My small brick pond has been progressing quite nicely this summer. I’ve added quite a few plants than I didn’t have last summer including Pogostemon yatabeanus, Riccia fluitans, Pogostemon stellata var. ‘broad-leaf,’ and a few native Polygonum, Ludwigia, and Lysamachia species that I’ve collected locally. Endlers and cherry shrimp are the main occupants of the pond this year again.

I’ve got frogbite growing quite well, with extensive root systems forming below the increasingly large pads on the surface. I’m hoping that they’ll soon transform into large plants resembling water hyacinths. Hydrocotle is growing nicely, both above and below the surface. The most prolific grower so far this year is definitely the Pogostemon yatabeanus, which seems to thrive regardless of fertilization or water current.

The solar pump is still operating, but is opposed by the large mass of plant matter occupying most of the water surface. Nevertheless, while some algae is present, the water is very clear, and by and large, the plants are doing well. Now, I’m just waiting for the sun to induce some of these plants to start flowering. I may start dosing extra phosphate to try and encourage the same thing. No doubt, the Endlers are producing plenty of ammonia to feed the plants.

I’ve only dosed a small amount of PMDD fertilizer roughly once a week, instead topping off the water in the pond a few times each week. The pond seems to have attracted a fair number of wasps and yellow jackets this year, which I haven’t yet been able to explain. Fortunately, none of these bugs have bothered much with me yet. As usual, birds enjoy bathing in the pond, and stealing the occasional Endler. So, for me it’s provided a great center of attraction for me to watch plants grow, birds play, and insects bugger about.

This past weekend, Aaron from GWAPA and I decided to go on a small collecting trip at a reservoir about 30 minutes away. It was a warm, humid day, but we braved the heat and found some really interesting stuff. Like my Florida trip, the water levels were well below their normal levels, exposing most of the aquatic foliage to the air and sunlight. Most of the species that we found had to be able to grow emersed from the water. A striking example is this field of emersed Rotala ramosior.

One of the few exceptions was this little gem that we found in amongst a huge patch of Hydrilla. We believe it’s some form of native Sagittaria or Vallisneria. None of the leaves that we found were much longer than 4-5 inches, so we have high hopes that we’ll experience the same thing in our tanks. The crinkled, or slightly spiraling leafs could have a very nice mid-ground potential is they stay that size.

There was no shortage of Polygonum available around this reservoir. We found at least two distinct species, although I didn’t take any as I don’t find many of this species appealing in an aquascape. As you can see, there was lots of nice driftwood available too, but we didn’t take any of that either. In fact, the few pieces that we were interested in were tree stumps where the water had carved out amazing crevices throughout the root system. Unfortunately, those roots were still very much planted in the ground!

Below is just another example of where we were finding plants. In among a ton of tiny toads, there was more Ludwigia palustris than anyone would ever want. Rotala ramosior was also mixed in with other non-aquatic plants.

Monday, our last full day in Florida, we had an appointment with the owner of Florida Aquatic Nurseries (FAN) for a personalized tour through their facilities. FAN is probably the largest grower and wholesaler of aquatic and pond plants for the entire United States. Chances are, if you see a potted plant at your local fish store, it originated from these guys. Their 5 and 10 acre facilities are really quite impressive. Below you can see how most of the aquatic plants are grown hydroponically in their greenhouses. The plants sit in large tubs of water that are constantly circulated throughout the bins.

Other plants are grown individually in pots like the Anubias barterii var. nana ‘petite’ shown below. Nearly all of the plants are flowering throughout the greenhouse, so we saw flowers for crypts, sword plants, various hygrophilia, ludwigia, hydrocotle, you name it.

Outside of their greenhouses, they have countless numbers of large concrete ponds where they grow more aquatic plants, this time, mostly submerged. These ponds are packed with stem plants, all bright red and orange from the intense Florida sun. Take note of the Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata ”Cuba” below. They have a fairly large work force at hand, constantly monitoring all of the plants, and taking cuttings from the large ponds to sell.

We were quite surprised at the sheer number of popular plants FAN is growing that rarely seem to show up in our local stores. Everything from nana ‘petite’ to HC to downoi were there. I’m not sure if the distributors aren’t stocking these plants, or if the local stores only carry bread and butter plants, but it’s a shame to know that these things aren’t widely distributed. Beyond aquarium plants, there were countless water lilies in bloom throughout the nursery. Beautiful!

Our last stop before heading home was an orchid nursery that supposedly stocked some rare crypts that were given to them by the late Robert Gasser, a pioneer grower of Cryptocoryne species. We called the owner of the nursery, and he agreed to show us around. Not a crypt guy himself, the owner didn’t know many of the species that were spread throughout his nursery, but we did end up purchasing a pot or two of what we believe is Cryptocoryne cordata var. zonata. Beyond the exotic types, he had Crypt. wendtii growing in his ponds, one shown below.

I have to say that this trip was unlike any other that I’ve been on. It was very free-form in nature, and had surprises at every waterway, nursery, or ditch that we stopped at. Hopefully, GWAPA members will make this trek down I-95 an annual or semi-annual occurrence!

