Hemianthus Failures and Possible Reasons?

[Chu'Wuti]

We have tried twice to plant Hemianthus Callitrichoides 'Cuba' (Dwarf Baby Tears) in our 75-gallon tank. The first time, we planted a mat; the second time, I planted three pots that I separated into clumps.

Both times, the Hemianthus have suffered severe leaf melt and have never recovered. Micromeria brownei failed. I also tried Hygrofila pinnafitida without success. Vallisneria contortionist is barely hanging in there. Creeping Charlie is trying to hang in there.

On the other hand, Hydrocotyle tripartita and several species of Bucephalandra, Cryptocoryne wendtii, and Anubias nana seem to be doing just fine. Sword plants are doing well. Water sprite is growing so well I've had to chop it back and had some to plant in other places where plants were failing. Azolla caroliniana is also doing extremely well; in fact, it grew so much that banana lily leaves actually rotted underneath the Azolla, so I've cleaned out a bunch of it in hopes of saving the banana lily.

We have a 48" Fluval Aquasky for lighting; I placed it on the "plant boost" lighting program when I planted the last batch of Hemianthus.

My husband is maintaining the aquarium at right around 7.2 pH. There are only 3 Pearl Gouramis and maybe 6 shrimp (we put in 10, but we never see more than 5 at a time if that many, so it's anyone's guess as to how many we actually still have) in this tank (along with one trumpet snail and quite a number of pond snails). Ammonia is not a problem.

Anyone have any ideas as to what we're doing wrong for the particular plants we're losing? I need more foreground plants in particular.

 

[CassCats]

If crypts are doing well... try crypt parva as a carpet?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Most “fore ground” plants require a Co2 system. I have no experience with this species of plant, so I can’t give you any real help. @Byron may know.

 

[Wills]

HC really needs Co2 to do well and even then is considered quite a difficult plant to grow. Hygrofila pinnafitida is also a plant that needs Co2 in the tank. But I am surprised with the Valis as this usually grows like a weed.

If you want to grow a carpet with small circular leaves Marsillea Hirsuta is probably the best carpeting plant for non Co2 tanks. Helenthium Tennelum and Lilaeopsis brasiliensis are more grass like carpeting plants but both would do well and spread quickly. Like NCaqautics said if you are having success with Crypts then C.Parva could be a good carpet too - less grass like than the two I mentioned but not as small and compact as the Marsillea.

You could also try some of the taller crypts to replace the Valis too? Cryptocoryne Crispatula is a good looking plant and it has a nice texutre like the Valis.

Wills

 

[seangee]

I have never had much success with carpeting plants in a low tech low light tank. You could try using echinodorus tenellus (pigmy chain sword) to create a lawn effect. Since all my tanks are low light (and 2 of them blackwater) I tend to keep plants that work and just forget about those that don't work for me.

 

[Chu'Wuti]

After percolating on all the information everyone shared, I think I had two problems:

1. not enough lumens for the tank
2. some wrong plants.

To resolve Problem 1, I have another aquarium light hood (an old fluourescent fixture that takes a T8 bulb) and can add lumens. Will that interfere with or complement the AquaSky? (I begin to wonder whether I wasted $$ on the AquaSky!)

To resolve Problem 2, obviously, I won't try again on the Hemianthus or the H. pinnafitida (though it's sooooo pretty!). Thanks for the recommendations for replacement plants--now I just need to decide which ones to get!

 

[Wills]

I had 2 Aquasky gen 1 fittings on my old tank and I could never keep anything alive - had more success with 2 T5 tubes so not a massive fan if I am honest. LED is probably the way to go I've heard good things about Nicrew lights which are usually available on Amazon and they are not too expensive. Chirios are getting good reputation for good lights, some reliability issues but usually very affordable - quite hard to track down though and slow delivery times as they come from China.

H. Pinnafitida is really unique so cant think of any alternatives unfortunately - maybe some sort of Bucephalandra might be a good option? They should do well in this tank - huge variety available and there are some with long thin undulating leaves like Pinnafitida but would depend on what you could find. If you want to try a carpet vaguely similar to the Cuba the Marsillea could work nice.

Wills