After Pics
Here are the rest of the pics I took the other day after cleaning out the tank. The pics aren't very good (way overexposed), but they're better than nothing, and I can use them to see how well the plants grow in the next few weeks.
This is my Clinopodium cf. brownei. It is an excellent plant. I have it in this tank, my 90g, and I've put some in my 29g to see how it would do with lower light and no CO2 or ferts. So far, it's done great in every tank I've put it in!
This is definitely one of my favorite plants. I've seen it called Ludwigia Red and Ludwigia hybrid red, but I think it's proper name is Ludwigia sp. 'Rubin'. It doesn't ship very well, but if it does make the trip and settles into the tank, it seems to grow pretty well. Not a rampant grower like most Ludwigias which is a welcome relief actually.
I started out with a couple of stems that branched out. So I've separated the branched stems in hopes of propagating it into a thicker grouping.
I can't believe this plant is growing as well as it is. I've had Rotala macrandra ‘Red’ a few times before, but it always arrives so dried out, it's near death. This time was no exception. In fact, these stems started from a couple of extras I received from a plant deal. I honestly didn't hold much hope that they'd make it. But they did!
I've been scared to separate the branches from the main stems, but they eventually fell apart, forcing the issue. So I trimmed off all the viable branches and planted them. They're actually doing pretty good! I'm starting to use a little Excel to help remove some of the old algae on the leaves which seems to be working.
My Bacopa caroliniana is doing great in my 75g and 90g tanks. The leaves are so huge! I finally had to chop it down and replanted only a few of the best tops.
My Pelvicachromis pair decided to sneak into the picture! I really love how well they've bonded as a pair. :smile:
This is probably one of the all-time easiest stems to grow in any tank. I have had this Ludwigia repens x arcuata for years. It's growing in almost all my tanks. It does just as great in my high tech and low tech tanks; however, it can grow very fast when given CO2 and ferts.
This was one of the plants that had completely taken over the surface of my tank a few times. I kept doing minor trimming, but it would just grow back to cover the surface by the next week. So I pulled it all up and planted just a few stem tips. It'll grow back like gangbusters soon enough.
I don't plan to keep this plant in this tank permanently, but used it mostly as a fast growing stem to maintain a higher level of plant mass while the tank was transitioning from a new tank to a more mature tank.
I'm really like this one. It's Ludwigia ovalis. It doesn't seem to like being pulled up and replanted very much. I'm getting dieback from the process. But it seems once it gets a good root system, it grows fine from there.
This was another one of the plants that branched quite a bit, causing a large top being supported by a couple of long, thin bottom stems. They began letting go so I had no choice but to trim up the branches and replant.
The Limnophila aromatica in this tank has strugged a bit, but it's finally beginning to show signs of better growth. I didn't cut the tops off the lower stems just yet, but I'll need to do that at some point since the lower parts of the stems aren't very healthy. I wanted to give the tops a chance to grow a little stronger before cutting them off. This has always been one of my favorite plants!
A closeup of one of the better looking Limnophila aromatica stems. I'm finally getting a little color!
I don't have this one listed in my database for some reason, but I believe it's Alternanthera reineckii. It strugged to grow for a long time, alternating between growing and then having setbacks. It finally started growing better, but I really resisted cutting up the branches for fear that might kill it. So far it seems to be doing pretty good. I need to learn more about this plants' needs to see why it tends to struggle in my tanks.
This is a terrible picture of some of my Bacopa. I think it's some of the Bacopa monnieri that I've had for several years.
What I like about this picture is that you can see 4 of my otos lounging around! I have about 25 otos in the tank. They're one of my favorite "regular" fish.
I tried very hard to get a picture of my female Pelvicachromis, but since these are some of the very first pictures I've ever tried to take with my camera, I don't have anything adjusted right. So the shutter speed is too slow so every move she made caused the picture to blur. This was the best I could get for now.
She's not in her breeding colors because I've disturbed her so much with all the cleaning in the tank. When she's colored up for breeding, the red becomes more intense and she turns almost black all around the red which really emphasizes the red color.
I managed to get the male Pelvicachromis in focus! He's not in his breeding colors, but he's still a very pretty fish.
That's it for now! I wish the pictures came out better, but I'll eventually learn how to use my new camera to get better pics. At least these were better than the first ones I tried to get!