Nautilus143
Member
Hi all,
I am really unhappy with the state of two of my plants in particular. My 75L tank is low-tech, non-CO2, and has running since February. Please see pic below:
The Staurogyne repens around the two rocks has never grown very well. In the beginning it seemed to struggle to take root and the leaves have stayed quite small compared to what I have seen in others' tanks. At the moment it also looks odd as my Amano shrimp have eaten all the lower leaves, leaving me with stalks that only have leaves on the top half thinking of ripping all these out, but don't know what to replace with. Needs to be something that stays small as I don't want my rocks to be obscured from view.
Speaking of rocks being obscured, the water sprite has gotten completely out of control. My Amanos have been eating this plant too, leaving it very ratty looking. Also, the roots are actually no longer submerged - you can't see it from the angle on the pic (I was getting serious glare when trying to take a photo straight on) but there is basically a void at the back right of the tank that just has a giant mass of floating roots. Not very attractive.
I'm thinking of replacing the water sprite with something like an Echinodorus. On the Tropica website, Echinodorus grisebachii is said to be an easy beginner plant. Can anyone confirm this?
I may add something else along with the Echinodorus to give my fish a bit more cover, but I'm not sure what. My honey gourami love spending time in the water sprite which is literally the only reason I haven't ripped it out already. I have always loved the look of spiral Vallisneria but don't know if it will look good in my current setup. Any thoughts?
I am really unhappy with the state of two of my plants in particular. My 75L tank is low-tech, non-CO2, and has running since February. Please see pic below:
The Staurogyne repens around the two rocks has never grown very well. In the beginning it seemed to struggle to take root and the leaves have stayed quite small compared to what I have seen in others' tanks. At the moment it also looks odd as my Amano shrimp have eaten all the lower leaves, leaving me with stalks that only have leaves on the top half thinking of ripping all these out, but don't know what to replace with. Needs to be something that stays small as I don't want my rocks to be obscured from view.
Speaking of rocks being obscured, the water sprite has gotten completely out of control. My Amanos have been eating this plant too, leaving it very ratty looking. Also, the roots are actually no longer submerged - you can't see it from the angle on the pic (I was getting serious glare when trying to take a photo straight on) but there is basically a void at the back right of the tank that just has a giant mass of floating roots. Not very attractive.
I'm thinking of replacing the water sprite with something like an Echinodorus. On the Tropica website, Echinodorus grisebachii is said to be an easy beginner plant. Can anyone confirm this?
I may add something else along with the Echinodorus to give my fish a bit more cover, but I'm not sure what. My honey gourami love spending time in the water sprite which is literally the only reason I haven't ripped it out already. I have always loved the look of spiral Vallisneria but don't know if it will look good in my current setup. Any thoughts?