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San Marcos River biotope trip

8K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  HeyPK 
#1 ·
For a pictoral record of the trip that Steve and I took, with commentary, go to the following url: http://users.ev1.net/~spituch/a.html

Scroll down to the "Expedition I" link, and click on that. Before looking at all the pictures, click on the map link to the left on the first page.

We found the following species at the put-in:
Hydrilla verticillata, Hygrophila polysperma, Potamogeton sp?, Ceratopteris thalictroides, Ceratophyllum demersum, Hydrocotyle verticillata, Sagittaria sp. (platyphylla?), Ludwigia repens or palustris?, Pista stratiodes, Eichornia crassipes.

After the second railroad crossing, we found a Cambomba sp (caroliniana?). Below the first dam a water cress, Nuphar lutea, and Riccia showed up. Below the third dam (lunch stop), we found Zosterella dubia. Finally, the C. beckettii? showed up just past the point where the sewage treatment plant emptied the treated water into the river. We were careful not to dislodge any crypts when we gathered our sample. In the summer, the river fills up with tubers (people floating down on inner tubes), and they no doubt loosen some crypts and contribute to the spread of the species. Large patches of crypts continued to be seen until the river became too deep due to the back-up from the Cummings dam to see the bottom. On the faces of some of the dams we found Samolus valerandi and what might be Lobelia cardinalis.

So, don't say you can't find aquatic plants in Texas!
 
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#4 ·
Wow, thanx for the pics.

It looks like you guy's had a wonderful experience.

I'm jealous, we don't have any thing like that here in the desert. :cry:

Are any of these plants you collected going to be available for purchase?

If so PLEASE put me on your list. :lol:

I'm starting to wonder if there is any place here in So Cal,
maybe San Diego or Orange Counties,
where one could gather some plants like you guy's did.

Might be worth a day trip. :D

Cheers, Cactusdoug
 
#5 ·
That's awesome guys! Thank you for taking such careful pictures of everything. You found some really neat looking stuff. I expect you to take 1st place in the AGA biotope div. this year Steve!
 
#7 ·
Hey Guys,

How about everyone who wants a plant to send me an email at spituch@ev1.net, with your address and private email address. Make the Subject of the email "san marcos plants".

All the plants have been bleached and will be growing out for quite a while. Once the plants reach critical mass we can start sending some out, but it will be a whlie. We also need to learn how to grow each of the plants. I want to temporarily use some of the plants in a biotope also.

But we should be able to make all of you happy eventually. Please be patient.

Regards,
Steve Pituch
 
#13 · (Edited)
It's alway fun to dredge up an old thread and give an update.

kwc1974 and I went out yesterday on the river (in kayak) and found most all the same wonderful plants. Texas Wild-Rice is growing in full-force, over-coming some of the H. polysperma stands, so that is good news. Sadly (sad for us, happy for the State of Texas, I suppose) we were unable to locate ANY crypts in the noted areas. We traveled 7 miles of the river until most of the vegetation puttered out.

On the plus side, I got to bring home a big bag of Fissidens, although, I fell in the river collecting it...but it was still worth it. ;) I noticed this species is coarser in texture (by feel, not appearance) than what I've had before. I once thought this was just due to the river water and that it would soften up after time in the aquarium, but the sample I collected last time stayed the same way for over a year. Only time will tell this time around.

Thanks to Kevin for not photographing me falling in the water. ;)

-Dave
 
#14 ·
Hi davemonkey,

I got to bring home a big bag of Fissidens, although, I fell in the river collecting it...
ROFL! Dave; what on earth will you do next??!!
 
#15 ·
I almost wish there was a pic of "the moment"...you'd get quite a laugh. I was expecting cold water because the air temp was in the 50's. So, I was doing the gaspy-breath-holding-freeze-up-your-body-in-ice-cold-water type stuff at first. Then my body realized it was actually quite comfortable and relaxed...and then it was just really funny.

I actually pulled a stomach/rib muscle trying to keep the kayak from tipping over, and my ribs are REALLY sore today. What kind of story would that make?

Q: "So, how'd you hurt your rib muscles!?"

A: "Well, I'm just an out-of-shape plant nerd that fell over in a kayak while trying to grab up some moss for my aquarium..." :der:
 
#16 ·
The original link to the trip photos is long gone, and so, here are some of the photos:

C. beckettii 1


C. beckettii 2


C. beckettii 3 Look at ths size of those plants!


Sagittaria


Samolus on the face of a dam


Hygrophila polysperma at the put-in.
 
#21 ·
I keep a number of my plants in soda pop bottles on windowsills. They don't grow very much, but they are easy to keep because they require very little maintenance. If I had to keep them all in aquaria, I would probably lose many of them because I am really bad at regular maintenance.

The San Marcos crypts:
 
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