Where to Put an Aquatic Utric?

[BurntSnow]

I've been thinking about getting an aquatic utric. Should I just put it in a pot full of distilled water and under my 3 26-watt cool white fluorescent lightbulbs? What do they need, ie. what are the requirements for growing them? I want to get Utricularia gibba

 

[Wolfn]

I've got Gibba growing in the water trays of my potted plants

 

[BurntSnow]

Can I put it in a water bowl?

 

[amphirion]

if you want.

 

[BurntSnow]

How big must it be?

 

[jimscott]

I've got U. gibba in a fishtank, outside. That's when it decides to spread like crazy and flower.

 

[BurntSnow]

But it has to be in distilled water?

 

[seedjar]

Actually aquatic Utricularia are much more tolerant of hard water than the rest of the genus, as far as I've been told. I've grown some successfully in containers with unfiltered water, which around here runs from 50-100ppm.
~Joe

 

[Taliesin-DS]

I've heard a lot of stories on aquatic forums about gibba being impossible to get rid of once it gets into any freshwater aquarium.

 

[jimscott]

Originally set up for Aldrovanda, I put my U. gibba in there as well. There is also a token cattail and some weed from the bog ~50' away. I use the bog water and the muck from the bog:

Then the U. gibba began flowering:

And then the bog weed flowered:

 

[swords]

Awesome Jim! Being outside I'm surprised it's not pure green soup!

Taliesin, U. gibba was the first CP I ever encountered, I didn't know it was a CP. I was into planted Amano & Dutch inspired nature aquarium fish tanks in the 1990s but this one time I got a bundle of moss that had some strands of this weird green strand with little balls all along it's length. I thought it was neat so I tied it to a log and sunk it in the tank. I thought it was a moss of some sort that would grow over the wood. Instead it shot long filaments out all over the tank winding around in the other plants, knotting up the frilly stuff like Cabomba and Parrots Feather, generally it made a mess of things. I pulled it out as much as I could and each tiny piece that broke off would see the stuff in other parts of the tank... it was a real nightmare! I posted pics of it on aquarium plant forums nobody knew what this insane "string algae" was. Finally I tore the tank down to be rid of any trace of it. Then I got The Savage Garden CP book and saw a picture of U. gibba and knew instantly that that was the horrible "string algae" I had fought for almost a year in my 75 gallon killifish tank.

FYI U. gibba apparently loves high light, CO2 injection, lots of aquatic plant nutrients and live baby brine shrimp! LOL

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

I always grew mine outdoors in an opaque dishpan under broken sunlight, using rainwater. Couple times each season add some pond water for the critters it has. They never did well for me inside or in transparent containers outside due to algae buildup. Many have winter dormancies and be kept from freezing

 

[jimscott]

Incredibly, even in direct sunlight, algae has been minimal. It should be rampant but some variable is taking care of it.