Looking for Advice and IDs

[Wy Renegade]

I created this bog type aquarium by siliconing rocks into a 20 long turtle tank. The soil is 1/2 dried spaghnum moss and 1/2 sand. My original intention was to keep carnivorous plants. However, my seal on my rocks was not good enough and the soil is too wet for carnivorous plants. So . . . I've improvised. The pool is only about 2" deep, and I keep a good population of pond snails and guppies. I've hatched numerous stoneflies and other aquatic insects in this tank with my students, but I'm looking to improve the aquascaping/plantings. It's only a 12" tall tank, so no room for tall specimens. I'm thinking of adding an orchid to the log - have one that should work. I would like ID's on the plants (if possible), advice on additional plants (both aquatic and bog) that could be added, and any other advice in general. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I was hurrying to get them taken and downloaded between classes. This is the one and only planted tank I've ever tried.

FTS;

Pool area;

Bog;

Spaghnum Moss (I believe - picked it up in the mountains)

Only aquatic plant

Waterfall/Filter area of Pond

 

[Wy Renegade]

Wow - tough crowd - all the beautiful tanks I've seen in this section and nobody has any thing to say or any input?!

 

[joy13]

I don't have any bog plants so I can't help you with the names of your plants. To me they look like some type of fern...but that is about it. Your tank looks good I bet the turtle is enjoying it.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Thanks Joy; non turtle thought LOL, just a moded turtle tank.

 

[gzeiger]

It would help the ID considerably if we knew how you obtained them. You said you picked the moss up in the mountains. Are the rest wild-collected also? If so, where? forum.nanfa.org would be a good place to look for IDs on native plants (plant forum way at the bottom of the page). All I'm really getting out of the pictures is a fern, a moss and a vascular plant.

I don't believe your moss is sphagnum based on its appearance, but in general it isn't possible to identify mosses even down to the genus level without a miscroscope to inspect spores and cell structures because of the large influence their habitat has on their morphology. They pretty much all form a carpet of some sort of leafy structure with overhanging spore-producing structures.

I would like to see that setup with a floating plant on the water. I really like the miniature ferns of genus Azolla, but even duckweed would be ok.

I also think the carnivorous plants are interesting enough to deserve more work (sounds like this is a classroom tank?). Personally I think sundews are the most interesting to watch, since you get to observe the whole process of eating. A piece of pumice can easily be shaped into a sort of pot while still looking like a rock, and would allow you to set a bit of soil up higher while also serving to limit the uptake of water by the soil inside. There are probably other ways to construct a microhabitat with lower soil moisture, maybe even just by elevating it a little more.

 

[fort384]

I can't help with the ID, but check out CZCZ 's (forum member) tank. He is doing something similar, but on a bit larger scale. His tank looks amazing. I really like the idea. The possibilities become endless.

So now I am going to have to start 3 more tanks... 1 of these, a salt, and a 125G native tank. Does anyone have a cure for MTS?

 

[joy13]

So now I am going to have to start 3 more tanks... 1 of these, a salt, and a 125G native tank. Does anyone have a cure for MTS?[/quote]

I know of no cure, as I look around my small home filled with water in nearly every possible location. I am planning a new aquarium caper, this weekend to blackmail a friend to bring his pickup over so I can get a 45 gallon corner tank. He thinks I need it for home improvement After the tank being smuggled in comes the plan of making a hamburger mattenfilter. Then how to acquire my sons help to bump the light, bribe him with homemade bread and a promise of more baked goodies. Then inexpensive substrate, plants, heater and finally fish. Just waiting to hear from the guy that has the tank when I can come get it. NOPE THERE IS NO CURE.

 

[gzeiger]

I think mummichogs will cure them in a hurry (Fundulus heteroclitus, native all over the eastern seaboard). The males are beautiful when kept at summer temperatures, but the females are awfully ugly, much like Gouramis. I can't keep snails alive in that tank for anything. They may not eat very large snails, as I have a handful of 3/4" + ramshorns that have survived, but they will never again reproduce and you can remove the large ones by hand as a one-time operation.

 

[fort384]

LOL, sorry gzeiger, I am speaking of the horrible affliction known as multiple tank syndrome, as opposed to Malaysian Trumpet Snails.

Being in the military, I can understand and appreciate your pain when it comes to deciphering which specific acronym we are talking about in a given scenario.