2.5 Gallon Photo Log

[Purrbox]

One of the members here was very generous and sent me some really neat plants for my 2.5 Gallon Tank. The plants are a little worse for the wear due a drop in the temp while they were in shipment, but I think they'll be all right once they get used to the new tank.

The tank was down to Narrow Leaf Chain Sword and Crypt Lucens. I've pulled the Narrow Leaf Chain Swords, since they were continually trying to take over the tank. It's really to bad since this is a great plant, just not appropriate for such a small tank.

Additions include Micranthemum Umbrosum (Baby Tears), Pogostemon Helferi (Downoi), Lobelia Cardinalis (dwarf form), Blyxa Japonica, Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides, Ammonia sp Bonsai, and Elatine Triandre. So far I already know that I really like the Baby Tears and Downoi, but I'm really looking forward to seeing how all the new plants do as they settle in to their new home. I'm sure I'll end up changing things around as I get a better idea of how these plants are going to fill in.

I hope to get some pics up in the next couple of days. I couldn't get a single descent shot today. Everything was blurry or the contrast was off. Of course I was able to get a couple of fantastic shots of my other tank with hardly any effort. Don't that just figure, that you can never get a good pic of what you want when you want.

 

[travis simonson]

Love to see some pics when you can get some good ones

 

[Purrbox]

Well, I finally managed to get some pics that look half way descent.

 

[Jchillin]

Looking good! Tank doesn't look like a 2.5 gal at all.

 

[rich311k]

Tank looks great.

 

[czcz]

Nice tank. Only suggestions: Downoi looks really cool when it has space to side shoot and look bushy. Ammania sp. Bonsai grows very slow but needs light, and does best when it is planted where faster growing plants will not shade it. HTH some. Very inspiring tank.

 

[travis simonson]

Great job. Once the plants start filling in it will look even bigger

 

[Purrbox]

Thanks for the tips CZCZ, I'll keep them in mind when I decide it's time to rearrange everything. Heh, Kudos even! So far I've only got some basic info on the plants that I was able to find mostly on PlantGeek and Tropica. The downoi is actually infront of the other plants and does have some room to spread out (more than the picture gives the impression of) however we'll see if it's enough as it grows. I'll keep my on the Baby Tears to make sure that it doesn't start shading the Ammania sp Bonsai. Hmm... guess I better figure out where to move it, if it ends up needing to be relocated.

Oh, and that Elatine Triandre is a real pain to plant! I'm guessing that it's as bad as Glosso. I'm sure glad I had some splinter tweesers on hand or it would have been nearly impossible.

Hopefully it'll get easier to get good pics of the tank as the plants fill in, I think that half the problem was that I was fighting the black background along with bright lights, which ended up putting everything into high contrast and resulted in either washed out or very dark photos.

 

[An t-iasg]

Very nice looking-tank!

 

[Purrbox]

Sigh. Unfortunately the cold during shipment hurt the plants worse than I was hoping. Pretty much everything has melted away. There's one piece of Elatine triandre that has greened up. If I'm lucky it will continue to do well and start spreading. The funny thing is that the Crypts continue to do well despite having been moved a couple times recently. I only lost a few leaves with the last move, and I expect them to start putting out new leaves within a few weeks.

For now I'm just removing anything that melts away into the water column, but I am leaving the rest of the plants alone just in case they have a chance to make a come back from the roots. After the holidays I'll reassess the situation and decide which plants I want to try again. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative for shipping the next time.

 

[crazycat]

sorry the plants melted--it looked really nice from your pix. hope they grow back! but don't be discouraged and keep trying!

 

[Jchillin]

Sorry to hear about that Purrbox. When my original c. wendtti's melted, I actually left everything alone and they bounced back within a few weeks. I also used a root tab but I don't know if that was the actual reason.

 

[Purrbox]

While doing my water change today, I discovered a couple of small pieces of Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides that had survived the great meltdown. Each of them was floating around with a couple of small leaves. Both stems and leaves are a healthy shade of green. I went ahead and planted them and I am hoping they continue to do well.

None of the remaining plants are looking to make a come back. I plan to try again with a new batch in a few weeks.

I was at the store last week and couldn't resist buying a pot of some very healthy looking Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis). This was quite the pain to remove from the pot and plant, but I think that it's looking very nice so far. If it starts spreading nicely, I may try some in my other tank.

 

[Jchillin]

Congrats on your "find", it's great to hear that.

 

[sherry]

if you find any lobelia , let it float until it roots!!! my bristlnoses shredded most of mine (I mistakenly put it in their "path" from cave to front, but the pieces are rooting nicely ..

I hope the blyx japonica comes back. I've been dying to try that one!!!! I think of it as a nicer version of dwarf sag but I don't want to make the $ 35 minimum order to buy it

tank was looking great. I hope your plants come back for you!

 

[Purrbox]

Well I got a fresh shipment today. Everything looks sooo much healthier this time. If I'd realized what these plants were supposed to look like, I would have known much sooner that the last shipment was in trouble. Beautiful bright shades of green and red. I'll post pics tonight or tomorrow if I can get my camera to behave.

Included in this shipment were the following:
Micranthemum umbrosum (Baby's Tears)
Ammania sp. Bonsai
Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides
Pogostemon Helferi (Downoi)
Hemianthus Micranthemoides "Erect"
Elatine Triandra
Rotala Rotundifolia "Green"
Anubias Nana Petite

These were added to some Crypts and Hairgrass that were already in the tank. As well as a couple tiny sprouts of Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides that had survived the last shipment.

 

[Purrbox]

I can't believe it. Some of the plants are actually pearling already, after only having been in their new home for 30min or so. Wow that's a wonderful sight.

 

[Jchillin]

Wow...that's fantastic! I just happened to be fortunate enough to get some M. umbrosum recently (not to mention some anubias n. petite ). I like the baby tears and they have held up to intense scrutiny of my sailfin pleco so far.

 

[czcz]

Wow, neat plants. Your stuff so far is like a definitive list for cool nano plants 8O Look forward to your pics. I enjoy your 5g log and appreciate your logging this one, too.

 

[travis simonson]

Pics please, when you get them