The Stove & Its Flowering Anubias.

[zozo]

Hi Marcel, Sorry to hear some died 🙁 Do Oreichtys eat the shrimp in the tank.

Well ok it never is what we like but some fish live longer then others.. I have the same with the hara jerdoni, these also like colder temps and rather die soon if kept at for example 25°c also lost 3 Hara's over the past 12 months.. That was also a reason to go down to 22°C.. I have no idea about the Oreicthys and temp, i thought the best description i could find was seriously fish. But the way the describe this fish is 80% contrary of what i experience. This species is still to rare and not well documented enough to be conclusive. And next to this i still don't know if it is wild catch or captive bred. It might be wild catch and than never can know their age of course. 🙂

But they occasionaly catch a cherry shrimp, but this is not their main diet over all they do not look at the shrimps.. And the cherries breed way to fast they just can't keep up with that. I started with 30 cherries and definitively have over a 100 now and only witnessed it twice them eating a shrimp.

 

[zozo]

Second summer is comming for this naturaly lit indoor tank under the roof window.. BBA on the rise again 🙂 and time to switch off the artificial lights.. 🙂
It actualy doesn't make taking pictures easier, light enough but it reflects as mad of course.. For now i only have little 2 x 7 watt cob led spots at 20% capacity concentrated towards the emersed growth. And the rest is daylight from above.. It'll only increase while the sun set higher in the sky towards the summer..

Still the left hand corner with the Crypt spiralis shola is growing but, stays a bit behing, not the best low tech crypt around, very picky plant.. Few weeks ago i added a Aponogeton robinsonii to the same corner, to get thta corner a bit denser in plantmass.. It still has no floaters but happily growing, but still young..

The emersed H. tripartita is growing like mad and i gave a upportunity to go wild without trimming it at all.

Note those tiny light colored specs on the water surface. 🙂 The boraras go bonkers over it and they pic 'm off one by one.

It are these buggers in the Tripartita..


But i take a wet brush and brush them off the plant, they stick in the wet brush hairs and than dip the brush into the water.. Free food for the boraras, pumila's and darios.. I notice them all picking them off the surface. Can't actualy be more natural.. Only have to keep brushing every few days to keep the lise population in check..

 

[14548]

Awesome natural food supply!

 

[Robbie X]

Vey cool

 

[zozo]

🙂 My little baby sump needed a rub.. So i thought i might share its development..



It actualy runs like a charme and the emersed plants are rocking the boat.. It turned into a real little Wabi Kusump..



The first sponge pad is bursting with plantgrowth, planted several sp. Bacopa caroliniana, Hydrocotyl tripartita, Mc and Hc. All small creeping plants, due to the lak of height. The later 2 didn't realy got a fair fight and got pushed away a bit.. Didn't realy bother to dig to find them back..


It also contains a little piece of DW with mosses, couldn't get it out, it is firmly stuck to the sponge.. There are more mosses to find all over it but it's all deep bellow the plantmass.


Underside of the sponge pad..

And even the second one is penetrated and it grew into the bioballs.

If you happen to have a sump, helophyte filtering rocks! And is fun too..

 

[Guest]

That's great to see...I reckon you're a permaculturalist at heart😉

 

[zozo]

That's great to see...I reckon you're a permaculturalist at heart😉

I guess so, never used that word myself.. But now you say so, yes, i also have a green roof above my shed.. 🙂

 

[Guest]

also have a green roof above my shed.. 🙂

Exactly...I think it's a great philosophy to have, working with nature as much as possible. I think your Mission Bathtub has strong elements of permaculture too🙂

 

[zozo]

I always had it.. As a kid i was always in the woods.. While the others played socker.. 🙂 A lifetime dream, if i could i would build a house and live in the forrest.

It kinda reflects in my current house, the only green one in the street..

🙂 Looks like my sump..

 

[Guest]

Wow...that's amazing😎 I thought it was in the woods until I scrolled down and saw your cat.
He doesn't look too impressed tho'...🙂

 

[zozo]

He's used to it, it's his hide out, he sleeps on/in that shed roof all night long. 🙂

 

[zozo]

New little experiment above my Asian theme tank. The Hydrocotyl that was up there before got sick from the green flies and had to remove it.. And the first orchid i treid, Bulbophyllum taiwanense unfortunately failed.. I like to believe it was my own fault it did. Unfortunately the taiwanense is temporary not available at the time, it still is my favorite.. So this time i gave the Bulophyllum sikkimense a try.. Tho a tad bigger and hopefully easier than the taiwanense. It also has a different flower and seems to require a bit more fertilization. On the RH side there are still 2 old bulbs from the previous orchid and even some roots sticking out the moss. Sometimens i think to see the taiwanense still wants to come back. It didn't yet rot away and it looks more dormant than dead and think to see some new root growth. But this could only be wishfull thinking.. Time will tell. 🙂


Since i found i had way to much naked emersed wood above this tank and doing a lot of thinking searching and reading i also desided to try a Pyrrosia nummularifolia a little epiphytic Asian tree climbing fern, it seems to require not to much moist and aledgedly needs to completely dry after watering.. So regarding this descryption i thought it maybe does very good at this spot.


