Hemianthus Callitrichoides

[Tizer]

I dont know why, but i just got myself 3 pots of HC, i walked out thinking, that was a dumb purchase, my clown loaches and corys are going to uproot them and my kribs are somewhat partial to the leaves so will just nom nom them. /slaps self

 

[james_fish]

Well you might aswell go back and buy a nano tank, so the HC doesn't go to waste

James.

 

[Tizer]

I got a Fluval Spec at the back of a cupboard! But stuff that, its staying there

I've though of a spot i can try and plant this stuff, might get a few stones to surround it and stop the little divs from uprooting it.

 

[Katch]

Can't get my HC to grow at all.

I'm on my 3rd try.

I tried HC and Glosso and it all melted off and never rooted. This was into plain gravel and with corys sabotaging. I then tried HC again on its own in sand and it slowly died and never grew.

I'm now trying Glosso and HC again. The glosso is surviving but not thriving. The HC is looking less than happy... all this in a high flow, CO2 EI tank. I'm wondering if my ridiculously soft water may be to blame...?

 

[Tizer]

I split up each HC into 4 pieces and snipped the stone wool stuff in half leaving me about 1cm of the stuff with the plants still rooted into it, decided to plant them this way, it was easier! I also put 4 root tabs around the outside of the big stone.



I had to snigger to myself while doing this though, one of my little rubbernose plecs kinda likes this stone...a lot...he didnt move an inch while i was messing about (yes he is real and no hes not dead! )

Now to sit back and see if it grows

While im pondering more plants, can anyone chip in with some ideas? Would really appreicate it! Amazon Swords so far have been complete fail, i'm really looking for a plant that grows big, with large leaves just to fill it out a little.

The Amazon frogbit has grown roots since i got rid of my tiger barbs! yey!

Tank at the moment looks like so:

 

[Katch]

this is how I've planted mine this time round.

 

[tanksalot]

While im pondering more plants, can anyone chip in with some ideas? Would really appreicate it! Amazon Swords so far have been complete fail, i'm really looking for a plant that grows big, with large leaves just to fill it out a little.

Those in the photo look good and healthy...how are they failing?

I've grown a couple of species and my experience - with Excel + ferts - is that they took a while to really get going.

I bought one plant of Echinodorus amazonicus back in November last year thinking it would stay quite small (major research fail on my part ) and for a couple of months it did. Then round about January it absolutely took off and the leaves went from being about 5 inches long to over a foot. It practically filled my 64L tank all on its own

How long have you had yours planted, and what species are they? If they haven't been in all that long, then maybe give them a while longer to establish? My theory was that they needed time to get their absolutely humungous root systems going before the top growth really kicked in...but that could be complete rubbish

As for alternatives, something like Nymphaea rubra maybe? I haven't grown it, but apparently it grows really big, really fast, and as long as you remove the emergent leaves it will stay as a submersed plant. Might be worth a look.

 

[L_Plates]

How about Echinodorus Bleheri i have them in mine and they are HUGE ! Easy to look after also.

Its the ones on the back left.

 

[Tizer]

Those two in my tank are Bleheri's, same as yours. I might lop off all the leaves and see if it grows from scratch, some plants origionally grown out of water seem to do this well.

 

[james_fish]

I like your tank Tizer, looks really good!

I'm loving how the little Pleco stays on that rock!

James.

 

[Tizer]

yeah hes a bit of a mentalist actually, i can nearly tickle him.