Dragonfly

[quogue]

Here's a fun little story for ya'll...

Got some Aldrovanda and aquatic Bladderworts from a very reputable grower in Va. recently and I set up two glass cookie jars with distilled water and dumped in some wet peat, waited for it to settle, then poured on some sand, waited for that to settle, then skimmed off whatever was still floating at the surface...
Then I added the Ultrics, basic aquatics, Gibba in one, Inflata in the other as well as the pond water in the bags. Well I noticed that in there with the Gibba was a Dragonfly larvae.... Cool! Those things are like the Tiger Sharks of the itty-bitty things in water world. I think I've heard of them killing fish-fry too.
Anyway, I'm growing these jars in my LowLand Chamber I have in my living room of my apartment. They look great and I'm really pleased with these recent additions.
So I'm sure you all know where this is going... I came home one night after work and there was a Dragonfly buzzing around the Chamber.. then it flew out the top and started buzzing around the room! I thought it was way Cool! My Girlfriend didn't like it so much though.. running outta the room going "ew ew eeewwww"
Haven't seen it lately, hope it didn't fall victim to the many Nepenthes I have up there.. I'm almost ready to go find some larvae and grow some more!

p.s. Not only do I think Dragonfly's are cool, but they also eat mosquitoes and those things are a BIG pain-in-the-*ss problem on Long Island.

 

[Clint]

I like dragonflies

Good luck with that aldrovanda. I had a multi-hundred dollar setup and still couldn't do it I really hope it does well for ya!

 

[quogue]

Thanks! Pond mud and decomposing matter in a fish tank seems to be doing the trick so far, next step is to get some companion plants in there... They are multiplying so far..

 

[Clint]

I would have sent you some for free but you're about 2 days too late lol.

Let me know and next time i'm up at the lake i'll get you some cattails and reed and stuff if you want.

 

[quogue]

Thanks! That's pretty cool of you. I did get some companion plants from Phil Sheridan when I got the mud and plants, the companion plants (reeds I think) didn't seem to make it. Although they might bounce back, alotta things that look lost usually do.
I am gonna try Doug Darnowski's method using water hyaciths as outlined here http://bestcarnivorousplants.com/aldrovanda/papers_online/eichhornia.htm
I've emailed a few times with him and he's been very helpful!
The guy knows his Aldrovanda's!
The cattails sound cool, some small ones would be well appreciated!

 

[Clint]

Lol... Well I can chop them down if you'd like but they grow like 7 feet tall.

It's no problem. We've got all kids of reeds and rushes and crap taking over that you'd like lol. We usually just spray it with roundup lol

 

[FarmerDave]

Yeah, don't Aldrovanda like to have that brownish water?

 

[Clint]

No, I've known people who grow them in aquaria without tannin laden water.

I'm not one of them, however hehe.

 

[FarmerDave]

Are their Aldrovanda still alive?

 

[Clint]

Theirs are. Not mine. One person I know had buckets full and they are flowering.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Clint. I don;t know if the peices yu sent me died or if it went dorment in the cool water of the GH tank. We will see this spring I guess. It has enough food out there with all the daphnia. Everything else is growing well. The Azzola is starting to bunch up on the surface it has gotten so thick, and the java moss is starting to grow out of the algea that was growing on it. Maybe the daphia are helping them with that since they eat algea.