# Whose aquarium is this and what is this plant?



## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

Hi,

I just wanted to compliment the person that owns this tank. Anyway, what is the plant called that is situated directly in the middle (background) and little short grass growing in the front?
Are these plants difficult to care for?

thanks


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

Plants are circled in this picture.


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

The whorled plant is Ludwigia inclinata var verticellata 'Cuba'.

The small plant in the foreground seems to be Elatine triandra. 

Neither are too difficult, but do need a good fertilization routine of NPK and plenty of micros to look their best.

Carlos


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## Dewmazz (Sep 6, 2005)

It looks like there might be a small bush of _Hemianthus micranthemoides_ int the front left as well.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

Whats the spiky one on the right?


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## imatrout (May 12, 2005)

tsunami said:


> The whorled plant is Ludwigia inclinata var verticellata 'Cuba'.
> 
> The small plant in the foreground seems to be Elatine triandra.
> 
> ...


Really, I thought the one in the middle looked like Pogostemon Stellata.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Ghazanfar Ghori said:


> Whats the spiky one on the right?


I think that may be an Eriocaulon sp. "Mato Grosso" or E. sp. "Australia" seen here: http://www.tonina.net/ in the second link down from the top, in the Eriocaulon link. Mato Grosso would be my best guess...


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Ghazanfar Ghori said:


> Whats the spiky one on the right?


It's Eriocaulon sp. "Mato Grosso" as Mat said. It takes a good while to get that large.


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

Wow those are nice tanks on that website! I'm hooked...let me at the tonina!


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## trckrunrmike (Jan 31, 2005)

New 2 Fish said:


> Wow those are nice tanks on that website! I'm hooked...let me at the tonina!


Don't forget ADA substrate otherwise it'll die.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

trckrunrmike said:


> Don't forget ADA substrate otherwise it'll die.


An acidic enviroment is the key to growing Toninas and Eriocaulons. So long as your pH is 6.5 or lower they will do just fine. ADA substrate is great stuff, but it's not a magic cure-all.


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

Ahhh... acidic and soft... might take awhile (and a new aquarium) before I get into it then!


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## trckrunrmike (Jan 31, 2005)

Its pretty hard to get a soft, acidic water in the US. :-/


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## fishfry (Apr 15, 2004)

It also looks like there is Hygro. balsamica in the back next to the 'cuba'.


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## |squee| (Feb 3, 2005)

That tank is by kel1ng, his thread on this tank is here


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## Mnemia (Nov 23, 2004)

trckrunrmike said:


> Its pretty hard to get a soft, acidic water in the US. :-/


Depends on where you live. I've seen a water hardness map of the US and a lot of places have very soft water (like where I currently live, in Virginia). My tap water has 1.5 degrees KH, 4 degrees GH, which is pretty soft. It's actually a problem for doing dishes or laundry because detergent foams too much in it.

A lot of the Midwest and Rocky Mountain region, on the other hand, has liquid rock water. When I lived in Wyoming, my water was so hard that I had to scrape the deposits off the side of my tank weekly. I didn't test for GH then (wasn't into plants yet) but it was very very hard. Tetras hated the water there; livebearers like swordtails and mollies loved it.


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

I agree. There are many places throughout the USA with soft water. Suburban Miami has soft water at KH 3, GH 4. Chicago, on the other hand, has hard water with a GH of 14 and KH of about 11. 

I think anything around GH 8 or less can be considered reasonably soft. I know Tonina sp. can grow in GH 6/KH4. I also know that they cannot grow in GH 14/KH 11.

Carlos


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## fishfry (Apr 15, 2004)

GH 14/KH 11 sounds almost as bad as Southern California water, and no the toninas can't grow in the tap water here either.


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## [email protected] (Jul 18, 2005)

*wow*



JerseyScape said:


> Hi,
> 
> I just wanted to compliment the person that owns this tank. Anyway, what is the plant called that is situated directly in the middle (background) and little short grass growing in the front?
> Are these plants difficult to care for?
> ...


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## Gumby (Aug 1, 2005)

You don't really vaccum planted tanks at all. The more "crap" (detirus) in the gravel, the better. In most cases at least. You just use snails like Malaysian Trumpet Snails to keep the gravel from compacting, eat dead roots, and stir up pockets of nitrogen (or hydrogen sulfide) that might form. The most I do in my tanks as far as gravel vacing goes is putting the gravel vac right on top of dense foreground plants to suck out any debris that might get stuck in the dense carpet. I also keep shimp like that will rummage through the carpet for food. 

