Journal Biotope of Chorhun river (Crimea, Ukraine)

[hydrophyte]

If we turn to the brackish waters of the Black Sea (and the Sea of Azov, it may be even more interesting for you) there are no brackish plants in it. None of the pondweeds is able to acclimatize and flourish in the water with salinity higher than 15 ppt. And I haven't seen any freshwater/brackish plant in the waters of the northwestern part of the Black Sea (with the lowest salinity).
- Zannichellia palustris is freshwater, found in rivers, and I really doubt its chances to grow in the brackish water.
- Stuckenia pectinata is extremely hard to keep even for freshwater biotopes
- Ruppia maritima looks a promising one and I also hope to get some for my own experiments
- Eleocharis parvula from a local marsh now happily grows in my blackwater biotope with ph <6, so I can't imagine it in a marine aquarium. But who knows...

Our Black Sea is dominated by the algae, the only higher plant species are Zostera marina and Zostera noltii. Both look pretty beautiful, they can tolerate wide range of salinity and are on my wishlist to get after our victory.

Pondweeds are quite tricky plants and need special care. Is the Potamogeton perfoliatus from your photo still alive?

I had forgotten about it, but now you remind me about Zostera marina. Maybe I will try that one too. Some references describe it as higher-end brackish (20-31ppt) while others mention 10ppt as lower tolerance. I'll see how the Halodula wrightii—supposed to get here with the mail this week—does first, then try to get Z. marina if I get some results.

There are various sources including scientific papers describing Eleocharis parvula and Zannichellia palustris for moderate salinity brackish. I'll see how it goes with the Elecoharis and try to find some wild Zannichellia here this summer. I hope I can find Ruppia maritima somehow too. We don't have any salty water n this area, but closely related R. spiralis is documented with records here and is described for Black Sea brackish waters as well.

I'm pretty sure the fine-foliage stuff in our creek is Stuckenia pectinata. It's literally just 60 meters away from the front door, but I will have to wait probably till the end of May for foliage to appear.

The Potamogeton perfoliatus seems to be doing great. The foliage has already about doubled and it shows aggressive development of new shoots and roots. Algae is growing too, but this will diminish as foliage expands.

 

[jns]

Excellent journal!

 

[Aleron]

Sad anniversary today

10 years ago on February 20, 2014 the russians annexed and started their military occupation of Crimea - the Ukrainian peninsula in the northern region of the Black Sea.
10 years ago the civilized world betrayed Ukraine. Instead of starting the military support of our army the western politicians chose to continue cooperation with the russians.

As the result now the russians are committing the genocide of the Ukrainian nation and the whole world is on the verge of the WWIII.

My biotopes are alive.

 

[Mike Singh]

Congratulations on your aquascapes and biotopes despite the extremely difficult and life threatening circumstances.

 

[Aleron]

The Potamogeton perfoliatus seems to be doing great. The foliage has already about doubled and it shows aggressive development of new shoots and roots. Algae is growing too, but this will diminish as foliage expands.

Great to read about your success with the Potamogeton perfoliatus !

Here is my plant. Tbh, this is my first succussful experience in growing local wild pondweeds (not full success - I've already lost Potamogeton crispus and most of Potamogeton natans plants).

 

[hydrophyte]

Maybe Potamogeton perfoliatus is a relatively easy one. I do hope to collect some more wild species from the area around here this summer and try in a dedicated freshwater tank.

I've rounded up several more of the things from the list. The Eleocharis parvula came as tissue culture, while another seller sent me pieces of freshly-collected Halodule wrightii and Ruppia maritima. I have the E. parvula and P. perfoliatus in a separate tank where I'm slowly raising salinity (currently at 7ppt) while for the H. wrightii and R. maritima I'm slowly dropping salinity (currently at 26ppt).

I'll be very pleased if I can get even just a couple of these to grow well. It's been only a week since the last box was delivered, but I think the Ruppia is already starting to respond. So far the Eleocharis and Halodule are still just sitting there.

