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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #1218



>
>From: "Tom Brennan" <brennans at ix_netcom.com>
>Subject: Riccia VS Glossostigma
>
>Hello all,
>
>I have noticed a slow invasion of Riccia into a section of my nice
>Glossostigma lawn in my 125g tank.  Has anyone  ever had this happen?  Which
>plant will end up dominating the area?  My guess is the Riccia will
>eventually choke the Glosso.  Should I let nature take it's course here?  If
>I prefer to pull the Riccia, will it come back and will this be an un-ending
>battle?
>
>Folks thanks for your comments/suggestions in advance!
>
>Tom Brennan


    Is the Riccia a darker (almost like bolbitis in color, slightly
translucent) green than the floating type? (The branching is longer
generally also) If so this is the sinking type and it is very hard to get
rid of. It does bubble and pearl but not very much. It won't choke the Gloss
unless you let it go............it is annoying to pick it out every so often
though. You might come to appreicate the nice color contrast of the dark(er)
Riccia and the bright green of the Gloss. The floating type of Riccia is
more useful and a much better pearl/bubble producer. The darker type could
be used for hiding the bottom parts of the plant's base, such as around a
sword plant's base.
    If the Riccia looks like the "normal" type attached to rocks and
floating, in books, etc then it'll just grow until clumps get to many
bubbles to stay caught and float up to the surface.
Bladderwart can get in there also. I've let things go to see what will
happen. Generally, it's hard to completely eradicate the Riccia but you can
keep it at bay without too much effort. I go through every so often and try
to get all the Riccia(sinking type) out but it always comes back........
    Better than algae, I guess. It goes after hair grass even worse. Often,
it doesn't become a matter of of keeping a plant or not, it becomes a matter
of trying to get rid of a plant only to watch it keep coming back. You can
uproot everything and pick each plant and replant but that would be a big
pain..........soooo I just try and keep some degree of control. It's easy to
pick out large clumps but getting every last bit would be very hard. If you
look very closely at Amano's tanks, you'll see he has both types of Riccia
in many tanks.
Regards, 
Tom Barr