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Don't give up on plant bulbs

I have a slightly interesting story that I'll relate to the list concerning
my Barclaya longifolia.

I've always wanted some Barclaya, and when I found some trumpet snails in
one of my aquarium store's tanks (I've been wanting these, too), I took the
excuse of buying the barclaya to get them to toss in some of the snails.

Well, the snails were my primary interest, so I added them to the tank and
watched them burrow under the substrate.

The Barclaya came out of the bag damaged.  It had broken off at the point
where the leaves meet the bulb and was dangling by a single thread, which
promptly snapped when I tried to remove the plant from the bag.

I tossed it all in the tank anyways, resting what was left of the leaf
cluster on top of a cyanobacteria-riddled floating mass of Rotala
rotundifolia (I got the snails to help me get rid of some of this algae).
I didn't want to plant it at the time because my algae problem was too
great, and I remembered from somewhere that Barclaya is amphibious, so I
just placed it where it had ready access to light and air.  I dropped the
bulb in next to it at the same time.

Over the period of a week, two things happened.  First, my efforts at
reducing the cyanobacteria began to pay off and I started to see noticeable
daily reductions in the algae content (I still have plenty right now.
That's how bad it was).  Second, the Barclaya leaves slowly melted into the
cyanobacteria mass and vanished.  This was all about a month ago, and I
chalked the Barclaya up as a loss.

This morning, I was scanning the recently cleared view across the front of
my tank, and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a new rosette of
leaves coming up from the Barclaya bulb that had since dropped to the floor
of the tank.

Now, the Barclaya is planted in a bright, algae-free portion of the tank
(where I removed my H. difformis from early last fall) and I hope to have a
healthy, perhaps flowering plant in the near future.

Oh, btw.  One of my anubias is about to open a flower stalk.  I'm a bit
excited about that, too.  So far, the only plants I've had flower are
Aponogetons (okay) and Alternathera (very dull).  Maybe my crypts will
treat me to a flower stalk soon, as well.

David W. Webb           Corporate Business Systems
Texas Instruments Inc.  Dallas, TX USA
(972) 575-3443 (voice)  MSGID:       DAWB
(972) 575-4853 (fax)    Internet:    dwebb at ti_com
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