55 Gallon gone wild !

[julielynn47]

First off, let me say that my tank will never win any aquascaping contest. Some people will think OMG... but that is okay with me, I love it and so, it seems, do my inhabitants. So without further ado...

A few months ago I learned of Flourish Comprehensive...as far as my plants are concerned, the rest is history.

This picture is of a stem plant, I don't know what kind, that I have had for years. It never did much really, it lived, but did not grow...until FC...it has gotten so tall in the last 3 months that it was touching the surface and blocking out the light. So I pulled it to the side and suction cupped it to the wall of the tank. The fish love it.

 

[NickAu]

First off, let me say that my tank will never win any aquascaping contest.

I would vote for it I love the wild jungle look.

 

[julielynn47]

If you click on the pictures they get bigger. I am sure most of you know this already. I was trying to not slow anyones connection down by posting them too large.

That leaf you see in that last picture, right until the Amazon Sword, is a leaf off the stem plant that broke off. It floated around the tank for awhile and sprouted all these little roots, so I stuck it in the gravel. I never thought it would stay, but it did and is standing tall LOL Only time will tell what it will end up doing.

I had 12 pieces of Hornwort. The black algae got all over it. So I took it out and pinched off just the areas that had no black algae on them. They were about 12 little pieces about 3 inches or so long , some shorter than that. That was 3 months ago, and look at it! It has grown so long and multiplied so profusely! It is everywhere. And it just floats from here to there and looks different with every water change I do.

 

[julielynn47]

I do too!! As a matter of fact I call it my jungle

 

[NickAu]

Heres a little secret, please don't tell anybody, OK? LOL

Most stem plants can be easily propagated by simply cutting the top off and sticking it in the substrate or letting them float till they start growing roots.

 

[Essjay]

The bit of the plant under the amazon sword in the last photo - as well as all the rest of it - looks like hornwort, Ceratophyllum demersum. I love this plant. I grow mine wrapped around spikey pieces of wood to hold it down and I let the small bits that break off float on the surface till they get long enough to wrap round the wood. When the individual stems get too long, I just break off the old bits and put them in the compost bin.

 

[julielynn47]

The bit of the plant under the amazon sword in the last photo - as well as all the rest of it - looks like hornwort,

That is hornwort growing under the Amazon Sword, but I am referring to the really big leaf there beside it. I love hornwort, the only thing that seems to kill it is black algae in my experience. I have tried to get mine to stay in one place wrapped around something, but it keeps getting loose and floating. I have that ball of it floating now and the fish love to swim into it.

Heres a little secret, please don't tell anybody, OK? LOL

Most stem plants can be easily propagated by simply cutting the top off and sticking it in the substrate or letting them float till they start growing roots.

I am learning that!!! LOL

 

[Essjay]

I didn't actually notice that leaf .

I have no idea what it is!

 

[julielynn47]

I don't know what it is either, but it is a leaf off that stem plant in the first picture.

 

[NickAu]

All this is from cuttings.

6 foot 100 gallon tank,

Live stock
6 black widow tetras.
9 Rummy nose tetras
7 Spare tetras
6 Harlequin Rasboras
5 Clown loaches
1 BN pleco ( male )
5 Platies.

 

[julielynn47]

Wow! That is so pretty!