[gnome]

I'm considering trying Blyxa japonica again, but I should probably figure out why my first attempt ended in utter failure. I bought some pieces where a few of them had little plantlets attached at the crown. None of the plants had roots but the leaves looked very healthy. Because they didn't have roots, they wouldn't stay put (in Eco-Complete) and every morning I'd find them floating around at the surface. They were getting weaker and soon the snails and shrimp were eating them. After a while, there was simply nothing left of the Blyxa.

This time I would like to put them in a smaller tank with weaker light and Flourite. I'm better about fertilizing, now, if that may have been the problem... Is this just a difficult species, or did I have a bad bunch? If there's no chance of them surviving in my 2.5-gallon tank with 8W fluorescent light, DIY CO2 and Flourite, I'd like to know. I do fertilize daily in moderate amounts. If anybody needs numbers, I'll come back with them.

-Naomi

 

[gnome]

I guess that's the problem... Our water is very soft, but the pH is very high (usually about 8.4-8.6). My DIY CO2 is not sufficient to lower the pH, either.

Oh well... I'll have to come up with a better idea to fill that space in my 2.5-gallon tank. Thanks, guys!

-Naomi

 

[gnome]

Oops - I didn't see tsunami's reply before posting mine. That's some seriously healthy aubertii, there! Carlos, you're well aware at my horrible luck with growing even the easiest of plants (like Alternanthera reineckii and L. ovalis). I think if there's even the slightest bit of difficulty about this plant, I better forget about it. It probably needs more ferts than I'm willing to provide. I was hoping that I'd get an answer like, "if it didn't have any roots, there was little chance that it would have made it at all." But apparently, it's common for it to be sold without roots... I just killed it .

When my Hottonia palustris grows out and I've put it all in one spot, maybe I'll post a photo of this femto-tank and people can suggest plants to fill in the blanks. I guess I may try to acquire some Blyxa japonica in a future trade and experiment with it. Hey - it just occurred to me that I have never seen hobbyist-grown B. japonica being auctioned on AquaBid. Maybe this is an indication of how difficult it is to grow them.

Anyway, thanks again!

-Naomi