although it is a algae magnet at times.



My Scapes

I like the Diffomis. It is very versatile and will throw out varying leaf shapes and growth patterns. But it won't literally disintegrate into a ton of individual plants like the Water Sprite will.

I had some for a long time then chucked it for something different. Just recently added it back again to use in the same way Tetra described to surround and show off a piece of bogwood. I think it's very pretty.

I have all sorts of plants, some very nice and relatively hard to find. But the plants my wife likes most in the tank are the cheapest weeds I find ! She only like the Wisteria and the Pennywort, likes the bright greens. The ones I struggled to grow and get good color she could care less she thinks they're blah I guess there's no accounting for taste, which with go a long way to explaining why she married me in the first place

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Besaf -

My wife is a graphic designer by trade, guess how often we agree on taste .

I ordered 2 Pennywort as well (Hydrocotyle leucocephala). I think though that another plant that sometimes is also called Pennywort, Hydrocotyle verticillata, is very pretty when used as a bush between foreground and middle section.

Also, I did not get all Wisteria I wanted as they don’t have 8 large stems left. I agreed to have some replaced by exactly the plant that you don’t like, Water Sprite . We will see what happens there when placed side by side.

Can you post a pic of how your wisteria looks around your bogwood?

Thanks,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hmmm...not a great pic, the Wisteria(front left corner), like everything else is in need of a trim and as it's late here had started to close up shop for the night. Tetras tank is a better representation.

bensaf attached this image:

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Bensaf,

Beautiful lush tank. lo

LF,
Here's the way I used HD. It's in the left corner front to mid/back. It looks great in Bensaf's tank as well. The plant can be used many different ways.






tetratech attached this image:


My Scapes

Bensaf and tetratech,

Why are they so short? Is that from trimming or does it not grow any taller?

tetratech – front left? Front right – right?

I will see what will happen to mine. I just recently added 3 moderate stems to my 20G and it doesn’t seem to do too well there. 2 stems are getting brown which is usually the first sign of dying.

Thanks for the pics guys,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,

Sorry I meant front right to mid/back.

Here's a closer pic of it going around a piece of driftwood covered with javamoss.

I can't speak for Bensaf, but mine is trimmed and replanted almost making a carpet in a section of the tank.



tetratech attached this image:


My Scapes

It's kept short by trimming.

It will grow very tall and wide. It spreads out if it has enough space. A very versatile plant.I used to have a problem with it taking over the tank.

This is a pic from a a year or so back after I'd removed half the Wisteria I had.

bensaf attached this image:


Last edited by bensaf at 21-Sep-2005 20:56[/font]

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Sorry either the computer or site is not working properly today.

Or there really is an Idiot Outside



EDIT. OK I give up, everytime i try to reply I get "This Page Unavailable". The Idiot Outside is now going for a cup of coffee and a cigarette
bensaf attached this image:
:%)

Last edited by bensaf at 21-Sep-2005 21:02[/font]

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.