 

[Aleron]

#cancelrussia
This morning russians made their worst missile attack on Ukraine. They hitted many critical infrastructure objects with their ballistic missiles in order to blackout our country.

The most terrific is the hitting of the Dnipro Hydro Power Plant dam with their "kinzhal" hypersonic missiles. The dam is on the verge of destruction with the risk of flooding of the cities and (what is even worse) of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant which is located further down the river. This will lead to the ecological catastrophy worse than Chornobyl' in 1986.
Why this is bad for the europeans: after possible destruction of the Zaporizhzhia NPP westward winds will bring deathly radiation to your homes (even to Iceland). Just imagine: everything you touch, is polluted and dangerous for you (cars, plants, animals, soil, water).

I see no chances to stop russians. We in Ukraine have little chances to survive but you should be prepared and know what to do in the case of radiation pollution.

9 months ago russians blew up the Kakhovka HPP dam in order to stop our counteroffensive. This resulted in many thousands of drowned Ukrainians and terrible ecological catastrophy in that region. No one in the world including #Greenpeace, #GretaTunberg and any other nature protecting organisation condemned that genocidal crime. russians bore no responsibility.
Is Amazonian flood possible in Ukraine?

Today we are on the verge of the continental disaster and you have to be grateful to your state leaders for it.
And what is the most hypocrifal - yesterday the us national security advisor jake sullivan visited Ukraine and demanded to stop our hitting of the russian oil refineries because it could result in ~0.03-0.05 USD price rise of gasoline and negatively affects the Joe Biden's election campaign.

I neither frighten you nor ask you for help. I state facts and urge you to be ready to the risks of the russians. You should learn about first aid in case of radioactive pollution and be ready for it.

Sorry again, I didn't intent this journal to be about our war. russians and your cowardly and corrupted leaders give me no chance to share my achivements in the aquaristics (though I do have them), I only dream to survive and will do my best to post soon. Also my video on winter acclimation is almost ready.

russia delenda est

 

[hydrophyte]

Shame and embarrassment fail to describe what I experience while observing the so-called freedom-loving US and Western Europe lend their half-assed, slow, inadequate support to Ukraine while complaining about the price of gas and while the Ukrainians get blown up, shelter in their basements and fight yard-by-yard through muddy trenches with shoulder arms and hand grenades.

I'm approaching 60 years of age and for my whole life the idea of hate towards other humans has always been an abstraction. But the Right Wing specifically siding with Russia certainly have changed my perspective. They have given me quite an education, in fact.

We are supposed to believe that humanity, individual liberty and civilization are supreme values. But the fecklessness of the Liberal Enlightenment under just moderate pressure as they float idiotic notions of appeasement while also insisting on this excruciating politeness with these treasonous Putin sympathizers certainly undermines such assumptions. If these supposedly fundamental ideals can be ignored for the sake of convenience so easily, then why not just blow up the world with nuclear bombs? What is the point of anything?

 

[Aleron]

The spring has finally come and we've survived this winter without electricity blackouts! I wish to express our gratitude to you, my friends, for your strong nonstop support in these dark times.

I did not manage to pass this winter without losses, mostly this is my own fault - I still can't overcome my Attention deficit syndrome, which comes from living in the war and results in the lack of attention to my aquaria...
I completely lost one demanding plant species. Now after observing the slow degradation of some others I have started their rescue.
I also lost some fishes with the most painful loss of the 3 local endemic gobies.

There was also a gain - I successfully acclimated 3 ninespine sticklebacks in the beginning of February, 3 stone morokos and 3 pumpkinseeds in the beginning of March.

Also I’m finally in the process of shooting and editing a video on the winter acclimation of European local fishes.

These young monkey gobies (Neogobius fluviatilis) successfully spent previous winter in my Chorhun river biotope aquarium and returned home in the Boh river (Southern Buh) in May 2023.

This species is common and very easy to acclimate and keep in our aquaria thus I have a bitter feeling of my responsibility for this winter's loss. Though the gained experience will help us in the future better understanding and preservation of this unique species.