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55 Litre high energy aquascape

Hufsa said:
For some reason that im not quite sure of yet, almost everyone seems to uproot Blyxa and trim it that way from the bottom.
The insinuation floating in the air is that it doesnt like / doesnt tolerate having the growth points cut off?
Ive always wanted to try though, just to see what would happen :twisted: I should do that soon :geek:
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I've never tried but would be good to see the result. If the sideshoots are left intact I can't really see why not but I don't think this will solve the problem of it taking over.

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11 weeks from the first photo until the last.
It's now been relegated to the low tech.
 
Hufsa said:
Indeed, those are the two stages of Blyxa. "Looking a bit iffy" or "Oh lord its taking over" :lol:
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That's hilarious. I'm definitely in the second camp and still wondering what strategy to take before I go away for a week. I'm guenuinely fearful its going to engulfe everything else!! 😳
 
Hufsa said:
For some reason that im not quite sure of yet, almost everyone seems to uproot Blyxa and trim it that way from the bottom.
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On a serious note, my concern here is that it's taken so well that uprooting entirely to trim it back will leave a huge amount of debris in the water column
 
bazz said:
I've never tried but would be good to see the result. If the sideshoots are left intact I can't really see why not but I don't think this will solve the problem of it taking over.
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I got inspired by this thread and cut every single shoot off one of my Blyxa bushes. I specifically cut all of them because I want to see if it can actually recover from that, or if it needs a sideshoot or something in order to continue growing. Its a stemplant so technically it should tolerate topping, but not all stemplants like that. Tonina fluviatilis for example, you can cut the tops off but the stub left behind will be unhappy and usually only sends out one new shoot instead of two, making it pretty ugly.

Dan Earl A said:
still wondering what strategy to take before I go away for a week.
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How long until you go away? Maybe you have time to see what happens to the one I cut from the top, before you make your decision 😈
 
Hufsa said:
I got inspired by this thread and cut every single shoot off one of my Blyxa bushes.
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Wow, I hope my 'inspiration' doesn't lead to calamaty!
Hufsa said:
How long until you go away? Maybe you have time to see what happens to the one I cut from the top, before you make your decision 😈
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Imminently, and I really need to make a decision tomorrow on how I'm going to tackle it. I think I'll just cut back the offending (invasive) stems for now, without uprooting, and then consider more drastic action later. It's a shame because if it was a bigger tank I would leave it be.....it looks amazing and add a really dynamic element to the tank.
 
As it turned out it was pretty easy to root around at the base of the plant and trim a few stems to reduce down the size without it looking shabby. It is indeed a stem plant.......go figure, but then I am a novice at this! I've placed the cut stems in some aquarium water to see if I can preserve them for a small low energy scape I'm planning.
 
Went away for a week and returned to find most of the newly planted Anubias had melted almost to nothing. It's not (on this occasion) due to high ammonia levels which was 0 when I tested, together with nitrite and nitrate levels. I cut back my photo period to 6 hours from the normal 8 while away so maybe this hasn't helped - a few other plants have suffered to a lesser extent also, as a consequence of this, with yellowing and some minor melting of leaves. I'm sure it will all recover but I'm wondering what I did wrong.......I'll be away again soon and want to avoid a repeat of this if I can. Any thoughts from the amassed experiences on here, please?
 
A couple of pictures of the reduced Blyxia and my (sadly reduced) Anubias. I had to cut back some of the affected plants described in the earlier post, but things are looking tidier already.
 

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Thought I'd provide a quick update. Things seems to be progressively becoming established after after notching up the light intensity a little and some of the plants (my invading Blyxia included) have started to develop a nice reddish hue. The Ember Tetra's seem happy, if still a little washed out, particularly against the increasingly red backdrop. I added a few more cherry shrimps as I seem to have mysteriously lost a few.......I have a concern I'm not feeding them enough supplementary food, although the Amano's seem to be proving this theory wrong as they grow ever bigger. As always comments and recommendations very much welcome!
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Hey @Dan Earl A looking super 👍🏽

Dan Earl A said:
Went away for a week and returned to find most of the newly planted Anubias had melted almost to nothing. It's not (on this occasion) due to high ammonia levels which was 0 when I tested, together with nitrite and nitrate levels. I cut back my photo period to 6 hours from the normal 8 while away so maybe this hasn't helped
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Not unusual for Anubias to suffer in new setups. High light intensity without shading early on is taxing.

Dan Earl A said:
I added a few more cherry shrimps as I seem to have mysteriously lost a few.......I have a concern I'm not feeding them enough supplementary food, although the Amano's seem to be proving this theory wrong as they grow ever bigger. As always comments and recommendations very much welcome!
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Competition. You may find your colony of cherry shrimp is larger and sustainable as your tank matures with more biofilm to graze.
 
Hi all,
Dan Earl A said:
The Ember Tetra's seem happy, if still a little washed out, particularly against the increasingly red backdrop
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If you feed them with a <"food high in carotenoids"> they will intensify in colour. I used to like the red <"Astax crumb"> sold by TA Aquaculture. but Tim can't source it any more. I haven't tried their new offering yet <"Colour_Granular_Food">

Live copepods (like Cyclops) work really well, the problem is getting enough of them. <"ShieldSquare Captcha">

cheers Darrel
 
Hufsa said:
I got inspired by this thread and cut every single shoot off one of my Blyxa bushes. I specifically cut all of them because I want to see if it can actually recover from that, or if it needs a sideshoot or something in order to continue growing.
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I wondered how this went, as the Blyxia will undoubtedly need some more aggressive treatment at some point!
 
Dan Earl A said:
I wondered how this went, as the Blyxia will undoubtedly need some more aggressive treatment at some point!
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Poorly! Its still trying to recover from it, the plant looks extremely unhappy with the treatment. So it looks like cutting all the tops off is not a good way to trim it. Cutting but leaving at least one top might do better but I cant say for sure until ive tried that as well.
 
dw1305 said:
The fish get lot of live food,
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What live food do people offer up to Ember Tetra's typically, and where do you obtain them? Sorry, I'm even 'greener' on the fish keeping side of things than I am planting :lol: Trying to keep them happy, which they seem to be at present!
 
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Generally pleased with how things have matured but I have a growing number of questions, which maybe folks can help with....

My Amano population is thriving with them ever increasing in size but the Cherry Shrimps have dwindled in numbers dramatically. I'm pretty sure a couple threw themselves from the tank, but other than that they seem to have just disappeared. Should I assume they are just more sensitive, and how can I improve things to help the remaining few survive and the population grow?20230819_223205.jpg
 
What is this stuff, attached to some of the hardscape. It doesn't particularly look like eggs? 20230819_223114.jpg
 

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