# Claus Christensen on live internet broadcast



## DaTrueDave (Dec 28, 2003)

I thought this sounded pretty cool. When I first started growing algae, Tropica plants and ferts were what everyone wanted. Everything was compared to their stuff (or Dupla's when talking about ferts). Unfortunately, acquiring Tropica plants in the US was a wee bit difficult.

Anyway, Claus Christensen really did a lot for this hobby and I look forward to hearing him on this radio show.



> Aqua Botanic Radio-Biotopes Claus Christensen
> 
> World renown aquarium plant expert Claus Christensen, former CEO of Tropica Plants of Denmark, joins us live to discuss aquatic plant biotopes based on his world travels to remote aquatic plant habitats. Learn where your favorite aquarium plants come from. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to ask Claus questions directly- live!
> 
> ...


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## BobAlston (Jan 23, 2004)

Looks like some other nice past show recordings including one about crypts.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/aquabotanic

Bob


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## chrislewistx (Jun 8, 2012)

I listened to the Aqua Botanic interview with Art about Crypts on the way to Dallas for the last meeting. He talks about his try at a commercial grow. Art went into details about his emersed setup for the commercial grow. I have listened to several actually. They are ok, but I wish the host would let the guest speak more. He seems to cut them off or side track them as they are trying to get a point across. The episode on LED lighting was disappointing, not much in the way of technical information at all. 

However, its the only podcast I know of directed to planted aquariums, besides Scape Fu done by Art. Speaking of which, the second episode of Scape Fu was with Ghazanfar Ghori on Crypts. I enjoyed it very much. He spoke some about his tissue culture success. I'm sure most have heard it long before now, but thats one of the joys of being a newbie. That is you get to experience all the great stuff that everyone else already knows. 

I am looking forward to the episode with Claus though.


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## chrislewistx (Jun 8, 2012)

Did anyone listen to the broadcast with Claus?

I downloaded it last night at work, and listened while I processed end of the month reports and audited purchases and transactions. Which is one of those brain numbing tasks you have to do in corporate America.  It was a nice distraction, but I didn't get to listen as close as I should have. I will have to listen to it again sometime.

I had heard of Claus Christensen before, and it was interesting to hear him speak. He discussed the process of finding, then introducing a new plant to the hobby. This process could take 2-3 years before a plant makes it to the hobby market. Also, they might bring back 100 plants from a field expedition. However, by the time the process is completed only 3 or so might turn out to be a marketable plant. Some might grow too large for the home aquarium, or they might be unsuitable for a commercial grow, etc.

Also, he talked some about tissue culture. This is something I had heard about before, but do not know much about. However, he did confirm that the small plants that have recently showed up at Pet Smart, in the vacuum sealed packages are tissue culture plants from Florida Aquatic Nurseries. I believe they have the top fin store brand name on the package. It would be nice to see other stores carry tissue culture plants. As he mentioned in the interview this would be another option for stores to carry plants who might not have optimum facilities to store plants for purchase by the hobbyist.

I'm sure the more experienced hobbyist were already familiar with his web page, but I didn't know he had one. http://www.aquadiscover.com/ I did not get to spend much time on it, but he has great photos of his travels. Also, he is providing an adventure travel business. Hobbyist can go on some of his trips and see these wild locations and aquatic plants. How nice would that be to see.

Anyway, I thought it was a decent show.


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## K Randall (Nov 23, 2004)

I haven't heard the broadcast yet, though I talked to him the otehr day, and promised I'd go hunt it down!

I haven't seen the TC plants here yet, though there are at least 2 or 3 companies (including Tropica) selling them in Europe. I think this is an AWESOME way to get plants that haven't been neglected in store tanks, and are completely pest and algae free. ...You get a TON of plants in a container, and under good conditions, they grow out fast. I saw a progression of tanks with their version (1-2-Grow!) at Tropica in 2010, ind it was pretty amazing how fast these littler starter plants could fill a tank.

For those who don't know, Brandon McLane from Florida Aquatic Nurseries is one of our speakers at the AGA convention in St. Louis this fall, and will be speaking on propagating aquatic plants.


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## chrislewistx (Jun 8, 2012)

Here is a link to listen to, or download the show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/aquabotanic/2012/07/29/aqua-botanic-radio-biotopes-claus-christensen

Or you can download via Itunes.

I agree that the tissue culture plants would be a great way to procure healthy, snail, and algae free plants at local stores. I am amazed that they have not shown up on the LFS market in the US. Besides the ones at Petsmart, or maybe I haven't run across them yet. The Petsmart employee said they where flying off the shelf. Also, lack of decent plants is always stated as one of the reasons the planted aquarium hobby has not reached the level in the US compared to other countries. Also, LFS have stated that its hard for them to keep healthy plants. TC plants could be a solution for both those items. Also, I would think for smaller growers it would make shipping easier. I fully admit I do not know much about tissue culture, but was fascinated by it the first time I heard of it. I plan to do more research on it.

You can download an article written by Claus Christensen for Amazonas on TC via http://ge.tt/1O6p7vG/v/0?c


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