Stella Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 I have been contemplating growing some kind of emergent NATIVE rush or reed plant in my mudfish aquarium. It has a peat and leaf litter substrate, about 20cm water on top of that, then another 20cm of empty tank above that (the fish like shallow water). The fish can't jump out, so I could leave the lids off if a plant was to grow too tall. I am thinking of something stiff and erect, just plant it along the back wall of the tank. The only name I know is oioi or jointed rush but I have no idea if this is suitable. Has anyone tried growing any sort of rush or reed in their tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imsweet Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Has anyone tried growing any sort of rush or reed in their tank? i have japanese rush. pretty cool looking, heres a link if allowed: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... siteid=26& Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 i have japanese rush. pretty cool looking, heres a link if allowed: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... siteid=26& I had them for ages in rockwool- they died after quite some time. Hardy plants....would be good to do the back wall of a native tank with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insect Direct Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 japanese rush isnt native to point out the obvious, good plants though more a margin plant - grows well with roots in water and leaves out etc pet shops abit cunning selling it imo Stella you should be fine with most native bog/reed plants providing tank gets enough light, when i use to work at a nursery there was a couple that we grew for local iwi & council which were been planted around the horowhenua that would of been all good but cant for the life of me think of the names sorry..do mudfish dig in the mud? may need to anker plants in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 i have japanese rush. pretty cool looking, heres a link if allowed: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... siteid=26& I've got that - the Angels nibble it though - their nibbling is destroying my plants :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplecatfish Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Oi Oi is Apodasmia similis the other native rushes that I can think of are Baumea articulata B. tenax and B. teretifolia, Juncus gregiflorus J. sarophorus and J. pallidus. But I can't remember their common names and the sizes, I think one of those is Raupo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Thanks, some good things to search. I think raupo may be a weeee bit big! I learned something interesting about wetlands and raupo. Wetlands tend to come and go a bit. Naturally one would wind up filling with organic matter and eventually be taken over by raupo, and then back into forest. Meanwhile the watertable means a new area turns into wetland. So in a naturally functional system they are quite movable. However we have buggered up all that. We are left with tiny isolated degraded wetlands for the most part. We can't allow them to naturally move around, because the wider habitat for plant and animal species movement is not there (and the next site is probably a bare paddock). So although raupo is a native wetland plant, it actually often needs to be controlled so it DOESN'T do its job of filling in wetlands, because we need to make the wetlands we have as permanent as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navarre Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 HI Stella, One thing I have seen done, is the building of a rock wall with gaps in it, a wee way out from the back of the structure. This was back filled with gravel and peat etc and then the plants put in and over filled with more gravel to stop peat coming up thru top( this might not be such a problem for you). Then the plants were contained but could still filter and feed thru the gaps in the wall, yet couldnt invade the space either. They did however fill in the gap behind the "wall". Does that make sense. Anyway I have also seen it done with bricks with holes or gaps with great effect. I am not sure how wide your tank is but on a smaller scale doing something like this might mean that you can have more "invasive " plants. The other thing to consider, at the risk of undoing all the common sense I have just written, and whilst not aquatic or native is the range of Mondo grasses... some of which will tolerate paladial conditions and you can mix and match for colour and will also over hang..but to that end you could also use Iris's...lol Navarre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imsweet Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 why dont you look in the garden centres for their marginals etc? there are some real nice ones that can be planted on the edge, 30cm, down to 1mtr? worth a look for ideas anyway.... mind you dont know if many are natives.. will the mudfish know?? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 The mudfish may not know.... But we will! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 hehehe everyone knows I am a purist! Garden centres actually sell a LOT of native wetland plants for pond use. Navarre, that is a good idea, containing the plant. Would be easier to trim back the escaping bits too. Am thinking of some kind of plastic pot full of holes. There are probably things made for waterlillies like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navarre Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hi Stella, This wont look nice but....you can buy water lilly pts that are all sorts of shapes and sizes and not that expensive. They are kinda like a sieve and designed for exactly what you are looking for...but usually they are hidden. I use one as a trap in a garden drain sump (in my kennels) and several as filter media baskets in my sumps. The good thing about them is if you used a few you coudl have several different types of plant in one area and they would/coudl work symbiotically as a whole or if a section fails then you can just replace those plants. Remember you may want to line with variing grades of gravel if you dont want ferts and stuff floating in your tank tho Navarre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Am thinking of some kind of plastic pot full of holes. There are probably things made for waterlillies like that. Mitre 10 mega sells them here in Wanganui. different sizes and they not very expensive. I would assume Palmys Mitre 10 mega would have them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Medium).thumb.jpg.a01a77a9b0ed5d19a29af66986bf7df8.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.