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Aquarium lawn plants
> From: Karen Randall
> Subject: Riccia fluitans (Crystalwort moss)
> or Vesicularia dubyana?
From the picture one book, what I had did not resemble V dubyana much
at all but the leaf form resembled Riccia very closely. It didn't form the
dense confined ball shape illustrated here but perhaps it resented my
treatment by roughly shoving it in the gravel. :=))
The other book did not make such a distinction between the leaf forms
in the pictures. It might have been trainable if I had put it on wood I
guess. It did make an excellent cover for small fish and fry. Don't think it
would do for a cover plant on the gravel. Does anyone use it this way?
>
> My favorite "lawn" plant is Lillaeopsis(sp), either brazilliensis or Tropica's L.
> sp. "Mauritius". Both spread quickly in fine gravel, and make a fine short
> (2-3") lawn. the leaf blades of brazilliensis are flat, while those of sp.
> "Mauritius" are round. Both grow well in my tanks, but according to Claus
> Christensen of Tropica, sp. "Mauritius" is not as demanding as brazilliensis
> in regards to light.
This Lilaeopsis sounds quite intriguing however I do not believe I have ever
seen any of it for sale. The description in my book goes:
"The stems are creeping or floating, rooting mostly at the nodes. Leaves are
erect, reduced to simple septate leaf stalks, entire, subulate, linear or
spathulate." (whatever that means)
The picture (L. novae-zelandiae) resembles grass leaves to my eye and the
book says it only grows from 25mm to 50mm in height (1-2") which would
be an ideal size. Anybody else have any favourites? Too bad Salvinia couldn't
be trained to carpet the bottom as thickly as the surface! :=)
> Echinodorus tenellus (Pigmy Chain Sword) is also a popular choice, in this
> application, but I don't like all the shedding of old leaves that this plant
> does.
>
How big does this plant get? Will it propagate quickly and densely enough?
The book indicates it might and it has a height of only 30-40mm.
My experiences so far with swords and Crypts like C. wendtii are that they
propagate slowly. Too slowly for me to use them for cover and they are in
general a little larger than what I had in mind. Perhaps I haven't left them
enough room to spread out. My tank is only 4' x 1' in area and jammed with
all kinds of plants. I'm planning to start a second one which is 2' x 2' but
almost 3' in depth which I want to use for propagating the A. madagascariensis
(touch wood!)
IF ANYONE out there in Canada has either Echinodorus tenellus or Lilaeopsis
and can spare a bit or wants to trade for some of my plants, please let me know.
P.S. purposely not mentioning the aquarium.plant news group cause it seems
to be monopolizing the conversation. Oops! ;=)