I just got 3 nice size downoi plants in a trade and I'm wondering if anyone here has had success keeping it? If so, what's your recipe?
Also, I've had blyxa japonica for a while and it stays healthy, but super tiny and doesn't really flourish like I've seen it can do. Does it need softer water? My water is 12 GH and 3 KH. The nicest looking blyxa I've seen was in a tank with soft water...Ghazanfar I'm looking at you
I don't know about downoi, but I got a few sprigs of Ghazanfar's blyxa a few meetings back, and it's thrived in my tank. It's actually claimed space that used to be claimed by sag subulata. Of course, I'm not taking any credit for it, only luck. I'm guessing that our water is the same Howard County's best, unless you're well-water? (Howard County actually buys their water from Baltimore County) I don't remember my GH, but my KH is usually between 3-4. And my PH is usually around neutral after CO2 injection. Otherwise, I have 2x110Watt PC strips over the 75G they're in. Substrate is gravel with laterite underneath, and I dose with about 1/4 cap of Flourish every morning. It's my favorite plant in the tank! (I love plants that actually grow well)
Yup, I'm on well water. Well water tends to be harder IME. I'm planning to convert one of my 10g tanks to soft water so I'll stick it in there when I do.
Blyxa should grow like a weed in hard water. The blyxa I got was from Tom Barr's
tank when GWAPA went down to FL last year. It was thriving in his setup - and
I think I recall that water down there is fairly hard. I don't think Luis
had any trouble growing it in Houston water - rock hard.
It doesn't like the nutrients to be too lean - make sure your macros are at
reasonable levels.
