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Glossostigma vs. Lilaeopsis
The Glossostigma vs. Lilaeopsis thread is quite interesting. Let's keep
it going and collect our experiences for the benefit of the order. I've
always thought that lilaeopsis should have strong appeal from a Japanese
aesthetic point of view. And so, I've wondered why we don't see Amano
using it in interesting arrangements. What an image for forest patches
amongst Zen mountain rocks! Since he seems to report soft water almost
universally in his tank descriptions, perhaps we know the reason.
In guessing about a "switch" point from glosso to lilaeopsis, my
experience with brightly lit (3 watts/gallon), CO2 supplemented (~20
ppm) tanks with laterite in 2-3 mm substrate gravel (and sometimes a few
dollops of peat granules as well) and Tropica MasterGrow in the water
column, occasionally supplemented with PMDD marcronutrients, is that KH
in the 3 - 5 range with GH in the 4 - 7 range is definitely glosso
territory and not good for lilaeopsis. So I posit that lilaeopsis needs
more hardness than that. I've probably made 7 or 8 tries in those
ranges and though I've been able to keep it alive, I never won the
coveted lawn! <g>
Can anyone say whether it is GH rather than KH that appears to be
important, the other way around, or both?
So far, we have two reports of good lilaeopsis growth in soft water. I
didn't see any magic bullet condition other than David's mention of
using very fine gravel. There has also been some speculation that one
or more species or varieties of lilaeopsis may tolerate soft water
better than the others. I don't have my books here at work (so this may
be a little sloppy), but I know there is a Brazilian species
(brasiliensis?) and New Zealand species. Can David and Roger (and any
others successfully growing Lilaeopsis in soft water) give us their best
guess regarding species or variety?
Regards, Steve Dixon in San Francisco