Pelia (monosolenium Tenerum)

[lljdma06]

After over a year without ordering plants, I finally got to order me some! Yeah! Thank you FIU! The tanks needed a few new specimens to make things interesting. I was scoping out the stuff for lower light levels and came across this little guy. I liked the specs and am buying a few specimens to try in my tanks.

Pelia (Monosolenium Tenerum)

It looks just like Riccia and behaves in a similar way, it is just quite a bit larger and doesn't require as much light. Pretty cool stuff. I thought it would look interesting as either a floater or as a ground cover in my tanks.

I'm also trying Apongetons for the first time, so whooo, excitement here! And I'm getting a mother plant cryptocoryne wendtii. That should be pretty big. Expect updated pictures in a week or so for my tanks.

llj

 

[ulster exile]

Yup - this stuff will take over if you aren't careful. I attached mine to a large bit of slate (nearly a foot across) using hairnet and polyester thread and it grew beautifully. I was so chuffed with it. However, I decided the pull some out of it instead of using the scissors to trim it and the entire thing detached itself from the slate and ended up all over the tank - as it doesn't float (unless pearling), it will invariably gather around the plants. I had to strip the entire tank of everything except fish, to get it out.

I had it in a high light tank, but at a time when my CO2/ferts weren't stable it grew small/a little bit stringy, but in the good times it did very well.

It grows very nicely if you stuff it around the base of some plants, like crypts or anubias.

I have a ice-cream tub full of the stuff sat on my windowsill (emersed growth is nice too btw) waiting until I can decide when to put it back in my big tank since it will be such a nightmare to remove if I decide against it, but have just added a small amount on small slate chippings to my low light tank and it is doing well at the moment - it's just starting to attach itself (there's very fine white 'root' like growth coming from the bottom of the 'fronds' down to the slate).

Overall, a plant I wouldn't get rid of, but one that needs a lot of forethought/careful handling if it isn't to take over the tank.

 

[garuf]

Pelia is a lovely plant but I found it to be high maintenance in my 10 gallon since it would pearl and break apart and grew much larger than I expected, It is a Lovely plant though give it ago, use the most shaped stones you can find when setting up though as otherwise it flattens out and doesn't create those "mounds" everyone loves.