# Do you have collectoritis? How bad?



## Gumby (Aug 1, 2005)

I've noticed that a lot of people here have what is referred to as "collectoritis."

I've been wondering to what extent people have collectoritis, and if anyone can top me 

In my 125 gallon tank(only one at the current time), I have 41 different species. I am keeping several of them because I plan to set up a 46 bow front "professional," aquascaped tank. My 125 is largely my "play tank," lots of fish, lots of plants.


So here's my list of plants for the 125:
Alternanthera reineckii
Ammannia 'Bonsai"
Ammannia gracilis
Anubias barteri var. 'Coffeefolia'
Bacopa australis
Bacopa caroliniana
Bacopa monnieri 'Gwinnett'
Blyxa japonica
Bolbitis heudelotii
Ceratopteris thalictroides
cryptocoryne spiralis (?)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Red'
Echinodorus tenellus 'Red'
Eleocharis acicularis
Eleocharis 'Gwinnett'
Glossostigma elatinoides
Hemianthus callitrichoides
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Hygrophila difformis
Hygrophila polysperma
Isoetes sp.
Ludwigia inclinata 'Cuba'
marsilea minuta (?)
Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow Leaf'
Monosolenium tenerum
Moss 'erect'
Moss 'Giant'
Moss 'Java'
Moss 'x-mas'
Nymphaea zenkeri 'Red'
Nymphoides 'taiwan'
Pogostemon helferi
Pogostemon stellatus 'Broad Leaf'
Ranunculus papulentus
Riccia fluitans
Rotala macrandra "Green"
Rotala macrandra 'Narrow Leaf'
Rotala 'Vietnam'
Sagittaria subulata
Vallisneria spiralis

Edit: plants with (?) I'm unsure of the species. Things marked 'Gwinnett' are plants collected locally, if you'd like to know more, just ask.


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

my fren![-X

mine is almost as bad in a 72Gallon...

sometimes the plant is gone and don't even notice!

to save time

6 types of mosses-weeping, xmas,taiwan,pellia,fissidens sp,timmika,moss ball?
14 types of Crypts-crispatula balansae and sp, tonkinensis, bullosa, nurii, wendtii[3 types-brown, x hybrid, yellow green?], parva, willisi, and four which i call tom, **** and harry and his girlfriend petchii.
3 types of Echinodorus- red rubin, red rubin narrow, uruguayensis
2 types of Bolbitis
2 types of Aponogetons-longiplumulosus,crispus
Hottonia palustris
Erioucaulon cinereum
Pogostemon helferi
Glossostigma elatinoides
Crinum calamistratum
Sagittaria subulata
Java fern narrowleaf
anubias barter var golden nana

35 total...

HC which was swallowed up by the glosso...can still see floating bits
+3 duckweed, riccia and mini riccia which i can't seem to rid off!

:madgrin:

some of it are supposed to grow out a little for transfer to other tanks. actually a lot of it...


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Now I know who to call when I want something. Between the two of you, you have most everything I've ever heard of. Personally I go by the SPG rule (species per gallon). In my 46 bow I'm up to 0.63 (29 species, I think). My excuse is that I'll want them for my upcoming much larger tank. And some days I wonder why I can't get the 'scape to look just right.... LOL!

Hydrocotyle leukocephala, Hygro polysperma 'ceylon', Microsorum pteropus 'narrow', Hemianthus micanthemoides, Ludwigia arcuata, Lobelia cardinalis 'small', Riccia fluitans, Hemianthus callitrichoides, Echinodorus sp (melon), Aponogeton madagascariensis (2 subsp's), Bacopa carolina, Didiplis diandra, Blyxa japonica, Rotala rotundifolia, Ludwigia repens, Lysimachia nummularia, Sagittaria subulata, Echinodorus 'ozelot', Valisneria 'corkscrew', Christmas moss, Anubias barteri 'nana', Anubias barteri 'nana petite', Alternathera renekii, Aponogeton longipluminosus, Cryptocoryne wendtti 'green', Cryptocoryne willissi 'lucens', Microsorum petropus, Myriophyllum matogrossense, and Pogostemon stellatus 'narrow'. 

I think the advice to have 3 species per foot of tank is a good one. That would put me at 9. My 29 species would be perfect for a 10 footer! Of course I'll need bigger than that, since there are a few things out there I'm still looking for .

Fish too!! I have an angel, ram, cory, SAE's, otos, congos, neons, zebra danios, threadfin rainbows, bosemani rainbows, and glass cats! My excuse for this? Hmmm. I'll get back to you on that one.........

Man, this is a disease. Anyone know the cure?