GWAPA recently organized a 6-day “field trip” down to Florida to collect plants, fish, and enjoy many of the various aquarium-related attractions the state has to offer. Five GWAPA members, including myself, piled into a few vehicles to make the trek down I-95. Over the next few blog posts, I intend to chronicle portions of our trip. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed the trip!

Day 1: A lot of Driving.

Day 2: Morning: Snorkeling the Ichetucknee River

We arrive early in the morning, around 7:45am, just before the park opens at 8:00am. Ghazanfar had been recommended this excellent state park by a number of other aquarists who had snorkeled the river 3-4 years ago. We enter the park, and receive a number of instructions; Ghazanfar and I carry the gear to the first spring, while Michael and Rodney take their vehicles downstream to our stopping point. While we’re waiting for the others to return, Ghazanfar and I enter a small spring-fed pool to adjust our snorkeling equipment and ready ourselves for the next 3.5 hours of swimming. Even the small pool is amazing, showcasing at least 4-5 plant and fish species. Despite the relatively chilly water, we had a great time.

Hydrocotle, Valesneriam, Ludwigia, native mosses, and bacopa populate the floor of the spring. Various sunfish, catfish, and bass hang out in the cool, clear water. We’re able to see the spring push through a small cavern below us, sending small rocks circling in the water. Rodney and Michael arrive, and it’s time to head down the path to the actual river entrance.

The river itself is covered from left to right (and often floor to surface) with 2-3 foot long Valesneria. In the main channel, larger fish swim in the open, while others often take refuge in still enclaves, protected from the current by masses of wood, limestone, and plant matter. As you swim toward the banks of the river, smaller fish, such as these shown above, swim in the hundreds among the grasses. I regret not being able to collect these fish, as collecting from state parks is illegal. Wouldn’t a group of these guys be fantastic in a large planted tank?

Over three exhausting, but exhilarating hours in the water, we make our way to the parking lot, readying ourselves for the real reason we came down to Florida – to collect and sample various fish and plants from around the state.

Day 2: Afternoon Collecting

After getting our fish licenses, we head out on the road looking for small creeks, water-filled drainage ditches, and runoff ponds. One of the first places we came upon that fit this description is shown above. We found a few speckled mosquito fish, lots of hydrocotle and bacopa monnieri, but not much else. Nevertheless, we bagged a few sample plants and headed on our way. Now we knew what we had come from, so we were ready for the next few days of collecting.

Day 2: Evening Driftwood

The next stop on our trip is Tom’s Cypress, a huge retailer of cypress wood, branches, and artisan goods. As you can see, they have a large selection of cypress knees. I selected a few unique-looking pieces of cypress, paid, and left satisfied with a great first day in Florida.

GWAPA’s March 2007 meeting was another great meeting, this one at Sean Murphy’s home. For a guy known for his Cryptocoryne expertise, he sure can put together an amazing aquascape. This nano-tank to the left, sits innocently on his kitchen counter, with only a desk lamp over top. The desk-lamp sports only a daylight compact-fluorescent spiral bulb. I didn’t measure it, but I believe it’s just an 8″ cube, but he’s made it look much bigger here. Nice work Sean! This tank aside, the rest of Sean’s tanks are all “crypt farms.”

The topic for this meeting was “Growing Aquatic Plants Emerged.” A meeting summary can be found on the GWAPA website.

I was excited about this meeting because I had lined up a trade with Rob to swap my Apistogramma panduros for a half dozen of his Apistogramma sp. ‘Rotpunkt.’ So far they’re settling into my 40G nicely, but are still too young to sex. I hope to post some pictures of them up here soon.

Besides this fish swap, there was a huge auction this month with just about any plant you can think of being auctioned — everything from java moss to sunset hygrophilia to any of the more exotic cultivars you can think of. I only came away with two items, but I’m excited about getting them going. My auction wins are Ludwigia sp. ‘Guinea’ and Bacopa sp. ‘Araguaia.’ I kept Ludwigia sp. ‘Guinea’ previously, but I think it got overgrown by Rotala macrandra var. ‘Green,’ and subsequently melted away. I haven’t kept many Bacopa’s because there’s something about their vertical stance that is unappealing to me, but I’m going to give this one a try nevertheless. Even if I don’t like the look, who can deny the minty smell of its leaves?

I used some time-off after Christmas to do quite a bit of maintenance on my tanks. In addition to adding the U.V. sterilizer, I also took this opportunity to rescape the tank, in an effort to hopefully clear up what had been a pretty nasty algae outbreak. When Ghazanfar, Rob, and I spent an afternoon breaking up our prized California rock, I had set one large piece aside, specifically for use in my 75G. That rock is the large rock one the left, and weighs a considerable amount.

What I didn’t realize until after I put it in the tank, in that the rock has a natural cave in it, that’s just about perfect sized for a female apistogramma, but not quite large enough for the male. In essense, it’s the perfect size, and within a day of rescaping, one of the female A. cacatuoides took up residence.

