[Prev][Next][Index]

Good plant book; plant ID



> From: pstaeh at aplcomm_jhuapl.edu (Peter Staehling)
> Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 13:35:00 -0400
> Subject: Book recommendations, and newbie questions?
> 
>   Could someone please recommend a good book to use as a reference on 
> aquarium plants?

For plant I.D., the best book, IMHO, is the Dennerle "System for 
a Problem Free Aquarium".  This is not available in the U.S. except
through the AGA.  This is *extremely* well worth the $15 it costs. 

Here are all the plant books I am aware of and how I would rate
them for usefulness (1=poor, 5=excellent):

5   The Complete Book of Aquarium Plants.  Allgayer, R., Teton, J. (1987)
5   System for a Problem Free Aquarium.  Dennerle (1990)
4   Aquarium Atlas.  Baensch, H.A., Riehl, R. (1986)
4   Aquarium Atlas, Volume 2.  Baensch, H.A., Riehl, R. (1993)
4   A Fishkeeper's Guide to Aquarium Plants.  James, B. (1986)
3   Aquarium Plants.  Rataj, K., Horeman, T. (1977)
3   Aquarium Plants, Windelov's Tropica Catalogue.  (1987)
2   Hobbyist Guide to the Natural Aquarium.  Andrews, C. (1991)
2   Water Plants in the Aquarium. Scheurmann, I. (1987)
2   Aquarium Plants Manual. Scheurmann, I. (1993)
2   Picture Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants.  Yamada, H. (1989)
1   Vierke's Aquarium Book. Vierke, J. (1986)

>   Also I purchased a plant being sold as a ruffled sword.  It looks a lot
> like an a. mad. without the "holes".  The areas where the holes would be 
> are either concave or convex.  It is dark green and rather transluscent.
> The stems and bulb look somewhat like a. mad. to my very untrained eye.
> Does anyone know what it is and what it requires.

I would vote for Aponogeton boivinianus.  Beyond good light and CO2,
all this sucker needs is *space*.  If you look in the WWW Krib photos,
the Mother of All Plants I am holding is one of these.  At the time
it was removed from the 100 g discus tank, it had 59 3 foot long
leaves and 19 flower stalks.  

George