How to grow Stargrass

[SparKy697]

I started this thread so that we could stop hijacking Mycatsdrool's thread.

The question is why does some stargrass grow like mad in one tank while in other tanks not grow at all?

Blazey, if I sent you a bit of stargrass that I have in my tank, would you be willing to plant it and see what it does in your tank? That cold point us to either the water parameters or a variation of the plant. I would be interested to try this if you don't mind.[/url]

 

[blazeyreef]

I dont mind! I think will be very cool. I think it would be very interesting to see what happens! this is a very interesting topic IMO

 

[7Enigma]

I don't think we really hi-jacked the thread, we were just elaborating on the original question.

Anyways the pic Blazy posted gives me a good idea why it hasn't been growing much:

What it looks like to me is that you have a desk lamp providing your lighting. This would most likely be an incadescent which has a very poor light spectrum for plant growth (unless its specific for plants). It is also a poor design for a tank since its not an even amount of light distributed either. This means a lot of that light is not reaching the surface to begin with, and what is, is not of the proper wavelength.

Also, it can take some time for plants to adapt to new water depending on chemistry. A fast grower like stargrass should definitely adapt faster then other plants, but that could slow its growth for a bit.

OT: That cherry barb is absolutely incredible looking!

 

[blazeyreef]

no my bulbs are both 20 watt compact flourecent they grew my rotala wallichii amazingly until algae ate it
plus, you cant see it but their is another light source that provides another 20 watt flourecent...let me get a picture

and thank you on the complament on the cherry barb here is a better pic of him

 

[SparKy697]

If I remember right, he has more than one light on that tank. I think the block of wood you see there is actually another lamp. I do agree however that low light makes this plant brow slower.

Blazey, pm me an address and I'll send you a few pieces in the name of science.

 

[Purrbox]

The thing that I notice is that the Stargrass is directly below the light brace. Perhaps if you tried moving to one side or the other so it's getting better light it would be better able to utilize the light.

 

[7Enigma]

Ah, my mistake! I wondered what that piece of wood with the hacky-sack on it was for!

I have no idea then why your stargrass is not growing much. You sure its a live plant?

Thanks for the closeup of the cherry barb. I had purchased 6 of what I thought were cherry barbs, but they turned out to be cherry checkered gold barbs, which I have no clue as to what the actual species is. 3 were silver (I assumed female), one was pure gold, one was a mix, and one was a true cherry barb (though female due to it never developing the red color). The male (I'm assuming) that was a mixed color would get very bright red around the fins and above the head, but never developed a full color (due I'm guessing to a cross breed). He was a terror and had to be removed from the tank because the all gold female (I'm assuming) was losing all her pectoral fins from constant mating attempts. The silver-colored ones also seemed to be a separate species because I saw mating attempts with the "male".

In my tank I now only have the 1 female all gold barb, and 2 of the (I'm guessing) female silver barbs. The rest have been either removed or died. The 2 silver ones have never increased in size from about 1", while the all gold-colored barb is now about 3.5" or so, and I'm wondering if she will continue to grow (if in fact its a gold barb). It's nice, plump, and healthy!

 

[blazeyreef]

I bought my 3 cherry barbs at petsmart of all places and they are all that color! they are very piecefull, I have them with guppies, have had them with bettas and angels as well.

im pretty sure its a live plant HEHEHE lol

 

[donk1667]

i got some w/ferts co2 and 3 wpg lets see what happens 8O

 

[donk1667]

ok its 2 1/2 days later and i got some more plants so i put my driftwood in and moved all the plants around the stargrass i put only one stalk not bunches and when i looked at them presto roots about 1" long on all the stalks

 

[jbarr]

Well I dunno how much insight I can offer but, here in MN we have very hard water, and my Stargrass in a moderate-heavy planted 20gal with DIY 2wpg (VERY DIY, to the point where I think it's less effective then the stock 18W, or so it looks). 2L bottle of DIY CO2, moderate bio-load.

It's growing, thats for sure. And recently the leaves have gotten a bit broader, lighter green

 

[SparKy697]

Ok Blazeyreef. The test subject went in the mail yesterday.

 

[blazeyreef]

awesome! I hope to get them tomorow YAY!

 

[donk1667]

starr grass

be aware blazeyreef if the bag starts to move, run far away!!!!!lol

 

[blazeyreef]

plants arrived today! looked great thank for being so generous I will post pics here in a minute

 

[neilanh]

I will post pics here in a minute

It's been an hour, I don't see any pics

 

[donk1667]

THE PLANT GOT HIM " IN MEMORY OF BLAZEY" so long ,all he wanted was some starrgrass!!! lol

 

[blazeyreef]

sorry, we went out for dinner..... (I diddnt know we were going...)

I put the new stargrass next to my existing stargrass!

 

[SparKy697]

It's hard to tell which is which. Can you show us which one is the new and which one is the existing?

 

[blazeyreef]

I will try!