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Nobody at home and Chasing the impossible dream?



Subject: Nobody at home

> I'll be going on assignment in US for a year and nobody will be 
> to take care of my plant tank. I love some of the species that w
> to get and would like to keep them till I'm back and also the fi
> that I have grown to attach to. Any suggestion on what to do wit
> both the fish and plants. I don't mind to lose easy-to-get plant
> not the various species of Cruptocoryne, java moss and java fern
> Windelov.

Sometimes a fellow hobbyist is willing to "babysit" a tank.  I 
kept a friend's reef in my basement one summer.  Another option 
would be to spread the plants out to other knowledgeable aquatic 
gardeners and ask them to try to propagate the plants with the 
understanding that you'll want cuttings back when you are ready to 
set your tank up again.  This is harder to do with the fish, and 
although you are fond of the ones you have, the fish you have are 
common easy to replace species.

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Subject: Chasing the impossible dream?
Chris Teichreb wrote:

> 	Make sure to choose plants that will withstand the high
> temperatures your tank is at.  Look at one of the 'Nature Aquari
> books, they have examples of planted aquaria for Discus. Hope th
> helps.

It has been my experience that there are very few plants that are 
not capable of doing _very_ well at Discus temperature (82-85F) as 
long as their increase metabolism at that temperature is taken 
into consideration.  At warmer temps, plants need more light, more 
trace element supplementation (macronutrients are usually not a 
problem in a Discus tank ;-) and more CO2.  As long as these needs 
are kept in mind, you will find that most plants, including some 
we think of as sub-tropical or warm temperate do just fine.

Subject:  AGA at NY/Penn

Just a note to mention that I will be speaking at the NY/Penn 
Council's weekend workshop this weekend.  Dorothy Reimer will be 
joining me, and we will have an AGA table set up.  We'd love to 
meet you and chat about plants in person!  If you're attending, 
come say "Hi"!

Karen Randall
Aquatic Gardeners Assoc.
Boston, MA