# Hemianthus callitrichoides Help!



## Dany (Oct 28, 2006)

Hemianthus callitrichoides



I am researching for some plants for a new re-scape and I was planning on getting Hemianthus callitrichoides. My question is how do you keep HC rooted?

I have heard of a few ways such as putting gravel or weights on top of the HC. I remember awhile ago someone suggested using a screen mesh material at Home depot. I would like to use this method but I am unsure of what mess material to use. Does anyone knows what type is best or have and suggestions please let me know. 


I would also like to mention that there will be fish occupied in the tank during the I re-scape it because I do not have another tank to store the fish. 

Thank You
Dany


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## Dany (Oct 28, 2006)

anyone?


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## CrownMan (Sep 12, 2005)

This may not be the best answer but it worked for me. I found that HC sometimes doesn't have a long root/stem structure. If it does, I just separate a few plants and use my tweezers to shove the stem down into the gravel with only the leave structure showing. If the roots/stems aren't long enough, then I had to float the bundle for a couple of weeks/months so the roots/stems would grow down into the water column. Then, when they were long enough, I planted the individual plants 1 cm apart. This took a lot of patience but it produced a nice 9" x 10 " lawn in my 40gallon tank over a 4 month period.

I also tried an experiment with planting some in flourite and some in eco. The flourite planting never rooted properly and was always being dug up by my catfish. I never had any problems on the eco side.

As a side note, I also use HOB filters on my tanks, and in the eco tank, some of the floating HC broke off the bunch and settled on a custom sponge I made to go under the outflow of the filter to prevent turbulance that causes co2 to dissipate quicker. Over 6 month period that sponge became covered with HC and it grew in the direction of the water flow and covered the sponge (my light sits 4 inches above the tank). Hid the filter nicely. It does like to grow emersed with or without CO2 with proper lighting. It is difficult for me to grow it submersed without CO2 (maybe with ada aquasoil?).

YMMV,

Mike


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## Felf808 (Mar 21, 2006)

I shove individual strands into the substrate like CrownMan does and it works well but if possible, try to plant the strands horizontally with the roots in the gravel like it would naturally grow(your hands will undoubtedly cramp-up if you have the patience to do it that way). The grain size of your substrate is extremely important. HC grows the best in soil/silt like most plants do because it holds the roots in place and allows them to spread out quickly but of course your tank will always be cloudy because of fauna disturbing the substrate. I have 2-20 Long tanks and both have carpets of HC; one has ADA Amazonia and the other has Red Sea Florabase. I found that growth is far superior with ADA soil.

What kind of setup do you have?


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## SimplyOrange (Oct 5, 2007)

the screen mesh might be like this. you can see the size of the screens on the top left side of the label. it's about 5mm. but there are other sizes.


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## Dreamscaper (Aug 28, 2007)

I have ada amazonia and HC and it holds down even the smallest stem when planted with tweezers. I didnt stock my tank with fish until it was well established (about a month), but I dont see a problem with it unless you have bottom dwellers like cories, plecos, cats or the like. Shrimp would probably pull it up too. I havent heard about the mesh thing. Let us know how it goes.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

I've got a nano tank that I set up with Amazonia. It's an 8" cube with a not-too-bright desk lamp over it. A little clump of HC snuck win with a small crypt and it's grown amazingly well in the two months since. I don't add CO2 and only add Excel when I remember - maybe once or twice a week. The growth of the HC in that tank is more healthy and full than in my 180g high-light, high-CO2 tank. Go figure. It also stays put very nicely. I also have pretty good luck in Eco Complete, but it eventually breaks free and large mats float away.


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## Dany (Oct 28, 2006)

Thanks for the suggestion. The reason why I wanted to know is because I have some clown loach and discus in the tank. I am planning on getting rid of the clown loach but that still leaves the discus. I’m going to give the mesh material a try and I’ll let you know how everything turns out. 

Specs. 
48”x12”x 21”
2.2 wpg
Pressurized co2


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## Dany (Oct 28, 2006)

Has anyone ever tried to tie HC stones instead of planting it in soil? I was just think about how moss is tied to rocks for a foreground look and i was wondering could you do the same with HC?


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Robert at http://www.aquabotanicstore.com/ has HC attached to wood and rocks.


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## Dany (Oct 28, 2006)

SimplyOrange said:


> the screen mesh might be like this. you can see the size of the screens on the top left side of the label. it's about 5mm. but there are other sizes.


where did you find this? I went to homedepot today but was not able to fine this.


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