So, besides the hardscape, I left the glosso intact on the right side of the tank before my previous scape. I repurposed the anubias baterii nana in front of the rocks in the middle, and replanted the utricularia on the left side. I’m a little curious to see if the U.V. sterilizer will have any effect on the growth rate of the utricularia. Finally, for the background, I went up to what has become a plant farm of my 40G, and trimmed out a variety of stems that I thought went together. From left to right: Pogostemon stellata ‘broadleaf’, Pogostemon sp., ludwigia repens ‘narrow-leaf’, Heteranthera zosterifolia, Blyxa japonica, and Limnophilia aromatica.

After looking at a mess of algae and java moss for far too long, I decided to tear down this tank, and give it a new aquascape. The wood is a wonderful piece of bogwood for apistogramma breeding because it is completely hollow, and has multiple entrances and exits through it’s core. The slate was collected locally before the October meeting down in Virginia, and the substrate is ADA aquasoil.

The plants are ludwigia repens var. ‘narrow leaf’ (back left, didiplis diandra (back right), baby tears (mid ground), and utricularia graminifolia in the foreground. I do have one restrictions that may somewhat limit this aquascape:

• Make sure there are enough nooks and cranies for the apistogramma viejitas that I’m going to attempt to breed in this tank. (Hence the bogwood, even though it may not be the perfect center piece)

One other thing to note. We all know that aquasoil grows plants like crazy. Well, apparently, it grows trumpet snails too. I have some of the largest trumpet snails I’ve ever seen in this tank. I’m trying to pull them all out since they’re disturbing the utricularia that I’ve so carefully planted.

Somehow, without me realizing it, my 40G tank has turned into more of a farm tank, than an aquascape. There’s a little bit of everything in this tank right now, most of it doing surprisingly well!

This is part of the problem when you have a tank with ADA aquasoil in it. You know that just about anything will grow in it! Therefore, when I see a plant I’m interested in trying, but don’t have room for in my normal aquascapes, where does it go? Well, of course, in the 40G, where the amazonia will keep it alive until I do find room for it! The only problem I ever have in this tank is occasional blue-green algae, when I don’t dose enough nitrates. As you can imagine, all of these stem plants suck up some nutrients! I’m currently only dosing SeaChem products in this tank because they work well, and don’t cost that much to maintain a 40G tank. I pretty much follow their recommended dosing chart as far as frequency of dosing goes, but I dose more than they recommend of everything. To the right is the pogostemon stellatus from Jeff in GWAPA (bigstick120 online) that’s waiting for the right aquascape to go in. The time will come soon I hope!

So what’s in here? I’ve got the usual plants, such as limnophilia aromatica, baby tears, didiplis diandra, stargrass, blyxa japonica, blyxa albertii, rotala magenta, and rotala pusilla.

A few more exotic ones like ludwigia cuba, ludwigia pantanal cuba, cyperus helferii, and rotala macrandra var. ‘green.’ Don’t forget pogostemon stellatus, and pogostemon stellatus ‘broad leaf.’

Not to mention a few ground-cover plants that are not getting near the light they require! Then, I have a few plants that I’ve collected locally, including creeping jenny, ludwigia palustrus, and an eleocharis species.

With all of these plants, I rarely see my beautiful apistogramma panduro fish that I love so much. Fortunately, the dwarf neon rainbowfish juveniles that I picked up at the catfish convention seem very much at home in this tank. They’re always racing around the tank, from end to end, darting in-between plants and rocks as they go. I think they like it in there!

Last night, I finally broke down and emptied out my raised brick pond for the winter. The night-time temperatures have been slowly teetering around the 50 degree mark, with a few night last week in the high 40’s. In good conscience, I didn’t want the Endlers to freeze to death.

The pond is emptied for the winter.

So, I pulled out my trusty net and siphon and went to town. The ludwigia aromatica was still flowering away, but I was surprised to still find a few stems of rotala macrandra ‘green’ still alive — I had long thought they had melted away. The sagitaria subulata looked more like Val, as nearly all of it was 2 feet tall due to the shading walls of the pond.

I had netted out 100-200 Endlers the week before, but I still managed to pull out remaining holdouts. To my surprise, I also pulled out about a dozen cherry shrimp! I had thrown in about a half-dozen pregnant females earlier in the summer, but hadn’t seen them since. I figured that fell victim to the weather, or perhaps the frogs that frequented the water hole. (Do frogs eat shrimp? They obviously enjoy other their insectual invertebrate cousins.) Then of course, I pulled out more pond snails than I have any practical use for.

The bricks and pots are stored away inside of the pond.

I have my bricks and planter pots stored away inside of the pond. Otherwise, the only thing left to do is to build a lid over the pond to keep out any rain/snow/leaves that are sure to come over the next few months. Otherwise, I can just look forward to this Spring, when I’ll do it all over again.

I realize that I haven’t posted any updated pictures of the 40G since I posted about the hardscape. Well, I took all of that blyxa japonica out of the 75G, and inserted it here. I probably ought to remove some of it from here, but I imagine a few clumps will remain in the final scape. I’m in the process of growing out enough ludwigia cuba, p. stellata, rotala macrandra ‘green,’ and ludwigia aromatica to fill out the back of the tank. For now, they’re just long stems waiting to be trimmed, and replanted.