Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V5 #445

[zachary.villers at twcolumbus_com]

Update on things as they are;

       A friend has volunteered some Pterophyllum altum, 3 females and a 
male.  I have a 75g tank, gravel sub, pH 6.8 morn, 7.2 (maybe 7.4) in the 
evening, NO3 is 5ppm, KH=3 GH=7, temp will be 80-82 degrees for maintenance. 
Plants include,
Cryp spiralis, C. wendtii, M. pteropus, Sag, Mayaca fluvialitis, Rotala 
indica, and a Nympheae (sp?) lotus. All growing reasonably well after a heavy 
prune.
       Tankmates will be 5 Corydorus aneus and a pair of Microgeophagus 
altispinosa. I plan to make my CO2 gas a little more efficient by hooking up 
a reactor (right now it just goes into a powerhead) and reducing surface 
turbulence. 
       My first job will be getting them aclimated to my water and making 
sure they are eating, no disease, etc. After a month or two I'll begin to 
simulate dry season conditions by adding some *slightly* peat softened water 
and raising temps gradually. I beleive lowering water levels are recommended 
also.I dont want my pH to bottom out and I dont want to block much light. A 
couple months of that and  I will begin conditioning, and rain simulating, 
while trying to time this with the rainy season. We have lots of nice spring 
thundershowers here with accompanying low pressure fronts. If nothing else 
the cories and rams should breed and hopefully inspire the altums.
       I know I am crazy for trying, but a guy has to dream, doesnt he? Any 
comments appreciated.

BTW, I have this huge peice of driftwood, probably close to 2 feet in length, 
covered with java fern that I just cant seem to position right. Ive tried 
angling it in from a corner, but it just doesnt look right. In shape it is a 
bit like a crooked finger with the java fern on the convex side. Any 
suggestions?

-Z-

> Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 19:41:15 -0500 (EST)
> From: Paul Sears <psears at nrn1_NRCan.gc.ca>
> Subject: Re: Breeding and Plant tanks
> 
>     I would like to get some dwarf gouramis.  I like the idea of
> bubble breeders.  One day......
> 
> > As Im writing this, I am postulating a few set ups, such as Epiplatys 
> > annulatus in a weed choked jungle, maybe some egg scatterers (tetras) in 
> a 
> > shallow tank with lots of chain sword. Does anyone else have set ups like 
> 
> > these? What measures can we take for sensitve fry care? Any ideas are 
> > appreciated.
> 
>     I'd like to hear the results.
> 
> - -- 
> Paul Sears        Ottawa, Canada
> 



--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/html
---