Hem. C Grows Out Of Water!

[AndyTaylor]

http/photobucket.com/albums/c58/AndyTaylorEire/Hemianthus/

This is what happens when you leave Hem. C floating in your tank and forget about it! It took root between the background and the glass and took off like a weed. i didn't realise how much it had grown until I dumped all my stem plants at the weekend (sick of pruning them). These 2 clumps must be 6 or 8 inches across.
I think it might be possible to prune them into interesting shapes!

Andy

 

[jimbooo]

ha ha, what a pain. looks healthy though. are we going to spend 4 hours planting each stem in the substrate then or do you have other plans for it?

if my HM doesn't work out in my rekord 60 i'll definatly be buying some HC. i may even put both in with the HC along the front of the glass.

 

[AndyTaylor]

ha ha, what a pain. looks healthy though. are we going to spend 4 hours planting each stem in the substrate then or do you have other plans for it?

if my HM doesn't work out in my rekord 60 i'll definatly be buying some HC. i may even put both in with the HC along the front of the glass.

Nah, The reason it was floating is because my poor choice of fish means it doesn't get a chance to grow in the substrate.....syno's don't really give delicate plants a chance, i've found! I kinda like it where it is TBH. It looks even better with a few inches less water in.......

If you're looking for some HC..... The individual strands are about 8 inches long with roots at every node so you should be able to get a carpet going pretty quick..... would it survive the postal journey?

 

[jimbooo]

pming you or this thread will get rather busy!! lol

 

[AndyTaylor]

pming you or this thread will get rather busy!! lol

Cool......I feel a career as a HC farmer coming on!

 

[jimbooo]

lol pimmed ya.

yeah i felt like that with the riccia. glad i'm rid of it now, too much hassle now i've got other interests as well as the tanks.

 

[MoreCoffee]

How easy is HC to grow?

I'm thinking about re-scaping my tank (see link in signature). The plants are growing well, but
the tank was setup before I added CO2 and to be honest it's looking a bit 'mixed up' right now.
Really need to cut back the stem plants to encourage some busy lower growth.

I have a sand substrate and was looking to use HC as a carpet once I rearrange the main plants
and bogwood. I've found a local supplier who will be getting Hemianthus Callitrichoides in stock
early next week ..... however they want £4.95 per plant. I'll pay it if the plant is likely to grow well.

Is it even advisable to use carpet plants on sand ? I aggitate my sand every week to avoid
dead spots. Obviously couldnt aggitate under any carpet, but do the plants/roots prevent
dead zones ?

The tank is 130L with just over 2wpg. CO2 is up around 28 - 30 ppm
Current residents - see sig

Thanks

 

[sub.42]

yeah i felt like that with the riccia. glad i'm rid of it now, too much hassle now i've got other interests as well as the tanks.

Feel the same way jimbooo! After losing my male ram to a Riccia controlling net, it's all going this weekend. Have been consoled by the fact my Brazillian micro sword has gone mental!. Still don't feel that I've got this planted thing nailed though. I do however have a 15"x10"x3" mat of Riccia to deal with. I think that my SAE has got caught up in the nettting too. RATS!

sub.

 

[shrimply]

If you are able to give me a strand of two I might be interested to see if it likes any of my tanks. I understand if you want to keep it though. It really is quite immpressive where it is. I think it is amazing how you can spend ages trying to get the plants how you want them to look. Then they do something even better all by themselves.

 

[zig]

Your skill at growing plants is outstanding Andy, its definatly a unique place to grow HC, it gives a whole new and as yet undiscovered concept to the term aquascaping.........lol.......mind you its probably worth about £100 at retail prices and it does look amazingly healthy!

 

[cometcattle]

Great tank.

Are those Anomalochromis thomasi?

 

[AndyTaylor]

cometcattle:

They are indeed A Thomasii..... 2 F and 2 M, (i think) Although my sexing of ciclids is unreliable at best. Well spotted though! They seem to be getting on ok, no real aggression as yet.

Zig,

Thanks for that....even though I suspect it was not entirely serious! Plants do seem to grow for me alright, just not the ones I like and not where I want them! Not bad for a neglected tank though?

Shrimply:

I'll figure out what I want to do with it first and then anyone who wants some is more than welcome to it. I'll post if i've got any to get rid of....

Mr G:

The reason the HC was floating in mine was due to the fact that I couldn't get it to grow, partly due to mu syno's digging it up and partly due to the fact that HC doesn't seem to like sand. It seems to be easy to grow where it is now though!

 

[MoreCoffee]

................snipped ..........

Mr G:

The reason the HC was floating in mine was due to the fact that I couldn't get it to grow, partly due to mu syno's digging it up and partly due to the fact that HC doesn't seem to like sand. It seems to be easy to grow where it is now though!

Thanks ...... I'm not worried about it getting uprooted, apart from my cory's there is nothing that is likely to do that. however if it doesnt grow well in sand I think I'll leave it !

Thanks again.
Mr G

 

[shrimply]

Shrimply:

I'll figure out what I want to do with it first and then anyone who wants some is more than welcome to it. I'll post if i've got any to get rid of....

Yeah thanks. Keep me updated, I am definatly interested if you end up with some spare.