Small plants for emergent growth

[brumbird]

Hiya its me again.

Seeing as you have already been so helpful on the critter front i thought id pick your brains about plants. I am looking for ideas for plants i could use for emergent growth, i only have a 60 by 30cm footprint so its got to be small. I would love to try maidenhair fern but ive no idea how easy they are - just love the look of them. Am also interested in any other moss, grass or fern that you could recommend. Still not sure if i will build up a bank to allow for shallow planting or try floating cork islands (have read about this somewhere and love the idea of it)

 

[Michael W]

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cryptocoryne-riparium.7593/ here is a really good thread to read regarding growing plants emersed in the aquarium.

Plants that I know will do well:

Pothos
Peace Lillies
Maidenhair fern
Java moss - have it tied on wood half submerged and half emergent, or submerged on the wood and let it grow upwards and above
Christmas Moss with regards to the above
Moss from your garden, I'll find a thread about this for you right after this post
Spider Plant

and the ones from the thread above.

Edit: this this not the thread I was thinking of but Darrel's link provides some useful info http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/moss-id-help.28824/#post-300431

Hopefully Darrel will see this thread and make some suggestions.

 

[brumbird]

Thanks again Michael i think i may try one broad leafed plant but am conscious that i dont want to obscure too much light to the underwater plants.

That tank in the first link is amazing!! Even he says some of his plants outgrew that tank so thatswhy im looking specifically for tiddlers.

And moss is something i really love and did a bit of research on a while back - i used the yoghurt/blender dsm to grow riccardia on a redmoor root. It looked absolutely brilliant until my tank got a bad case of cladophora, but i would do it again as the coverage was so much more natural than tying on.

I just love fissidens fontana so thats definitely on my wishlist.

 

[Michael W]

I literally have two/three very very very tiny sprigs of Riccardia in my shrimp tank which came in with some plants, I might take it out and see if I can get them growing emergent in the hope of multiplying, my hopes are low though.

Edit: Also, Riccia looks really nice grown above water, there was reports of it being able to attach to wood when it's in it's emergent form.

 

[brumbird]

Its worth a shot - you could try keeping it moist in a pot for a bit to see if anything happens. Mine didnt do a lot for about a month but after that progress was slow but steady. I was dosing tropica specialised and easycarbo for thatfirst month though so that would have helped it along i guess.

 

[Michael W]

Did you only dose the easycarbo for a month before gradually lessen the dose? I always had impressions of it harming Riccardia. I think it will be worth a shot since the amount I have is so small and it is so slow growing it probably won't make a difference in my low tech tank.

 

[brumbird]

I cant honestly remember the exact time frame - the moss was allowed 10 days out of water to fix onto the wood before i submerged it but i dosed the tank for the other plants mainly. Once everything showed progress i withdrew the additives and it all carried on growing well. My plan had been to continue with liquid carbonand ferts but my plants came from a cheapo bundle and all grew fine without it. Riccardia was a bit of a punt as i know its not classed as an easy moss but it did well for me.

Just saw your riccia edit - that looks great above water, good shout