I planted it today and since i have no clue if this will work out i only planted little portions of both as a try out.. If it holds on for the comming weeks i put some more on it.


Got enough left..


And also the Anubias plantd up there finaly after almost 2 years seems to have acclimatized a bit better.. For the first time a new leaf staying healthy already for a few weeks and growing bigger without damage. Previously all leaves dried out rather soon at a much smaller size, actualy gave up on this plant long ago, but now seems to finaly got around the lower humidity.


Exiting all 🙂

 

[Guest]

the Anubias plantd up there finaly after almost 2 years seems to have acclimatized a bit better

Crikey, that's what I call persistence and patience, reminds me of Amano and that emergent B. heudelotii of his 🙂

 

[zozo]

Crikey, that's what I call persistence and patience, reminds me of Amano and that emergent B. heudelotii of his 🙂

Yes i remember you mentioning this Amano scape before.. 🙂 When i was trying a java fern in a wabi kusa, didn't got old.. But still am trying actualy. It is a few very tiny ones, one is to be seen in the last picture, if you know what to look for.. But that Amano scape with the emergent Bolbitis was a reassuring inspiration to be even more patient.. 🙂 That's what this hobby is all about, time and patience, trying and keep trying.

 

[alto]

Great to see updates on this one 🙂

I especially like the orchids!

 

[zozo]

Still got some bare wood left and still searching around for more valid candidates, if all goes well now i plan some more asian mini Bulbophylums up there. Not yet fully sure but likely going to be Bulbophyllum tingabarinum, in the back Bulbophyllum moniliforme more up front. 🙂

Bellow the water surface could use an update as well, but for now since this tank receives a vast amount of daylight surrounded by white walls. I have to much light pollution during the day and to much reflection to get any decent pics. The tank reflects so much it is even hard to see through with the naked eye. So i have to wait a few more weeks so it gets darker earlier in the day. 🙂

It's a extreme slow burner and still after nearly 2 years needs time. Got some rather difficult plants in there for the condition they are in. Still strugling to find the balance between day light and additional artificial light. Got a Crypt spiralis var. caudigera and a Aponogeton robinsonii at the back left i yet not figured to get them to go propperly without co2. 🙂 In wintertime it grew beter with the artificial light only, it's in the dark corner without artifical lght and it suffered a set back when i switched it off. So still playing with that, to get them to grow back again with both light sources, day and artificial without running into an algae problem..

As you can see that balloon sized Lomariopsis cf. lineata front left is going mental, it receives the most amount of daylight and surprisingly is the fasted growing plant in this tank. I need to trim it again.


🙂

 

[rebel]

I always had it.. As a kid i was always in the woods.. While the others played socker.. 🙂 A lifetime dream, if i could i would build a house and live in the forrest.

It kinda reflects in my current house, the only green one in the street..
View attachment 106199
🙂 Looks like my sump..

Amazing green wall!! Does it die down in Winter? Could it damage the structure underneath? This would be a great idea for west facing walls in the Southern hemisphere. The western sun here is unrelenting.

 

[zozo]

Amazing green wall!! Does it die down in Winter? Could it damage the structure underneath? This would be a great idea for west facing walls in the Southern hemisphere. The western sun here is unrelenting.

Its a Parthenocissus quinquefolia and not an evergreen in the fall it turns into a charming bright red, orange and yellow scenery like this.

and than sheds all it's leaves. It attaches to everything with little tentacles with feet looking like suction cups.. Attaches with remarkable strong hair roots even to relative smooth surfaces. For example also to plastic window frame. But it doesnt dammage the structure. The only thing that should be checked when it reaches the roof tiles, that young branches do not creep under it, grow thicker over the years and lift up and maybe crack the roof tile. That's not typical for this plant, this should be checked regularly with any climber against a wall having a roof with tiles.. Than actualy the leaf shedding comes in handy, cutting the plant back during this periode makes working with it easier than if it were an evergreen. With an evergreen you need to plough through a green jungle..

Such a plant is indeed a very good isolator and keeps a wall cool and protected against the sun.. But has it's price of course, they loose also quite some debri. Not only leaves, but also blue berries and before that it will shed a lot of pollen and it's a bee highway. During the summer it sometimes sounds like it can lift off and fly away any time. With thousands of bees in it collecting pollen. I kinda like it and don't mind the extra work, but difinitively something to take in account before planting one. 🙂

 

[mort]

I love the covered house look. We have a climbing hydrangea covering most of the front of our house and it's bee and bird heaven in the summer as well. My brother just moved house and I'm allowed to do what I want with the garden so planted a virginia creeper to cover the front and wisteria to cover the sunnier side. He liked the idea luckily and it should look good in 5-10 years.

 

[Guest]

Just been flicking through this again...almost forgotten what a great journal it is 🙂