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

not bad at all...muahahaa:madgrin: :madgrin:


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## kivit (Aug 29, 2005)

*collectoritis*

I am laughing as I read this. About three years ago I had six 29 cent Walmart goldfish in a 10 gallon tank on my kitchen counter. I replaced them several times before they lived. Today, the four survivors are 7-8 inches long. They live in a 70 gal. Rubbermaid stocktank [stock as in horses/cows] in a corner of the basement. I feed them my culls.
Back at Walmart, the pet dept clerk had a 90 gal for sale; tank, undergravel filters, powerhead, nets, thermometer, heater, hood, stand, and a big green canisiter with the name Eheim on it.
So I needed fish, right??? one of everything, please. A pattern began to emerge. See fish, buy fish, die fish, replace fish. most of these came from Walmart as the closest fish store was 60 miles away.
Did the same thing with plants, but now I had discovered the internet.
I also discovered an unused 300 gal stock tank at the farm. it was circular & low with a flat bottom. Dumped in some playsand, put it on the deck in full sunlight, and started buying plants. It was late spring. I had some pretty spectacular plants under all that duckweed and algae. Before fall I managed to wipe out the entire thing using chemicals to kill snails. I began again. 
but now I had learned that collecting is how you decide what you like.
The stunning tanks here at APC tend to use a lot of ONLY 2-4 plant species.
once you decide what plants you like, the rest of us [still in the collecting stage] get to buy your discards/trimmings.
Yesterday, my first light kit came in the mail. Life is good!


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## RTR (Oct 28, 2005)

LOL! Quite the opposite. A tank of my own with more than six different plant types in it makes me itch. Most of mine have fewer than that. I like more of fewer plant types and am happiest with 2-3 per tank.

But I do try new things routinely, some stay, most go.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Having an emersed setup is a good way to have a lot of species on hand without cluttering up your show tank. It more or less functions as a plant bank. I saw the opportunity to get some _Proserpinaca palustris_ last week and instead of shoving it in the corner of my 40 breeder, it went straight into the 30 to grow emersed. They aren't always trouble free, but emersed tanks are pretty easy to take care of. I've found that some plants, like _Bacopa sp. 'red'_ grow a lot faster that way anyhow.

In addition, our local plant club has a member plant library so everyone knows what everyone else has. That way, someone can get something from a local person instead of searching elsewhere.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Cavan - the member plant library sounds like a wonderful idea! Mind if I run that idea by sfbaaps folks? 

-Naomi


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Not at all. Go right ahead.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Sweet! Thanks for the awesome idea! 

-Naomi


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Okay, Cavan. Now that Naomi has run the idea past the club, you have any details that you can share on how you set it up? 

Is it a manual process with a centralized keeper? Or is it a live database that members can update online?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

We have our in our private PAPAS forum. We probably won't keep that forum private forever, but we may have our own web site soon and if so, it will be moved there.

It's a sticky that members update on their own. Plants grown by each member are marked as available, emersed, submersed, and whatever else might apply. 

You really have to have everyone on board for it to work. That includes remembering to update your own list. 

I like ours because it encourages sharing and saves people the trouble of going elsewhere for stuff.


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## Blazerfrs (Feb 3, 2006)

I have 13 species in a ten gal.... and i've only been at it for like 3 months... 
does this count?
I'm still begging all over for clippings!

Maybe a developing case ;-)


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I have it pretty bad, too.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I used to collect lots of species, mostly of stems. Now i have 11 species in my 55 gal tank, and it gets less every so often as i refine my design. I used to have dozens of species in my 55 gal tanks//other tanks buut im happier with less now  

... I am still a sucker for red plants though.


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

don't wanna sound like a basket case but i have like 100 species...luckily not all in one tank...anda:


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

English is not my native language but I think it is a common thing that in every language the word "bad" (as in the title of this thread) can have implicitly a positive meaning. 

As it is obvious from the posts that everybody is proud of being a collectoritis and there is an enjoying competition here in terms of the intensity of this habit. Developing the SPG (species per gallon) idea is very fantastic. Along with the amazing records in SPG, could you also talk a little bit about the factors that push you to collect?


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## T-Bone (Nov 23, 2005)

I think it has to do alot with expierience. Me being expierienced enough with my fish am happy to keep the species that I have. But being moderatly expierienced with plant keeping am still in the experimental stage in plants. SO I still want/need to experiment with species of plants. To see if I can keep them and if I want/need them. Poeple like amano with his house-livingroom/show/godlikemasterpiece tank. Have tried them all, and go back to the old standby's.


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

no real explanation really...the word 'new!' is a sure sell to people like me. but nowadays i've been curbing the habit or rather developing a taste. i mean if you liked crypts, there's like hundreds you can have and you can plant them emersed as well.

i think it's the wonder and joy of seeing it grow...as many as possible...possibly as a challenge.


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## CrownMan (Sep 12, 2005)

I also have collectoritis. But mainly to see what I can and can't grow and to get more experience with different plants as I learn how to landscape. All of my tanks look like haphazardly planted farms! I get a new plant in and split it between multiple tanks and substrates to see how and if it will grow in my water. I also have my standbys that I go back to when something doesn't make it.

Mike


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