Suggestion for Aquascape

[FC]

Hi,

I planned to change my 4x2x2 ft tank's plant type from stem plant focus to mainly rossette.

I need help in aquascaping such plants like:
- Aponogeton madagascarensis
- Aponogeton rigidifolius
- Barclaya longifolia
- Crypt Parva
- Echinodorus x barthii
- Echinodorus horemanii 'Red'
- Echinodorus rubra/siris
- Echinodorus 'Rubin'

I will use 2~3 type of the above plants, I think, as they are solitary plants. I wish to focus on them to bring out their beauty.

If you have photos or scatches to share with me, I would appreciate.

[checkerboard]

This is a very interesting post and it is a pity that not many has responded thus far. While I do not think I qualify to give advice, I have the following comments.

A problem that I then to find with rosette plants is that while they are stupendous as a centre piece, it is difficult usually to combine many different rosette plants to fill out the spaces in a neat manner because the space under the overhanging leaves of large echinodorus species for instance is hard to fill. unless your tank is pretty huge, it can look a bit untidy or cluttered.

The list stated are predominantly larger plants (and red may i say), except the Crytocoryne parva. Assuming that you want an entire tank using rosette plants, the parva can then form your foreground. (it will take a long time to get established) A much quicker alternative is the common E. tennellus, which gives a very textured look. A side point. Cryptocoryne species are all rosette and given patience and time, each species can develop into real beauties, even the much underrated C. wendtii, costata and ciliata.

A tank of many individual rosette plants each competing for attention would be distracting. However, if you have a large clump of one paticular species in an area of the tank, it can be pretty. Although your list do not have E. uruguayensis, I have personally seen this plant planted in dense groups at the corner of big tanks to great effect.(some of Amano books has this as well) From your list, perhaps E. osiris can be used instead.

from your list, I will, select parva for the foreground and other empty spaces. At the rear to one side, has a huge clump of A. rigidifolius with some crypts, pr A. madagascaris beneath to "soften" the stripy feel. A. rigidifolius is a good choice because it does not wither unlike most Aponogeton species. However, do not that A. rigidifolius is another slow grower initially.

perhaps, barclaya longifolia 'green' can form the focal point at the 1/3 of the tank in front of some rocks or wood. behind the wood, either E. osiris or E. horemanni. Do have a space in the middle to aviod clutter and for neatness.

hope this helps and you can have a nice tank of rosette plants. Do post some pictures when you are done! :wink:

[timebomb]

This is a very interesting post and it is a pity that not many has responded thus far. While I do not think I qualify to give advice, I have the following comments.

Yew Kiat, I'm glad you responded to Freddy's post. You made some very good comments and I think you shouldn't worry about not being qualified to give advice. We're here to share what we know.

There's nothing much I can add to what you've said other than to point out that Crypt parva's are very slow growers. A friend who has this plant in his tank told me the parva produce only 5 new leaves a year. Crypts, in general, look a lot nicer if they are planted in groups.

I no longer grow Echinodorus' because the last few grew so tall their leaves float at the surface. I wanted to give away an E. osiris a few years ago but no one wanted it because it was so huge. It was more than 3 feet in length. Only after much persuasion, a fish shop took the plant from me. Imagine having to persuade them to take the plant when I was giving it away for free.

It's actually kind of strange when I look back at how I started. In the old days before anyone knew of such things as CO2 injection, the plant I wanted very badly to grow well was an Echinodorus bleheri - Amazon sword. Nowadays, any aquatic gardener worth his salt wouldn't even think about having such a plant in his tank. It's a shame though as the bleheri can be quite a lovely plant if grown well.

Loh K L

[FC]

Yew Kiat,

Thank you for your pointers, they are very helpful and I had printed it out for reference.

