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Re: Brasil!



On Wed, 31 Mar 1999, Dixon, Steven T. (Exchange) wrote:

> To Karen, Dave and the whole crew that went to Brazil
> 
> We're dying to hear all about your trip!  Tell us everything!

Hi guys,

We're still recovering, I think. :)  Trying to figure out what sort of
articles to write.  Certainly this group would be interested to know that
one *can* bring back plants through customs (get a permit, no roots, clean
in insecticidal soap and perhaps alum bath, label well, don't try to take
back anything on the noxious weed list, and don't try to take more than 13
per person).

Dave scooped us on the Brazilian laterite story.  We found big banks of
these on the Amazon, with various caves poked out of them (Pleco holes
when the water is higher?).  Led us to wonder if we could enter the
exciting post-dupla substrate market by smuggling laterite out as faux
native clay statues.  Then we laughed and went looking for more fish and
plants.

We saw lots of floating stuff: water hayacinth (it's native, not
introduced!), Salvinia, Marselia, Hydrocotyle (growing in soil on a ditch
in the middle of a town we passed at night), Ludwigia(s), Limnobium,
Azolla, Utricularia, and a bunch of other species I can't remember the
names of right now that'd do well as pond plants but not aquarium plants.
Lots of them were flowering, a welcome change from how we see them in the
aquarium.

Karen picked up a lot of marginal plants that may do well submersed.
We're going to try and grow these, possibly get them into the hobby at
some later date.  My wife Kathy (and Karen) caught lots of Apistogrammas,
tetras and other small cichlids.  We took lots of biotope shots on slides
and video.   Dave's got several hundred digital pictures as well.

  - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com