[quote=”Jordy” post=1574]Peter I fully understand your point. It´s not that I need to using every plant I have on my list. Maybe I will try to test a few plants that maybe arn´t suited for this type of water “by the book”.
Like Stefanie said about using/finding plants from a certain area that I can use in the tanks,
my region is Southeast Asia. By trail and error, in time you will have a list of plants you can use in this kind of water that are from this region. On this list will be plants that might not even live in -5.5ph water conditions “by the book”. But after testing it, they don´t seem to thrive or die, they just stay alive and survive.
If we can collect all the info of what plants are kept by who, and put all experience and the water conditions with it.We might end up with a nice plant-list with some personal tips, that people can use in the future.[/quote]
Jordy, of course you should do what you want to do. You should “test a few plants” to your liking, and maybe we arrive at some advanced list with recommendations. That would be fine.
We know a lot about the ideal conditions for plants as we know them for fish. Of course we could confine ourselves to the ideal conditions for our fish (in order to get them propagated), and for the plants we could say “after testing it, they don’t seem to thrive or die, they just stay alive and survive”.
I am for decades a member of the European Cryptocoryne Society, and we have a lot of knowledge nowadays; the Bastmeijer-website is full of it. But the crypts of the aquarium trade are the hardy ones from Sri Lanka and not the sophisticated from the blackwater streams. Presently, there is no best method of practicing an aquarium which is best organized for licorice gouramies and equally best for the softwater crypts of Malaysia and Indonesia; presently they only can be safely grown emersed. The reason is the stagnant, not flowing water of an aquarium. We have a fundamental structural problem here that is difficult to solve. Therefore most specialists for these fish use only very few plants, and most specialists for certain plants don’t have licorice gouramies in their tanks. Especially in Europe we have been accustomed to an aquarium as a sort of underwater garden, and that is biologically very well working for many fish and many plants: those that are sold by the trade. There is no approved method for some other which are longed for by some more specialized people nevertheless: Sphaerichthys or Parosphromenus on the fish side and softwater crypts on the plant side.
The structure of an aquarium tank is so different from the structure of the natural biotopes (with 90% “soil” and its nutrient flows from below and only 10% water constantly being renewed) as compared to an aquarium with at least 90% stagnant water (the movement of the filter is no flow; you must repair this by frequent water changes) and – at most – 10% soil without any nutrient springs in it) that you have to choose between a big disadvantage for the fish or the same for the plants.
In the Parosphromenus-project we try to develop some paths that may lead to a better sustainment for heavily endangered fish. You are looking for the pragmatic compromise as a planted aquarium for them is concerned; I understand that and that’s quite in order. My small tanks are full of plants, too, admittedly mainly Ceratopteris, Salvinia, mosses, Java fern, only a few others. Of course, C. walkeri or C. undulata will stand quite a few deviations from their best milieu. But I wish you success to find a way of growing (not only keeping them a bit alive) of f.i. C. griffithii, C. bullosa, C. nurii or others. Some friends try, but presently we have no good solution. Be the one who makes the step further!