[Jorge Soirse]

This was meant just to test native plants for a larger build. But what do you know, eventually it might be something nice in its own terms. It's roughly 30 liters, so if it takes off it might receive a Betta, or a small Austrolebias Nigripinnis native killifish if I manage to net one in the winter. Look them up. They are STUNNING.

Large roots belong to peace lilies, the small ones are native Monte Carlo (half trimmed short, half left as found in order to see which works better) one echinodorus iin the back, another tiny one by the snail shell, unidentified aquatic plant in the foreground, left. Battered vallisneria (spiralis?) I bought at a LFS (the state of them is truly depressing, but they sold me five for less than one US buck).

Alternatives 1 and 2. In No. 2, the second echinodorus is hidden but would eventually appear behind the first stone. Will receive new plants as I collect species to try out.

• Regular soil under a very fine gravel cap
• 10 watt LED floodlight, running with a timer 8:00-13:00, 16:00-22:00
• Very small pump hidden behind rocks, barely moves the water around
• Stable copepod population
• Minus one cheeky apple snail that moonched on everything green and rootey
• One Jacarandá seed pod, boiled for an hour before placing it inside. It's generating some nice gunk for the critters to feast upon.

The unidentified species is adding a daily sprout of two leaves. Soon, it will hopefully cover the left hand side. The latest shoots are red, which might be good or bad, we'll see.

The Monte Carlo is... surviving. I think. I have low hopes for it.
The Echinodorus seems to be doing fine. Took the heaviest blows from the snail.
The Vals are a day old, we shall see how they do.

The substrate will release odourless bubbles at the slightest movement, which is CO2 if Im not wrong. So that is good, right? I think. Also, algae occurs a bit in the back and sides, but slightly. I remove them from the front panel.

 

[mistergreen]

We have the Pygmy sunfish that’s very similar to your killifish. It’s a Florida native.

 

[Jorge Soirse]

Even the sexual dimorphism is similar. Interesting.

 

[marple]

Looking very cool!

 

[Jorge Soirse]

After some rain (finally) and some riverside collecting, I found a ton of new Alternanthera growth, ideal for aquarium use. Also, some Hydrocotyle, some Lilaeopsis, more Echinodorus, a couple of Ludwigia Peploides and a few unidentified plants, will post pictures of those. The Monte Carlo got the sack, I suspect proper growth would require planting it individually and frankly I don't like it enough for that. For now.

Also, I got some Quebracho pieces which will release a TON of tannins for approximately forever. It's an incredibly hard wood, the name means axe breaker. It sinks even when dry. I think it adds to the overall look.

Fish added: Jenynsia Lineatas (8 I think) and three shrimp. I believe one of them at least is Macrobrachium Borelli, the rest is Paleomonetes Argentinensis.

Right after setup. The plants were all twisted, they grew in an angle by the river.

A day later. I emptied it, since I had to change the room it was in.

There have been some changes to this. I ran out of battery though, so no pictures. I'll leave with the unidentified plants. The last one looks like an Alternanthera, but the stalk is almost woody, very different, and the leaves are growing smaller and more compact. The last one is quite unremarkable, but it was underwater, so. It came home and we shall see.

 

[marple]

Instead of cycling through town going to the LFS you just go into nature an find what we have to buy in the LFS. So cool 😄.

Small remark: isn't the rock placed on top of the substrate a bit of a risk for anaerobic conditions?

 

[Jorge Soirse]

I'm not worried. It has four or five plants with sturdy root systems right behind it, and its shape is quite deceiving. It's actually pretty thin, depth-wise. Plus, It has been there close to a year, and the substrate's fine. Bear in mind the tank and the rock are tiny.

 

[maico996]

Nice. Envious that you can find plants in the wild!
Regarding Monte Carlo, it's usually only successful with lots of light and CO2 injection. I've tried it a few times with no luck...

 

[Jorge Soirse]

This is my third or fourth try too. I always find an excuse to try again.

We have some pretty cool plants here, but finding them took me a few years of foraging. And learning. I suspect most every place with water must have a good half dozen really common aquatic plants, you just need to get your feet wet. Also, as you observe waterways with the "I want plants" chip for some time, you begin seeing things you'd never noticed. Just this year I saw that the creeks in Patagonia, where I have gone every summer of my childhood, had some absolutely stunning mats of underwater vegetation, and I had never seen them before.

In my experience, the best results are had in places where water naturally rises and ebbs according to the weather or time of the year.

 

[Jorge Soirse]

Another one: I ended up zeroing in the places with good plants after a good many trial and errors. For some reason, I intuitively sought them in places where there were none. I remember being absolutely ecstatic by finding one Ludwigia Peploides, which now I will barely look twice at because I know where they grow and where better plants can be found.

 

[Jorge Soirse]

Another one: I ended up zeroing in the places with good plants after a good many trial and errors. For some reason, I intuitively sought them in places where there were none. I remember being absolutely ecstatic by finding one Ludwigia Peploides, which now I will barely look twice at because I know where they grow and where better plants can be found.