I have something in mind, it is a simple one that have:
-A slim row of Vallisneria as back ground
-E. Tennelus as carpet
-A large rossette (?) at left corner to cover my filter pipes
-Some low light plants under the above large plant
-Aponogeton madagascarensis stand alone at right corner?
-Barclaya/Echinodorus 'Rubin' narrow as highlight plant

Just a rough ideal. the problem I always have is how to put them together to work.

I received a nice layout picture from Kim which has good proportion that is presence to the eyes. However, it involved woods and rocks which I have problem handling them but they are good elements.

How is your tank doing? I pass by your place every weekend (along Bukit Timah) but I am not sure if you are in.

Thank you.

[RonWill]

I received a nice layout picture from Kim which has good proportion that is presence to the eyes. However, it involved woods and rocks which I have problem handling them but they are good elements.

Yo Freddy, how about sharing that layout? The mention of woods and rocks sure caught my attention as I'm still drawing inspiration from nice pics and info from posts. Perhaps that will get me off my lazy butts and do something about it.

I can't comment on how others wishes to rescape their tanks (I don't qualify either ) but I'm thinking that my reddish Barclaya longifolia will add some color contrast to an otherwise all green setup. At about 20" high, it could easily draw attention too! But do swing by to pick up the longifolia... it's yours and it deserves a better home :wink:

It's puzzling when you mentioned, "...woods and rocks which I have problem handling them but they are good elements." Why would that be so? Please enlighten.

[Green Baron]

Hi,
I planned to change my 4x2x2 ft tank's plant type from stem plant focus to maily rossette.

I noticed those who have been into planted tank for some time tend to avoid fast growing stem plants and go for slow growing plants. ;-)
Stem plant looks nice but they generally grown too fast and requires too much effort to maintain. I myself have also switched to slow growing plants such as Crypts, Echi, Lobelia, Moss, Anunias and slow growing Hygrophila sp.

It's actually kind of strange when I look back at how I started. In the old days before anyone knew of such things as CO2 injection, the plant I wanted very badly to grow well was an Echinodorus bleheri - Amazon sword. Nowadays, any aquatic gardener worth his salt wouldn't even think about having such a plant in his tank. It's a shame though as the bleheri can be quite a lovely plant if grown well.

KL,
E bleheri is one of my favorite Echi. sp. I had them before I even knew about CO2 system and they florished without any CO2 and base fert. I still plant them as background plant in my no CO2 no fert moss tank. They look lovely when planted in groups.

Gan

[FC]

Ronnie,

I hope Kim do not mind me showing off his talent. Here is his sketches:


From your tank's picture, I can see that the Barclaya is your favourite plant. Thank you for your generous offer, in return, I will place it at mid ground as solitary plant. When I post the picture in due time, I hope you will go...hm...my baby is there :wink: .

I have problem with keeping hard objects in my tank (I guess my laterite base is the culprit), spot algae love them. I hope that water can stand, so that I have no glass wall to house this uninvited guest. I cannot tolerate any form of algae, so if I do use wood or rocks, they have to be clothed with plants. And again, unlike any other plants, I have problem with growing mosses, they shy away from my tank, stunted like alien in the tank.


Gan,

Yes, I wish to have plants that require less pruning while having a more stable aquascape. Besides, I am travelling quite abit and if my company succeed in getting the big project in Indonesia, I may be there for months. Having said that, I have not reach the stage that I am tired of pruning (I actually enjoy it) but the routine of destroying the aquascape every 3 weeks (pruning intervals) is heart breaking.

[imported_aquaticscapes]

May I inquire who Kim is? I think his aquascape rendition is the best I have seen.

[hwchoy]

Freddy, if you're into an aquarium as a natural history capsule, versus a garden, then you might want to consider the origins of the plants. e.g. with the natural history perspective, Echinodorus wouldn't go well with crypts (asian) nor barbs, but would do splendidly with characins.

[FC]

Don Matakis,

I do not know Kim, I think Ronnie knows him. I guess he is a Korean because his pictures which I received thtrough private message were posted in a Korean website. Oh yes, they were very well painted.

