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Re: "You can't ever go home"!



Merrill wrote:

<< Back in the early days when Innes wrote the "bible of the business" -- 
 Exotic Aquarium Fishes" (or something like that), the variety of plants was
 extremely small, as compared to today. >>

       Well, in the circa 1948 edition he describes 48 different plants, 
almost all  
    with illustrations, usually photographs.  Not quite an "extremely small" 
number.
    Of course there are more today, but many are additional species of genera 
that
    are represented in his book.     
 
<< Time passes and we have a tremendous variety available.  To grow some, you
 can get by not changing water.  To grow all, you need to change some
 water much more often and add Carbon by gas or other sources like  
Carbo-Plus".  >>
       There are some aquatic plants that require a lot of special treatment, 
perhaps  
    many, and maybe some need frequent water changes, although I hadn't heard 
    that before.   But a respected authority, Ms. Walstad, in the 1999 
edition of her 
    book, on page 183, says she normally does a partial water change every 
six 
    months.  (Her book is available on Amazon.)  
 
<<  IMHO, make it easy on yourself if you want a good variety.  Follow Tom 
Barr
 and you won't go wrong.  The breeding of Neons and Cardinal Tetra was not  
possible at that time, either -- nor hundreds of other varieties not even in 
the "Innes Bible". >>
 
       I agree about following Mr. Barr's advice.  I've learned quite a bit 
from him and 
   other high tech aficionados who post here.  But there are a number of ways 
to 
   succeed with aquatic plants.  Not all require counting CO2 bubbles or 
frequent 
   monitoring of the levels of chemicals in the aquarium.

       BTW, Dr. Innes discusses successful experiences in the breeding of 
neon 
    tetras in his book.
  
You might find Dr. Innes' book quite interesting if you can find a copy,  Ms. 
Walstad's, too.

Bill, in sunny SE PA where the overwintering daphnia eggs have hatched and 
spring is knocking at the door.