 

[Jorge Soirse]

NEW PLANTS

I found five species I had not seen before. I believe they are all aquatic, but, as always, this tank is here to prove me right or wrong.

In other, unrelated news, mental health officers have been dispatched to take care of the grown-ass man picking at dirt beside the riverfront.

The first one looks like an oversized Lilaeopsis, being basically single leaves shooting up from runners. However, I don't think they are related, because unlike the smaller L. Brasiliensis this plant has fleshy, hollow cylindrical leaves, not unlike an onion. Aesthetically, not a fan. However, let's see how this goes.

The second one is very delicate and tiny. I could not find one bigger that these few strands, but they appear to have roots and to form runner systems much like the other two, so we will give them a shot.

Then there's these hydrocotyle-style leaves, that could be just a random clover species or something else entirely. As always, I rely on the surrounding vegetation to draw my conclusions, and this was in a patch along with eleocharis, echinodorus, monte carlo and similarly amphibious species.

Now, this one is pretty similar to #1, as it is a series of separate leaves connected by runners. The leaves are not hollow, and they are flat and drop-shaped. They could look very nice or entirely odd, depending on how its growth pattern turns out. I am not that confident with any of these, as I know carpeting plants tend to fare poorly in low tech setups.

Last of all, this little fella that initially seemed to be part of an Alternanthera patch. However, the leaves are narrower and it behaves less like a stem plant and more like a carpeter, although not as clearly as these other examples. I am more confident in this one's success than in the others.

Will update with a pic as soon as they are planted. Arrivederci.

 

[maico996]

Just out of curiosity, what is the depth of the water where you're getting these? What's the substrate like?

 

[Jorge Soirse]

The water depth was a few inches to a full meter, a week or so ago. After heavy sun and wind, these temporary pools have dried up again, since it's summer, so there is none right now. It's a small river harbor, so the river is lined with concrete. As for the substrate, it is very rich soil. I'll post a picture of two spots, a drainage ditch and a smaller, dry pool I took a picture of, for some reason.

 

[Jorge Soirse]

Untouched, after a week or so since planting and stocking. Too many males, I now realize. I will have to drop a few and fish females.

It has some gunk on the lower centimeters of the glass. I'll now stick some more plants in.

 

[Jorge Soirse]

Found one: plant No. 1 is Lilaeopsis caroliensis.

The first one looks like an oversized Lilaeopsis

 

[Jorge Soirse]

Update: everything is doing reasonably fine. I've scraped some brown algae off the lower portions of the glass. The Lilaeopsis have grown nicely upwards, so they'll get a trim. Problem: I decided to try 14 hour long photoperiod, vs the 11 I had before. Yeah, algae, it's currently everywhere... I've thrown it down back again. The Vallisnerias bounced back from the sad half dead water spaghetti they sold me, though.

Some issues I see: plants have begun to show deficiencies. I can clearly see some chlorosis in the Ludwigia Peploides that is striving for the surface here, the Alternanthera is ever so mildly crumpled up in some leaves, and the Hydrocotyles don't look good. Those last ones never worked for me long term, anyway. Now I know for a fact I have pretty hard water, since they add a lot of lime at the water treatment plant, but that does not mean that it has much in the way of nutrients. I thought this would not be a problem, what with fish food and soil. Should I just wait until mulm kicks in as a nutrient source?

What about the Peace Lilies as competitors? I like the rootey look of things, but if they simply consume too much nutrients I have no problem kicking them away.

On the other hand, small plants that I still haven't identified seem to be doing great. This small clover-like one, for instance, is throwing off shoots beautifully.

 

[marple]

I totally lack the knowledge to answer your questions, but I like where your tank is going. Interesting with the unknown plants. I also like the roots of the peace lily's.

Can't some oto's help with the algae's? They are native aren't they?

 

[Jorge Soirse]

Yes, they are native. They're also gregarious, though. And this tank can't hold six or eight inhabitants more, it would look like a tuna can. I would eventually add some Hysonotus Aki though. Would need to find them, because they're incredibly rare.

I've cut off the offending Ludwigia sprig and we will see what happens. As for the Alternanthera, only a couple of leaves were crumpling. Perhaps with lower photoperiods it will be sorted out. I'm not worried about algae, it will surely start dying off with less light. After all, it's pretty heavily planted. The vallisnerias are starting to get strong and all in all so are the Alternantheras.

 

[marple]

Yes, they are native. They're also gregarious, though. And this tank can't hold six or eight inhabitants more, it would look like a tuna can. I would eventually add some Hysonotus Aki though. Would need to find them, because they're incredibly rare.

Yeah you're right 😂. A bit hard to estimate the size of the tank from the photo's.

I would eventually add some Hysonotus Aki though. Would need to find them, because they're incredibly rare.

So rare that google doesn't know them, what are they?