questions on new plants i got

[Balloon Fish]

Hey guys i just got water sprite, dwarf hairgrass, and an amazon sword from petsmart and i have lots of questions =).

1. What is the growing patterns of water sprite? (like does it take a while to settle in then skyrocket?)

2. How do i propogate water sprite? Can i cut parts off then stick them into substrate?

3. Does dwarf grass grow fast? Does it spread fast?

4. Does amazon swords grow fast

5. Are amazon swords good for my angel tank?

6. How do i propogate amazon swords?

thats all the questions for now =) thx in advance for whoever answers them

 

[TurbineSurgeon]

1. What is the growing patterns of water sprite? (like does it take a while to settle in then skyrocket?)

Water sprite is a fairly fast growing aquatic fern. It is what Fizgigg (sp?) uses a lot of.

2. How do i propogate water sprite? Can i cut parts off then stick them into substrate?

You can either let it float or stick it in the substrate. Either way, it will propogate through rhizomes.

3. Does dwarf grass grow fast? Does it spread fast?

Dwarf hairgrass will spread fairly quickly. The best way I have found to get it to become a carpet is to take the rock wool out of the pot and separate the grass into small clumps about the diameter of a pencil and then plant those in a checkerboard fashion. It should fill in within a month or so.

4. Does amazon swords grow fast

Amazon swords can get pretty big (at least a foot around), but often take quite a while to get there. Most amazon swords for sale have been grown emersed (above water) and their leaves will often wilt and fall off once submersed. The old leaves will be replaced by new ones which grow out of the center of the plant. They are strong root feeders, so Flourish Tabs are usually recommended.

5. Are amazon swords good for my angel tank?

They are a pretty good choice, but might outgrow your tank after a while (several months at least).

6. How do i propogate amazon swords?

They propogate by sending out a runner towards the surface that will form new plantlets every few inches. After these plantlets sprout roots, they can be cut from the runner and planted. If the runner is allowed to grow to the surface, it will often produce small white flowers.

 

[Balloon Fish]

thx a lot =) just one more question what is fizgig? and on the dwarf hair grass i might try the checkerboard thing its just that it takes so long to get out of the cotton stuff =\ i got a little wad the size of a pencil like u said but then i just gave up cause i was afraid of ripping all the roots off but i took most of it out.

 

[TurbineSurgeon]

Fizgig777 is (or was) a member here who posted a lot of pictures in the "Rate My Freshwater Tank" section. He uses a lot of Water Sprite in his tanks.

I know what you mean about trying to separate the rock wool from the dwarf hair grass... it's a real pain.

 

[Balloon Fish]

i thought u were talking about the person but then u said (sp?) and i thought it was a name of a plant or something that i didnt know about by the way waht does (sp?) mean i know it stands for species but isnt that (sp) ?

 

[TurbineSurgeon]

In this case (sp?) = spelling?

I couldn't remember his exact screen name until I looked it up on the member search.

 

[revfred]

Water sprite propagates by adventitious plantlets on leaves. You will see a well developed root system when they are ready. Just nip off from the main stalk and plant. If you let it go long enough ... the main stalk will become thread like.

Amazon Swords are great for angels as they like the broad leaves ... if you are lucky to have a breeding pair, to lay their eggs on. Swords soak up a lot of nutrients through their roots. So a nutrient rich substrate or food tabs are essential for good growth.

Hair grass is not my fave, so I have not had that much experience with it.

 

[Balloon Fish]

k thx, i personally like the hairgrass cause my tank is gonna be a community tank which means lots of babies and they'll have a place to hide. Also i want to make a carpet effect and i tried it with java moss but it was just a huge mess in the filter =\

 

[newman187]

Here is a Pic of my Amazon Sword with runners, the little bugger has 3 roots growing and they grew about 4" in 4 days on one of them I was very surprised.

My Amazon Sword is going nuts by the way, there is a lfs about 2 minutes from my house, great bunch of people (in Salt Lake City, UT called Fish 4 U) they have a great selection of plants, I saw the sword and purchased it, with in a day I had new leaf's sprouting, that picture is about 1 week after I bought it, I'm not sure how to resize a pic so I cant show you the whole pic, but man does it grow fast.

I have Seachem Flourite as the substrate, I pump pressurized co2 into my tank, i add seachem flourish, carbon, and iron, I haven't put tabs in yet, but have them ready to go. My ph is around 7.4 (the lowest) and i estimate my co2 as about 5-10 ppm, but hard to tell because I think I have phosphate in my water, water hardness is 90ppm, or about 5 degrees, i'm aiming for a 6.8 ph, and I also have about 4 wpg.

IMHO it helps adding ferts and co2, if you dont have either you should look into it, I purchased a sample pack of all 3 seachem products for about 15 bucks at the LFS, and you can make a diy co2 reactor for dollars (not $220 like i did for pressurized (tank, regulator, bubble counter, and ph controller) but its moste deffinatly worth it, and a great investment!

 

[Balloon Fish]

the picture is really hard to see but i know what runners look like, thx anyways and i have a co2 system but i dont plan on getting a pressurized one cause i'm only 14 and anything over 50 dollars is a no for me even if i had the money cause my parents thinks its a waste but i got the hagen co2 system and it should work out pretty good for my 20 gallon once it actually starts making bubbles....