Heng Wah,

Thank you for your comments. Good point, I will take note of that.

[blur one]

Yew Kiat,

Thank you for your pointers, they are very helpful and I had printed it out for reference.

I have something in mind, it is a simple one that have:
-A slim row of Vallisneria as back ground
-E. Tennelus as carpet
-A large rossette (?) at left corner to cover my filter pipes
-Some low light plants under the above large plant
-Aponogeton madagascarensis stand alone at right corner?
-Barclaya/Echinodorus 'Rubin' narrow as highlight plant

Just a rough ideal. the problem I always have is how to put them together to work.

I received a nice layout picture from Kim which has good proportion that is presence to the eyes. However, it involved woods and rocks which I have problem handling them but they are good elements.

How is your tank doing? I pass by your place every weekend (along Bukit Timah) but I am not sure if you are in.

Thank you.

Your set up is similar to my set up currently....but I am using hair grass....my pipe is on the right side and I am waiting for the Vals to cover them up.... also the right side of my tank does not quite make me happy.....you may want to have a look at it....

http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/sh...79#post2149479

[FC]

Kim Leng,

I see no picture except the forum which is of no interest to me. I would appreciate if you could link the picture directly, instead.

Thank you.

[blur one]

its in my galleries.... not too sure how to link it but here goes...

http://www.arofanatics.com/members/k...ofplantedtank/

[RonWill]

Don, welcome to the our little corner. How did you find the way to this forum?

While I try to meet up with fellow forumers, it's unlikely I get to hangout with those from overseas, like yourself and Kim, who's from Korea.

Kim is one artistic fella and his renditions of aquatic-scapes is really cool stuff. Here's one more of his illustration at this thread.

Sometimes, our plans changes and what I ended up was this...

[RonWill]

Freddy, if you're into the 'unkempt' look, perhaps this might interest you.

While resting from flu and since it's a public holiday (Vesak Day), I decided to do a 2nd permanent setup for my killies.


I have a liking for driftwood, which somehow makes any setup more 'natural looking'.

... and a slightly closer view.

It's a day-old setup and should look 'raw' but I'll be waiting paitiently to see how the 'layering' goes.

There's vallisneria at the rear right, and 4 bunch of Blyxa aubertii beside and in front of the driftwood. At midground, there's your B. japonica & Echi. tenellus from Rashid.

Most of these plants are considered by Tropica as 'medium to high light' but I was plesantly surprised to find that Shortman's Blyxa aubertii didn't die off. Instead of dark green, it's now 'fresh' green and flowering! :wink:

Freddy, the setup isn't filtered, aerated or CO² fertilized. There isn't any enriched base under the 'Lonestar' and it will receive only shaded ambient lighting... very low-maintenance! Game to try? :wink:

[stormhawk]

Ron, can't link up the pics. The links are correct but they do not end in .../.../nameofpic.jpg or .jpeg or .gif so the pics don't appear.

[RonWill]

Jian Yang, I'm not sure what else to do but update my 'Tank Page'. You should be able to see the said 2nd 18incher, as well as the rest of the tanks.

2 more 18inchers coming in this Saturday... want to get your fingers wet?

[A.Rashid]

me coming Ronnie.

and this time round tdont tell me that I didnt inform you.

[FC]

Kim Leng,

Thank you for sharing the tank's photos. I like the space that you created, very good for fish watching.

Yes, it is about 50% what I wanted. I would likely to add more rossette plants.


Ronnie,

I do not know how you did it. Yes, the Blyxa is doing great there. It would be interesting to see how they develop 2~3 weeks from now, I am sure the aquascape would turn out well . Keep us updated, ok?

[hwchoy]

Ronnie, did you say your Blyxa aubertii didn't require strong light? I am going to re-do my 1ft cube and wanter a tall backdrop and considering aubertii. I have 13W PL and CO2 injection. Probably I will give it a try.