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The Celestial Swamp - A voyage through a flooded forest fringe (Shallow Riparium)

I've had a list but no idea where it went. The main ones are normally grass like species which seem hard to get. There were a few flashy specimen plants but I think a few were available just prohibitively expensive. Unfortunately the planted hobby isn't the biggest here and that makes more niche parts of it even smaller. We do have some great garden centres though and I can pick up bits and bobs to try.
 
I'm setting up an STC-1000 temperature controler tomorrow to control the heaters down in the sump... heater thermostats always seem a little flakey... my tank is a couple degrees lower this week than what it's been set to...

I'll go into detail on the build tomorrow...

Also I forgot to mention that at least 4 of the cherry shrimps have stayed alive and hang out mostly at the base of the far right manzanita stump grazing away and colour up nice... there still may be hope! The amano shrimp is no where to be seen...

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The otociclus cocama...

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If anyone wanted to know how the maiden hair fern is growing in the driftwood...

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I tried growing terrestrial moss on top of the hairnet full of peat moss but it died slowly as the fern blocked the light... not sure what else will grow here...
 
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

Edgar Allan Poe

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I've decided to add some darker colours to the riparium... mostly shades of purple to contrast to the light greens of the syngonium and maiden hair fern...
 
How do you go about transitioning them? Do you wash the soil and trim the roots or something else?
 
mort said:
How do you go about transitioning them? Do you wash the soil and trim the roots or something else?
Click to expand...

I wash all the soil off the roots and then wash the entire plant with mild soapy water to remove any chemicals or pesticides... Then I trim the older leaves off and prune back the root systems... then i leave them in a bowl or bucket of water with roots submerged to leach anything else out and allow it to start transitioning to water roots... a couple days maybe...

Then I place into appropriate planter depending on the needs of the particular species...

I've never tried calathea before so here's hoping they do well... some say that the crown needs to above the water but I've seen examples of it growing below like a spathiphillum...

I find Anthurium tricky too... you have to get the crown just right so it doesn't rot but also allows enough water to get to the roots... I've had a couple failures... it definitely needs to above the water level with the roots below...
 
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Interesting thanks. I do basically the same thing but left them in glass jars for a couple of weeks before adding to the tank.

I tried two Anthurium and had one die off and one make it but it never thrived. I've got another to try and I think the one that died sunk too much. I also tried a calathea a couple of years ago and that was a failure but I even killed it as a houseplant. I'm normally pretty green fingered.

Its nice to have inspiration for a new tank i'm hoping to build soon.
 
hitmanx said:
It has begun...

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Yet another attempt hasn't seemed to work... this time it was 1 male and 2 females with 1 day in the bucket... that was on Feb 15th... no fry yet...

I'm going to try a spawning mop and this time have no sponge filter in there and make it bare bottom... i have more females in the new bunch so maybe I'll try with those but they are kinda young...

I even used 100% tank water this time...
 
I added the calathea lancifolia (rattlesnake plant) to a planter and stuck the green variegated philodendron behind it...

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I also added the darker Anthurium to the back...

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I have had this chamaedorea elegans sitting in the back for the last year not doing much bit not dieing.. . So I moved it up the front driftwood just stuck in a crack...

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Next is the calathea medallion.. .

The view from my basement couch

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