ray-the-pilot

Here is my dilemma. I’m doing a biotype tank and I’m looking for plants from the Amazon region of S. America. I’m using three easy plants: Pigmy Chain Sward, Amazon Sward and Corkscrew Val. I was expecting that I would have three levels of plants in my tank with the pigmy in front, the Amazons at mid field and the Val at the back.

Well, the swards came through as I expected but the Val is way too short. My tank is about 20” tall and nothing grows above the 10” line.

I need a S. American plant for my background to replace the Val that will grow to 20”. It should be dense to cover up the plumbing in the back of my tank.

Any suggestions?

hoppycalif

There are several varieties of vals, a few of which don't get real tall. Jungle Vals are guaranteed to grow about 3-4 ft tall, in my experience. If you search the for sale forum here you can see who grows some and PM them to try to buy some. Anyone with vals has extra plants - many extra plants.

davemonkey

I have several Val I can spare. Some are tall/full adults (about a dozen) and some young'uns. I'm pretty sure they are Val americana , but not 100% sure. They will certainly get tall/thick enough for your tank. Some of my leaves are 30", but they won't 'corkscrew' as much as the 'corkscrew' (hardly at all).
Anyway, if you're interested PM me.

-Dave

K20A2

Check these links out:

http://fish.mongabay.com/

http://www.freshwateraquariumplants....pe/amazon.html

ray-the-pilot

You were a big help especially K2OA2. The link to the Amazon biotype pretty much answered my question.

Dave, I appreciate the offer but I’ll pass as Jungle Val is plentiful here and it was something I decided against already.

BTW after K2OA2 sent me to the biotype page, I decided that Alternanthera reinecki was the plant for me. While searching on the plant geek site I discovered what is probably causing my short “Val.” The plant geeks think that Flourish Excel causes melting in Val which is my experience. I discontinued using it about 2 weeks ago for other reasons; so, maybe my Val will grow to its full height!

BTW here are some other questions:

Does anyone know where to buy Alternanthera reinecki?

Also I’ve discovered these plant codes like A04 for Alternanthera reinecki. What are these and where is a list of the codes?

hoppycalif

A. reineckii is often sold in the for sale forum here. And, most of the on line plant stores sell it. Plus, it is for sale on Aqua Bid. I hope you have better luck with it than I ever did. For me it alternated between being an invasive weed and a non-growing algae magnet. So, I gave up on it. There have been numerous reports here about the "secrets" of growing it well - low nitrates, high nitrates, lower light, higher light, etc.

K20A2

Glad I could help. : )