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Congo Swamp Monster (750l biotope)

dw1305 said:
It doesn't like the wet, it used to grow on an outside wall in one of the <"basements in Bath">, but I think gentrification has done for it
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Thanks Darrel,

That would certainly explain why it is not doing well. Tom had one in his Poco Pozo so I thought this would be OK emersed, but looking again it seems that his may have been elevated out of the water. I've pulled mine out of the water so that only the bottom half of the roots are in the water. It seems to have stuck a decent sized ball of the substrate it was planted in (Alfagrog) together, so it may have been doing OK after all...

Any suggestions on other plants that I could try in the emersed part?
 
zozo said:
You got a N. zenkeri? At least that's the official name of the N.Lotus, it grows from a tuber, this stores energy, so kinda the grow habbit of this plant depends also a bit on the maturity of the tuber. If the this tuber is relatively small the lily will stay rather small for a long time..
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Yes, I assume they are zenkeri. They are standard aquarium 'N. lotus'. I guess I will have to wait until they flower to be able to confirm. There are a bunch of other Nymphaea from the right area, but couldn't find any available. The tubers I've plated seem a decent size - perhaps a bit bigger than the end of my thumb. 4 of the 6 have quickly put out leaves and seem to be growing OK. Two are a bit sleepier!

zozo said:
Do you dim those kessils? If so than try to find the point to give to kessil above the lily as much output as possible without growing algae.
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I had the Kessils on full blast to start with, but have just dialed them back to 60% to try to stop algae. The are A80s so quite a bit less punchy than the A160s et al. I have a base layer of quite fine Dennerle Deponitmix under the sand, so hopefully they are getting something like a clay substrate!

zozo said:
Another one N. Nouchali also African and suitable for aquarium regarding size.. :)
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Die-Attraktion-des-Teiches-Blaue-Seerose-winterhart-wirksames-Antialgenmittel/110623211567?_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIM.MBE&ao=2&asc=49134&meid=093278699dad45c4901c1b93a106cc39&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=4&sd=121462453359&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m2219
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These are great. Thank you for the link.... couldn't find nouchali in the UK (at least not under that name).
 
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dw1305 said:

We have a member who lives in the DRC (@zanguli-ya-zamba), it might be worth looking through <"his threads"> for <"plant images">.

cheers Darrel
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Thanks Darrel,

I've seen the pictures from 'zanguli-ya-zamba'. Other good sources of inspiration are Takashi Amano's pictures from Africa (http://amanotakashi.net/portfolio/west_africa/index.html), habitat pictures of various ditches and ponds on the killifish of west Africa site (http://www.wak.aka.org/) and photos on a Pictorial Guide to Central African Plants (http://www.centralafricanplants.senckenberg.de/root/index.php, you can hit 'browse and search' and then 'hydrophyte' under 'life form' to get a more targeted list of plants.
 
The first fish are in! I introduced 5 Microsynodontis sp (perhaps M polli) and 6 Otocinclus vittatus. It is perhaps not politically correct to think of our catfish charges as 'clean up crew' but that is essentially where I have started. Clearly the Otos are a long way from biotopically correct, but not sure I see a great alternative from Central Africa that is ever likely to be available (perhaps Labeo cyclorhynchus, but I think they are a bit thuggish..). I can always remove them further down the line. The Otos are busying around happily, the microsynos occassionally seen after dark but have largely disappeared. Getting some more fish in should build their confidence. Hoping to get a first group of characins this weekend.

Plants are doing OK. I cut down the light a lot to (so far quite successfully) keep algae at bay. The Nymphaea, Aponogeton and Floscopa that were growing very quickly have stalled a bit, the Juncus and Eleocharis are continuing to do v. well, albeit with a fair bit of die of older leaves that had grown outside in the cold in a shallower basin, the Setaria and Pistia are continue to explode. Less positively the Pteris cretica is not at all happy and may have expired, despite being raised up so that the 'root ball' is half out of the water, and the Anubias barteri var glabra have lost some of their emerged leaves - I think because they were scorched when the lights were on more brightly. I'm hoping they will recover once I've got more established emersed plants providing shade. That would be the natural order of things!.I've just increased the lighting to hopefully get the right balance between plant growth and retarding algae.

Key pain point is finding some more plants for the 'stream bank' section on the left that are biotopically correct and will do well emersed. May add some Zantedaschia. Any suggestions?
 
gltjc said:
Key pain point is finding some more plants for the 'stream bank' section on the left that are biotopically correct and will do well emersed. May add some Zantedaschia. Any suggestions?
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Maybe Hesperantha is an option, it is readily available iin about every garden centre or pond shop.. It even is moderately winter hardy.. It does realy good in shallow bogy conditions and is realy easy to grow.. There is an aquascape from Amano where he has some quite large Bolbitis heudelotii growing emersed above an open top tank. He said it took some years for the plant to addapt to the lower humidity. But it did and grew rather large. So put an Bolbitis bellow the surface in the shallow and just wait for it to pop and grow out. This also can be done with a Anubias, but it takes an agonizingly long time. I'm still in the proces of waiting 2 years already on my emersed Anubias, but it slowly addapts more and more to low humidity. Only the rhizome is submersed.

Another suggestion is Aeschynomene fluitans now and then to be found in shops.. Maybe even via the sale/wanted topics here at UKAPS.
Ceratopteris cornuta is very easy to grow, seen it a lot in open top tanks doing very well.

https://www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplants?filter[regionsearch]=439
Nice database, search can be filtered on region, even parts of Africa can be sellected.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/
This also a very nice database and can be filtered on "Can grow emersed" (Left hand bottom, little drop down box).
 
