Cichlidiot
May 12th 04, 08:46 AM
Well, to my suprise, the Aponogeton plants that I have always assumed were
sterile hybrids might just have been successful at reproducing after
almost two years. When feeding the fish today, I looked at one of the
decaying flower stalks and saw the following, which I assume is a seed
pod:
http://www.shwaine.com/image/fishtank/apon_seed.jpg
So, my plans are to cut the stem tomorrow and put it in a small 1 gallon
tank I have spare. These plants are a fairly hardy bunch and I'd love to
have more of them. I don't know what success I will have since I'm pretty
sure they are a crispus/undulatus cross. I picked them up at an auction
and they were just labeled "Aponogeton bulbs". I'm assuming they're
hybrids since they flower every couple months like crispus, but haven't
gone into a dormant period in 2 years which seems more like undulatus.
When comparing the plants to pictures, the leaves also appear to have
features of both. The flower stalk is a single spike with white flowers.
Any tips to maximize likelyhood of getting little plantlets would be
appreciated. Right now I'm thinking a thin layer of sand on the bottom of
that 1 gallon tank. My tap water is rich in nitrates and other fertilizer
runoff (well water in an agricultural area), so I'm not as concerned about
providing a rich substrate. The tap is a bit lacking in iron though.
Should I give a little dose of iron to help it along?
sterile hybrids might just have been successful at reproducing after
almost two years. When feeding the fish today, I looked at one of the
decaying flower stalks and saw the following, which I assume is a seed
pod:
http://www.shwaine.com/image/fishtank/apon_seed.jpg
So, my plans are to cut the stem tomorrow and put it in a small 1 gallon
tank I have spare. These plants are a fairly hardy bunch and I'd love to
have more of them. I don't know what success I will have since I'm pretty
sure they are a crispus/undulatus cross. I picked them up at an auction
and they were just labeled "Aponogeton bulbs". I'm assuming they're
hybrids since they flower every couple months like crispus, but haven't
gone into a dormant period in 2 years which seems more like undulatus.
When comparing the plants to pictures, the leaves also appear to have
features of both. The flower stalk is a single spike with white flowers.
Any tips to maximize likelyhood of getting little plantlets would be
appreciated. Right now I'm thinking a thin layer of sand on the bottom of
that 1 gallon tank. My tap water is rich in nitrates and other fertilizer
runoff (well water in an agricultural area), so I'm not as concerned about
providing a rich substrate. The tap is a bit lacking in iron though.
Should I give a little dose of iron to help it along?