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aquatic-plant




 Lahousse,

 >> Can you give some information about the plant "Ludwigia" <<

 Ludwigia is one of several species of New World Plants. They are "stem"
plants with shiny green, olive or red ovate leaves.

 The species we have growing locally can be found both entirely submerged and
fully or partially emersed in wet conditions.  I would suspect this is true of
most species.

 It adapts well to fully submerged life in the aquarium as long as it receives
sufficient light, and under good conditions is a very fast grower.  To
maintain the color of the red varieties, enough light and iron must be
provided.

 These plants are very sensitive to copper, and will fail if more than minute
amounts are present in the water supply. Obviously, for the same reason
copper-based medications should be avoided.

 Subject: Siamese Algae Eaters (I'm a believer!)

 For those who haven't had a chance to try any Siamese Algae eaters yet, I
want to add my testimonial.  While (thankfully) I don't have any red algae to
try them out on, I can say that they _do_ eat a lot of algae.

 I had not cleaned the glass of my 70G tank in quite a while, and it had quite
a bit of algae on it.  I put 5 1/2" long Siamensis in the tank that I got from
Uncle Ned's.  In the three days they've been in the tank, they have _totally_
cleaned the glass.  The first day there were little tracks across the algae,
the second day there were just some spots left, and by this evening, it was
all gone!  Hungry little suckers!

 Subject: Gold Nugget Pleco

 I just gave in to temptation and purchased a Gold Nugget Pleco at a very low
price.  It is supposed to be the species that grows only to a maximum of about
4".  I didn't buy him for algae control, only because he's so beautiful.  Has
anyone tried them in a planted tank?  Is he likely to start tearing holes in
things?  I've heard that like many other species from the Xingu they are much
less herbivorous than other "plecos".

 BTW, even though I bought him for his looks, I fully expected him to
disappear into the undergrowth and never be seen again (my other catfish in
that tank is a Striped Raphael that makes an appearance every year or so!<g>) 
I'm pleases to say that he seems to be out and about a good deal of the time.

  E-mail from: Karen Randall, 30-Jul-1995