This is my dream tank, great to see someone make an effort with the plants in a biotope people normally focus on the fish!
 
Sure snails :) Physella acuta, very common cosmopolitan and with a bit luck you get them for free with the plants. Also Ramshorn and Pondsnail are cosmopolitans.

Viviparus also, but a bit difficult in aquarium. aquariums are generaly not dirty enough for them.
 
zozo said:
Another suggestion is Aeschynomene fluitans now and then to be found in shops.. Maybe even via the sale/wanted topics here at UKAPS.
Ceratopteris cornuta is very easy to grow, seen it a lot in open top tanks doing very well.
).
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Thanks. These are great suggestions!

I’ve ordered some of the Aeschynomene from an eBay seller to partly sit in front of and partly shade the Anubias on the left hand side. I still need something taller to replace the Pteris. I may just get another Pteris and this time not drown it...

I’ve got plenty of Bolbitis and Anubias at the water line that I’m hoping will grow out emersed over time.
 
And of course you do not particularly need aquariumplants or aquatic only, or what's available in aqaurium shops, this will only limit the search.. If you want them bigger, you might find one in the wetland tolerant spieces from the area. A small list of known wetland tolerant plants..
https://www.acs.edu.au/info/hobby/landscaping/wet-soil-plants.aspx

One i saw one listed, among wet soil tolerant ferns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todea_barbara
From Africa. :)

Colocasia spp (Elephants ear) also is a plant growing in the african rainforests and about all love boggy conditions. Several are readily available in most garden centres.

Scavange the plants listed for what grows (also) in Africa. Many plants already travel the globe for 1000dns of years and by now its forgoten where it originated. :)
 
Kitalexander said:
This is my dream tank, great to see someone make an effort with the plants in a biotope people normally focus on the fish!
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Thank you. Still feels like a mountain to climb before it is meeting my expectations!
 
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zozo said:
And of course you do not particularly need aquariumplants or aquatic only, or what's available in aqaurium shops, this will only limit the search.. If you want them bigger, you might find one in the wetland tolerant spieces from the area. A small list of known wetland tolerant plants..
https://www.acs.edu.au/info/hobby/landscaping/wet-soil-plants.aspx

One i saw one listed, among wet soil tolerant ferns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todea_barbara
From Africa. :)

Colocasia spp (Elephants ear) also is a plant growing in the african rainforests and about all love boggy conditions. Several are readily available in most garden centres.

Scavange the plants listed for what grows (also) in Africa. Many plants already travel the globe for 1000dns of years and by now its forgoten where it originated. :)
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I was tempted by dwarf Colocasia but held off as they aren’t native to the area. As you say they’ve been cultivated for centuries, so perhaps I should just go for it - they would contrast well with the Setaria. Thanks for the ideas - it is very well appreciated!
 
gltjc said:
cultivated for centuries
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According to some courses 280 centuries..
Elephant ear plants have been in cultivation for over 28,000 years as a food crop in equatorial regions including India, China, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Polynesia, the Mediterranean, Africa, and South America. Because Colocasia has been in cultivation for so long, no one knows for sure where it truly is native, but all evidence points to somewhere in Southeast Asia.
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WHat ever this evidence is, likely because it's more common in Asia, but that still circumstantial evidence..
https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/elephant-ears-bulbs-colocasia-plant

Same goes actualy for the Nymphaea, it grows in every continent, but nobody knows where it originated.. There are also claims that this is Asia but it speciated by now all over the planet.

Same as you can read as listed in the SA aquatic plant list from above. Water poppy (Hydroclyes nymphoides) is considered native in SA after a few centuries. But it's true origine is Brazil. Same the Nelumbo nucifera, also asian origine is introduced to SA wetlands and considered native by now.
Lately a saw a serie of photographs from the borneo rain forests and there are Anubias growing in the wild in Borneo.

Hydrocotyl also is such a cosmopolitin sp. which btw also is very easy to grow above open top tanks. And are actualy quite decorative..

In many cases the birds are the distributors.. E.g the The Nordic Tern living in Wetlands flies from the Alaskan wetlands to European wetlands and further on to South African wetlands making several pitstops along the way. The true globetrotter among the birds, distributing not only plants but also fish and snails etc. over parts of the globe.

All that, says, don't go to hard on yourself with the Biotope idea. ;) We often don't realy know what and where evolution is taking us for a ride and more often just have an educated guess.
 
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Costa said:
This is a wonderful project. The tank looks great! Subscribed. Please post more shots!!
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Thanks, that is kind. Can’t wait for the lilies to reach the surface, it will then get much closer to what I have in mind.
 
JZsJm4p.jpg

Another poor phone picture. Really need to find time over Christmas to work out how to take decent shots. Videos may be easier! Those with good eyesight will see that I’ve added a lot of coarser gravel to create more interest in the substrate, some Vallis and more Pistia and the lillies and emersed sedge and hairgrass on the right are growing quite well. Still need to hide the cables behind the vallis and chuck in a few handfuls of dry leaves (if I can find any that aren’t already too sludgey already - winter is definitely upon us..).
 
zozo said:
WHat ever this evidence is, likely because it's more common in Asia, but that still circumstantial evidence..
https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/elephant-ears-bulbs-colocasia-plant

don't go to hard on yourself with the Biotope . ;) We often don't realy know what and where evolution is taking us for a ride and more often just have an educated guess.
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Thanks again zozo. Really appreciate your support and suggestions. I may add a Colocasia fallax to replace the ailing Pteris.

The Glossostigma is the only plant that isn’t found in Africa so far - suspect it might be a stretch to claim that is established in the Congo basin!
 
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