As far as water chemistry goes, places vary. It all depends on the source of the water. Here in northern Georgia, our water comes out of the tap with a pH of 6.0-7.5, depending on time of year. KH is 0-1 and GH is always less than 1. Tetras love our water. Dosing CO2 requires buffering the KH considerably, other wise the pH will drop to 5 or lower and crash your tank (learned that the hard way!). Our fish club is huge into keeping African cichlids and people are always complaining about the money they have to spend on hardness buffers


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

I researched both of the names you guys gave me and they look similar but not exact..
The one in the original picture has a more yellowish center where these seem to be reddish.

POGOSTEMON STELLATUS









LUDWIGIA INCLINATA VAR. VERTICILLATA 'CUBA'


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

Is that the same plant as the one on the left in this picture?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Jersey,

Both of the plants in your first post seem to have been grown in a tank with low nitrates. That is what makes them more pinkish in color.

I do believe L. inclinata ver. verticellata 'Cuba' is the plant in your second post. In my experience, P. stellatus tends to grow with a straighter stem than the 'Cuba'. Cuba almost always has a bend in the stem, especially as it nears the water surface. See how the growth tip on all of the plants in the second photo seem to point towards the light?


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## [email protected] (Jul 18, 2005)

*Thank You*



Gumby said:


> You don't really vaccum planted tanks at all. The more "crap" (detirus) in the gravel, the better. In most cases at least. You just use snails like Malaysian Trumpet Snails to keep the gravel from compacting, eat dead roots, and stir up pockets of nitrogen (or hydrogen sulfide) that might form. The most I do in my tanks as far as gravel vacing goes is putting the gravel vac right on top of dense foreground plants to suck out any debris that might get stuck in the dense carpet. I also keep shimp like that will rummage through the carpet for food.
> 
> As far as water chemistry goes, places vary. It all depends on the source of the water. Here in northern Georgia, our water comes out of the tap with a pH of 6.0-7.5, depending on time of year. KH is 0-1 and GH is always less than 1. Tetras love our water. Dosing CO2 requires buffering the KH considerably, other wise the pH will drop to 5 or lower and crash your tank (learned that the hard way!). Our fish club is huge into keeping African cichlids and people are always complaining about the money they have to spend on hardness buffers


Thanx for clearing that up I really need to cut back on the vaccuming then. I have been vaccuming my tank once a week  . Carefully moving around the plants trying not to disturbe roots. What type of shrimp do you recomend.


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

[email protected] said:


> Thanx for clearing that up I really need to cut back on the vaccuming then. I have been vaccuming my tank once a week  . Carefully moving around the plants trying not to disturbe roots. What type of shrimp do you recomend.


I think these are cool as hell. Check out the thread and you can ask the owner if he has any for sale. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=10362


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## [email protected] (Jul 18, 2005)

*what type of filtration*

I HAVE A 55 GALLON STOCKED WELL WITH FISH. I HAVE THREE FILTERS, TWO OF WHICH ARE OF 60 GALLON MAX AND ONE 20 GALLON MAX, AN AIR CURTAIN IS THIS TO MUCH WATER FLOW FOR A PALNTED TANK.:toimonst:


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## |squee| (Feb 3, 2005)

[email protected], you might want to start a new thread regarding your questions.


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## [email protected] (Jul 18, 2005)

*Thanx*



JerseyScape said:


> I think these are cool as hell. Check out the thread and you can ask the owner if he has any for sale. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=10362


They are cool what type of shrimp are they, I can check my lrfs.


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

[email protected] said:


> They are cool what type of shrimp are they, I can check my lrfs.


Look on top of the pictures of the shrimp I posted. There is a link to another thread where the names are given. There are also more pictures of these little guys.


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## Marc (Apr 27, 2005)

AaronT said:


> An acidic enviroment is the key to growing Toninas and Eriocaulons. So long as your pH is 6.5 or lower they will do just fine. ADA substrate is great stuff, but it's not a magic cure-all.


Acidic environment also means acidic substrate. Ive seen it survive in plain gravel but thrive in acidic substrate like ADA soil and flora-base.


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## holocron (May 29, 2005)

looks like some Hemianthus callitrichoides in the front too.


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