Tom's Bucket O' Mud

[BigTom]

Cheers all!

Caz, the parlour palm is not the happiest plant in the world. It's been slowly losing fronds one after the other... I'd guess it's about half the size it was when I first got it nearly 18 months ago. No heavy die off, but definitely hasn't adapted well to hydroculture.

 

[coldcazzie]

Caz, the parlour palm is not the happiest plant in the world. It's been slowly losing fronds one after the other... I'd guess it's about half the size it was when I first got it nearly 18 months ago. No heavy die off, but definitely hasn't adapted well to hydroculture.

I did wonder all the reading I've done on them suggests that they like dry soils rather than damp ones and do not do well with overwatering... which doesn't really lend itself to a marginal location! I was considering one for my tank as I think they're beautiful plants, but wanted to ask how yours was coping as well as doing my own reading. I'm thinking of finding a small species of hosta as one of my boundary plants do you have any of those in here?

 

[BigTom]

No hostas at the moment. I really want to get my hands on some interesting aroids, but none of the garden centres near me seem to stock them. If you want that leaf shape, then golden pothos is doing really well in one of my nanos, and being a climber can be trained over any emergent hardscape/out of the tank etc.

 

[coldcazzie]

Thanks I'll look into it. I'm hoping that when it comes to it I can take advantage of some offers online, as well as looking at the local garden centres. Both the local garden centres require a car for me to get to, so I'd need to have a good idea of what I was looking for and possibly ring beforehand to see if they have it available, before roping someone in to taxi me to them! It'll be nice to have a hosta that doesn't get mauled by slugs

 

[coldcazzie]

I've just been looking at that pothos after looking at the others on my list - I think I might already have one as a houseplant!

How is your cyperus alternifolius doing? Has it taken over the tank or is it behaving itself? I'm fairly sure I've got my list of plants now

 

[BigTom]

The cyperus met a sad end... I think I was sold one of the ultra-dwarf varieties, which barely seemed to grow above 6". I got bored waiting for it to get to 12", planted it underwater hoping that would encourage it to grow taller quickly, went away for a month and it was all dead when I came back.

So, er, just make sure it keeps its head above water. It was doing fine in caddies before I condemned it to a watery grave, but I think depending on what cultivar you get they can vary massively in size.

 

[coldcazzie]

Aww what a shame because it looks like it can be lovely. I guess it'll be a case of, order it and see what turns up after ordering. I see what you mean about the aroids as well - there's not much leaf variety is there?

 

[coldcazzie]

What's this one you're holding here?

 

[BigTom]

Echinodorus radicans/cordifolius (aka 'the triffid'). Grew to 4' with a 6' flower stalk. Just gave away the plantlets I had from it, otherwise you could have had one.

 

[coldcazzie]

Echinodorus radicans/cordifolius (aka 'the triffid'). Grew to 4' with a 6' flower stalk. Just gave away the plantlets I had from it, otherwise you could have had one.

I thought it might be - I was looking at those on UKAPS. Very nice

 

[SamLovesCorys]

Incredible tank! Such a cool idea!

 

[JDs4me]

Lovely idea...half expect to see tree frogs and the odd snake about the place!

A great ongoing project with the 'chuck it in and see' approach...enjoyed the thread

 

[BigTom]

Well just back from another 5 week field trip, tank and inhabitants are doing well - shrimp and Hyallela have been breeding happily, and I've just spotted a couple of Danio erythromicron fry, so I guess that huge lump of spruce can't be doing too much harm.

Having said that, I might be tearing the whole thing down again - I still need to catch the last Parosphromenus so I can get them breeding in another tank, and it's gone into total hiding mode after previous failed attempts at capture.

Also, am getting a bit of an itch to use this recently collected heather...

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Wow, nice wood dude, heather? I so need to move to Scotland.

 

[lljdma06]

You boys and your wood...

Actually a hearty second on pothos, Caz. Sorry, I'm a bit behind here, but I regularly used pothos in a semiaquatic/aquatic environment. Great plant. Tough as nails.

Will you at least do a decent photoshoot of the tank and submit it to a competition or two before you tear it down, BigTom!?