When your aquascape has a glosso foreground, just about every 6-8 weeks, you glosso will look like it does in this picture. The glosso will have formed a mat that’s about 3-4 inches thick, with portions of that mat floating up away from the substrate. Underneath the substrate, you’ll have a nice thick mess of mulm sitting there. And if you’re lucky, you’ll have from fry using this thick mat as a refuge from much larger fish.

Too bad for those fry, when this happens, it’s time to replant! I have to do just this, this week. In about 6 weeks, I will be hosting the GWAPA meeting. Hopefully, by that time, that new glosso plantlets will have matured into a nice 1″ thick glosso mat.

Timing is one of the key things to keep in mind for every aquascape. Whether you’re planning to show the tank to friends, club members, or take that perfect photograph for sharing online or to submit in an aquascaping contest, timing is everything. I generally tend to play things by ear, but one of these days, I’ll spend a little more time counting backwards. What I mean by that, is the advice of another GWAPA member, Ghazanfar, who suggests writing down every time you trim a plant. Then, whenever that particular plant looks “perfect,” note that on your calendar too. If you subtract the “perfect” date from the date you trimmed, you should know exactly how long it takes for each group of plants in your tank to reach its ideal look. Then, anytime you want to show your tank, you just need to count backwards from that date for each plant, and trim accordingly. By the tank your friends are over, every plant in your tank should look “perfect!” (Of course, YMMV.)

At the last GWAPA auction, “Delaware Jim” was auctioning off two bags of some “mutant anubias” that appeared in his tank. Apparently, he claims, this plant grew from a regular Anubias barterii ‘nana’ rhizome. What we’re talking about here, is an anubias plant with leaves that very closely resemble Anubias barterii ‘coffefolia,’ except the stems are approximately 12+ inches tall.

In the picture, you can see that some of the leaves are growing out of the water. This is in a 54G corner tank that is 24″ tall. That’s one heck of an anubias ‘nana!’ My theory is that some other species of anubias was hitching a ride with his nana plant, and over time, the plant grew to this incredible size. If that’s not the case, then something in his tank must have spurred this mutation. In either case, I promise that I won’t drink the water if I’m ever at Jim’s house!

This weekend, we made a trip down to New Bern, North Carolina to visit family. Since we were blessed with some beautiful 65 degree days, we decided to visit a park on the Neuse River where pine bogs and forest were all around. Of course, I couldn’t resist hiking through the surrounding areas to do some exploring and snap a few pictures.

With pine needle litter everywhere, I can only imagine how soft the water must be here. As damp and marshy as this looks, there really was not an unpleasant smell whatsoever. This is why I believe this is a bog, as opposed to a swamp, where water sits, allowing organics to break down and release gases. The bog flowed directly into the Neuse River, where Cypress trees lined the water’s edge. Even despite the lack of summer leaves, the roots and water provided for a very nice landscape. I was hoping to find a few pitcher plants to photograph, but I imagine it is still too soon after the latest frost for

those. I did, however, see quite a few Hydrocotyle vines starting to emerge along the wet ground. I

bet the entire floor will soon be covered with these as the weather warms. One of the neat things about this specific location is that the Neuse River is brackish, so among the freshwater plants and species found in the bog, where the two met you could find more saltwater-related things of interest. There was plenty of barnacle-covered driftwood, mussels, and clam shells populating the sandy beach.

I hope to get back down to these bogs sometime later in the year when it’s warmer to see the contrast the seasons have on these areas. If anyone has any suggestions for places to go, please comment to let me know!