Hemianthus callichtroides

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I tried to grow it but havent had much luck. Cories
kept uprooting it in my 75 where it was showing some
growth. The tiny roots make it difficult to root
properly in Flourite anyway. Then the move killed off
most of it. I gave some to Sean who says he's gotten
it to grow - even double in quantity. In the meantime
I'm trying to grow it emersed in an effort to increase
the amount I have left so that I can try it submersed
again.

Let me descibe the simple setup I've got.
Its a 2.5G tank with about 2" of peat/sand (50/50) mix.
I added enough water to make it moist thoughout and
planted a few small sprigs of H. c. with just a few
leaves showing above the surface. Then I took the upper
rim off the 2.5 - came off easy, and stretched Saran
wrap over the top. I then put the rim back on and
trimmed the excess Saran wrap off with a razor blade.
Set the tank by the window where it gets light but
not direct sunlight. It's been two weeks now I see some
significant growth. Yesterday for the first time I
pulled the Saran wrap off, added a little water/Mircle
grow mix. I did that only on half of the H. c. fearing
it may not like the fert - but so far it didnt
burn or anything. I pulled the Saran wrap back on
except for a tiny gap into which I inserted the tube from my CO2 tank. I cranked up the CO2 and let it fill
in for a few minutes. Ofcourse there's no way for me to tell how much went in there. I then puIled the wrap
tight and put the rim back on. If it does well, I'll setup something larger and farm this thing out to get a large quantity of it. It's growing better emersed
than I got it to grow submersed - so hopfully in the next few months I should have some of this to distribute for others to try.

[Aaron]

I want to try this method w/ some baby rosette swords that I have. I thought about the saran wrap idea too. If you decide to do a bigger tank a lot of people just use plastic storage bins that you can pick up cheap at Walmart or some place like that. What are you using for light?

[Pigheaddd]

hi Ghazanfar,

what kind of light are you using? i only have them about ten days, but for my observation, they really need very bright light and co2. those in my 2.5g with 26 pc light are growing slower than those in 5.5g 48w pc. co2 is about 1 bubble/3 second. now, i truely believe electronic ballast in the light can make huge difference with output level, so does mirror reflector.

hope this can give ya some idea and good luck,

Tim

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I've placed it by the window - so it's getting
diffused sun light - that's the only source of light.
I think for it to grow submersed it definitly needs
higher light - with that said, I've had a small peice
that's been shaded in a 2watts/G tank and though it
hasn't grown much - it's still there looking green
and healthy - and it's been so for almost 8 weeks.

[jerseyjay]

[QUOTE=Pigheaddd]i only have them about ten days, but for my observation, they really need very bright light and co2.[/QUOTE]

Although I had it about a year ago and didn't have too much luck b/c all of it was eaten by Clown Loaches, I wouldn't put all my money on light. Acutally, I would take a risk and say that you could grow this plant in lower light. Check Oliver Knott's tanks. <img border="0" src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0">

560 Liter --> 148 Gallons

4 x 54Watt (T5 - tube) and 1 x 39Watt (T5 - tube) --> 255 watts of T5, not even CF.

Having that much light will give you ~1.8wpg. Is it a lot of light, NO !!!

Look at the tank <img border="0" src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0">

<img src="http://mishappa.image.pbase.com/u10/pla ... 031006.jpg" border="0">

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Well - on large tanks the Watts/G rule breaks down
anyway. Hopfully I'll be able to propagate enough
to make it available for several folks around the
country to experiment with it.