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Tom's Bucket O' Mud - The End

killi69 said:
Very nice Tom. I had some appear on mine but cut them off before they flowered as someone told me Aponogetons die after flowering. Do you know whether this is true for the crispus red varieties?
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Blimey, I hope not! The plants are looking fantastic at the moment. Wonder if George knows, his flowered a while back I seem to remember.
 
Just the reply I was looking for! And a bit of a google seems to confirm it... I suppose its possible that in some cases the plants might flower if they are on their last legs as a last ditch reproductive effort? Shouldn't think that's the case with my monsters though.
 
Hi all,
BigTom said:
form of a flower stalk from each of the Aponogeton crispus 'red'
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Try pollinating them, you need a fine paint brush, and just rub it up and down the flower spikes. I'm not sure which Aponogeton I have (ordinary A. crispus probably, white flower, single spike, self fertile), but they flower all the time and set plenty of seed. It takes about 6 weeks to mature after pollination, the fertile fruit are large green and "square" angular, and they germinate straight away.

I've not noticed any health effects from letting them fruit.

cheers Darrel
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

Try pollinating them, you need a fine paint brush, and just rub it up and down the flower spikes. I'm not sure which Aponogeton I have (ordinary A. crispus probably, white flower, single spike, self fertile), but they flower all the time and set plenty of seed. It takes about 6 weeks to mature after pollination, the fertile fruit are large green and "square" angular, and they germinate straight away.

I've not noticed any health effects from letting them fruit.

cheers Darrel
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Cheers Darrel.

Gave that a go this morning, then spotted something giving me a helping hand -

dudez.jpg
 
Hi all,
Cute, good news is that it doesn't look like a Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus verbasci), the adults like flowers, but the larvae like woolly carpets. They have clubbed antennae, but a dome shaped, patterned elytra. It might be a Pollen Beetle, again because of the clubbed antennae, but it looks a bit long in the body.

You could try "A simple key to the commoner families of British beetles" - <http://www.wildlifebcn.org/sites/bcnp.live.wt.precedenthost.co.uk/files/files/BeetleFamKey1.pdf>.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,
ghostsword said:
It would be so cool if you get some seeds.. not sure how you would germinate them.. but cool..
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On the scape I left originally the seeds germinated as soon as they had fallen off. It took me a while to work out what they were, as the fruit were still green and it looked like vegetative propagation from a bulbil. The next time I kept an eye on the scape, and they definitely were seeds, not bulbils.

I would expect that seed from Tom's plant would either show a range of colours from green through to the original red, or possibly would be all green or all red, dependent upon the genetic control of leaf pigment (presumably anthocyanins).

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,
ghostsword said:
Did the seeds germinate when falling into the tank, or on a mud substrate?
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Luis, I just found them in a little pile by the filter sponge, green cuboid seeds, about as big as match head, with a small green shoot starting to grow out (a bit like a Nymphaea bulb when it starts growing). They didn't have any roots (roots normally develop before shoots on seeds) and must have germinated soon after they were shed, or possibly while they were still attached to the flowering scape. I tend really have any space to grow them on, so I pushed them into gaps in the sand in the tank, but that was the last I saw of them.

I've hopefully pollinated another scape, and I'll keep a better eye on this one, and try and grow a few on.

cheers Darrel
 
Put together a quick video yesterday showing the nightlight and the halide coming on and a few creature shots.

Recently moved the Brachygobius across from their nano as I changed my mind on their ID from soft water aggregatus to more brackish doriae/sabanus (erring towards the latter), so figured they'd enjoy the hard water. They've settled in nicely and quickly usurped the 10 times larger peacock gobies from their favorite spot!

Forgive the messy emersed section and the still to be planted intake sponge, they're on the to do list.

 
Dude... I reiterate.. this is the best, most amazing, and true to the title of Nature Aquarium..

I am sure that even the fish are fooled in thinking that they are in a river somewhere..

Gob-smacked.. this is what I will be aiming at getting in the next couple of years.. Truly inspirational.
 
Truly amazing this tank, I have a perfect corner for something like this, so tempting! When can we do a tour? :clap: :clap: :thumbup:
 
yep.....unbelievable aquarium.
Love the video position pause to show the sunrise effect from the lighting transitions. The Sawaba Resplendens? popping out from under the ferns and cryptocoryne looked like such natural behaviour, and even more so the last angle where you could see the fish darting to the surface as if picking off insects in nature.
Thanks for the video 😎
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
ghostsword said:
Dude... I reiterate.. this is the best, most amazing, and true to the title of Nature Aquarium..

I am sure that even the fish are fooled in thinking that they are in a river somewhere..

Gob-smacked.. this is what I will be aiming at getting in the next couple of years.. Truly inspirational.
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Thanks man. I still wish that I had the restraint to make it a proper biotope, and that there was a bit more breeding going on. Other than that (and a perpetual battle against cloudy water from the unwashed grit I mixed with the soil) I'm very happy with it.

LondonDragon said:
Truly amazing this tank, I have a perfect corner for something like this, so tempting! When can we do a tour? :clap: :clap: :thumbup:
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Hah, if you're ever in Edinburgh then feel free to pop in for a cuppa. Beauty of this tank is that it really is low maintenance... I probably spend 10 mins a week doing the odd water change and that's about it, so no reason not to have one if you've got space!
 
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