Re: Plant anchors

["John T. Fitch" <JTFitch at SpamCop_net>]

> Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 08:45:58 EDT
> From: CableGal68 at aol_com
> Subject: Plant anchors
>
> I have a small tank with Brazilian Microsword planted in the foreground.
> It
> is a low light tank, but I know the Microsword is growing ( slowly )
> because
> I can see runners poking out of the substrate in various places. My
> problem
> is that I have a plecostomus and a snail that while foraging continually
> up-root the ones that haven't taken yet. I spend more time re-planting
> them
> than anything else. I have them planted in small bunches of four to six
> stems, which obviously are too delicate to weight with lead weights, and
> from
> reading, I gather that lead is not the safest thing to put into a tank.
<snip>
>
> Darcy

I had the same problem with E. tenellus. The small plants our on the
runners would constantly be up-rooted by the fish.  Every day, I had to
push them back into the substrate.  I tried adding coarse sand, thinking
the gravel was too coarse for their tiny little roots.  That didn't work.
Finally, I took a piece of netting, big enough to cover the whole patch,
and tied stainless steel washers to the four corners.  Then I laid this
"blanket" over the plants and left it there for probably a week or two.
That foiled the fish and gave the small plantlets a chance to take root
properly.  Then I removed the netting.  Now, the plants are doing well,
and, for some reason, the fish seem to leave them alone.

John T. Fitch
E-mail: jtfitch at spamcop_net
Web Site: www.fitchfamily.com/aquarium.html

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