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Pencil Fish and Iron Storage
Subject: pencil fish
> I recently had an aquarium fish retailer suggest pencil fish to
> Has anyone out there heard of this? I decided to get three of th
> posted on my experience.
I keep 3 species of Pencils in 2 tanks. They're very attractive
little fish, but I've never seen them eat much algae.
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Subject: Iron Storage in Plant Tissues
> >I have found that if I can measure _any_ iron in the water, I s
> >to have enough. Remember that iron is one of the substances
> >plants can store. So your plants will suck all of it out of th
> >water until the fill their reserves.
> Iron in plants can be stored because it is locked by c
> bonds in complex molecules such as cytochromes (pigments) and en
> deficiencies (pale and fragile growth) are observed in new growt
> because it is not translocable to the developing tissues. What t
> down to, is that the availability of Iron has to be constant to
> adequate growth and is the actual concentration (not what was ad
> week) what is going to determine the proper maturation of the ti
> developing at that particular moment.
I would still think that if you maintain measureable levels, that
the plants are getting all they need. I have seen that in a tank
that has been deficient in iron, you can introduce _a lot_ of iron
before you get measureable levels. I have presumed (and have
read) that this was because the iron starved plants were sucking
it up quickly. After a while, a much lower dose will keep the
iron level stable. Is this not so?
> I hope that after lurking for a few months I can make a
> contribution (my first!) at a time when we need to support this
> most to keep it going.
Thanks for posting!
Karen Randall
Aquatic Gardeners Assoc.
Boston, MA