Anyone With Experience of Hemianthus callitrichoides "c

[nikhilsood1]

Hi Everyone,
i managed to get some of this plant from a friend who was coming down from Singapore. It is a square patch of 5 inches. He says that the farm he got it from was growing it submerged. I just wanted to know if anyone here has tried this plant and what were their experiences, also if any special care needs to be taken.

Thank You
Nikhil Sood

[RRG]

I also got this plant just over a week ago; it was a square patch of 2 inches. I thought this process is much easier than planting it in a substrate (I don’t have a tweezer) and will spread much faster in the foreground: what I did was I cut a "cross stitch" and insert each stem into most of the hole. I added some lead weight in each corner and placed it in my foreground. I sprinkled some sand into that patch to hide the cross stitch. It was a tedious work.

I should just have cut this patch of plant into fours and planted it in directly to the substrate. Cut a sliver of lead weights and bend it into a U-shape and pin the plant with this to the substrate to keep from floating.

Right now, about five percent of the plant in my 29 gallon tank is turning brown, probably due to my rough handling and/or I’m not consistent of my DIY CO2. My light regimen is eight hours of light: 55 watts at first and another 55 watts of light somewhere in between those eight hours. A planted this tank in an area where about a 3 quarter of an inch is silica sand and the bottom is Seachem Fluorite and sprinkle of peat moss. Even though some are turning brown, the plant is also forming new leaves and roots which give me hope that it will survive.

[nikhilsood1]

Hi Randall,
Well i have used a twisor the surgical size which is about 17 inches and planted them. Lets hope it grows. It is in my 95 gallon planted tank.

Nikhil

[RRG]

That tool makes planting small plants easy I bet!

I might also try planting Hemianthus callitrichoides in a moist potting soil to propagate it. This way when the plant in my tank doesn't survive I could just grab more and plant it again until I figure myself how it can thrive in my tank.

[Robert]

Hi,
this plant is quite easy to keep. All you need is patience. HC is hard to plant because it is so tiny. If you managed to plant it and it stays at its position, most of the work is done. It grows quite slowly in the beginning but when it adapted to the conditions and developed enough new roots, it grows quite well. It took me about a half year to grow a thick carpet out of abut a half dozen single plants. The biggest problem was to keep them on the bottom of the tank and my gravel with a size of 0.5-1cm wasn't really helpful in this case.

regards

Robert

[primavera]

I've also acquired some recently. It was really green and fresh, but looks very much like emersed grown ones. I put it into the tank and half of it turned into brown mush. Then I read somewhere that floating the bits and pieces around would help them rejuvenate. To my surprise, the melting bits grew smaller new leaves, plenty of roots and doubled in size in 2 weeks. I have a nice green carpet floating around on the surface now. Maybe its the brighter light, and also my heavier than usual dosing of macros that helped it.

I tried a few strands of HC on pure peat moss too, watered down and stood in Estimative Index aquarium water to soil level in a pot. It grows much slower than those in the tank, but maintained its leaf size.

[primavera]

I've also acquired some recently. It was really green and fresh, but looks very much like emersed grown ones. I put it into the tank and half of it turned into brown mush. Then I read somewhere that floating the bits and pieces around would help them rejuvenate. To my surprise, the melting bits grew smaller new leaves, plenty of roots and doubled in size in 2 weeks. I have a nice green carpet floating around on the surface now. Maybe its the brighter light, and also my heavier than usual dosing of macros that helped it.

I tried a few strands of HC on pure peat moss too, watered down and stood in Estimative Index aquarium water to soil level in a pot. It grows much slower than those in the tank, but maintained its leaf size.

Min

[RRG]

I tried a few strands of HC on pure peat moss too, watered down and stood in Estimative Index aquarium water to soil level in a pot. It grows much slower than those in the tank, but maintained its leaf size.

Hello Min,

The few strands of Hemianthus callitrichoides you have is it under artificial light or sunlight?

I didn't have potting soil, but I do have peat moss that was left over when I set up my new tank--so that is what I used to plant the Hemianthus callitrichoides, and I also used half centimeter of silica sand on top of the peat moss. I used the sand because it made the planting easier and it kept the leaves clean when I planted it.

I didn't use a pot instead I use a clear plastic drinking cup . I placed this "pot" where it gets morning sunlight. I set up this pot yesterday and I noticed today that the moisture in the sand really dries up fast. So I reused my ten-gallon tank, placed a saucer with water by the pot, and cover the pot with this aquarium tank to keep the humidity a bit high. I’m crossing my fingers that the Hemianthus callitrichoides love this environment and start propagating. I also did this same process with Eleocharis acicularis just for experiment.

[itssg]

Pictures tell thousand words. I keeping mine emersed and submersed. Found they do well in fine sand with base fertilizer. Or dosing the liquid fertilizer weekly.

The above tank was located at my balcony under the direct sun light. The 1.5ft tank covered with a layer of clean wrap. Hemianthus callitrichoides are growing emersed. I am keeping it inside few plastic containers with different type of soil, sand and fertilizer. Beside using the ADA soil. Fine sand is the most economical way to grow it emersed. And of couse you need to cover up the container and leave a small gap open.

Check out how fresh they all

[RRG]

That is a nice growth of HC you have there, Dominic. How many strands or stems of HC you originally planted in there and how long is that set up? Also, how long is the sunlight exposure; is it morning or afternoon sunlight? I’m curious because I’m thinking of placing my pot’s in an area where it gets morning and afternoon sunlight--however I’m worried that the long exposure will bake the plants.

[itssg]

Hi Randall,

I was started it with just 2 fingers size of it. The tank is around 4 - 5 months old. It is afternoon sunlight. It can stand of high temperature in emersed form. But make sure the container or tank is able to keep the humidity.
I kept a thermometer inside the tank and found the temperature was around 38-40C. But humidity is 90-100%.

Make sure the soil/sand is wet or moist all the time. Don't dose or spray the fertilizer directly on the HC itself. Try to spray or dose on the soil/sand. The leaf will burn if you apply the fertilizer directly on it.

Beside that, there are pelia, fissiden, mosses and other liverworts are growing on the rocks.

Cheers,
dom