gibba tank

[adnedarn]

i have my gibba growing in a small aquarium 50/50 peat sand with sand on top. the plants were pushed into the soil. and have about 1.5 inchs of water above the soil. problem is. alge. i bought daphnia just as the problem started and was putting them in there. needless to say i only saw the alge get worse. the daphnia was never visiable for very long. i don't know if they died or if they got eaten. so, any tips on cleaning the tank? and or keeping it clean? today i even found one single mosquito larve in there... yuck!!
thanks,
andrew

 

[drosera]

Hi,

In my experience, the setup you mention is kind of tough to keep clean and algae free. If you're willing to change the setup, it may help keep things cleaner for you. Setup your tank as a more typical aquarium, and add a few livebearers such as swordtails or platies. I have found that a small group of these fish will effectively keep most forms of algae at bay quite well, and will annihilate any mosquito larvae .

I would get rid of the peat altogether if you do this, or at least reduce it greatly. I have found that generally speaking, Utrics. are pretty tolerant of water conditions, and don't really need ultra-soft, low pH water, though you don't want either level to be too high either.

A box or sponge filter should be used. The water needs to be filtered without producing too much current,or the plants could get "blown away" by it. The sponge filter would be alot better choice.

Well, that's my suggestion anyway. Good luck!

Chris F.

 

[adnedarn]

but if the water level is so high.... i thought the gibba will not flower?
andrew

 

[drosera]

Hi,

AS I write this, it's 2:30 in the a.m. so hopefully it will make sense...

Have you read the aquatic cultivation tips on dodec's site? At the bottom of that page is a little chapter about flowering that I wrote, which mentions all the details that I believe play a role for U. gibba to flower.

After having read it, you might wonder if you could produce the necessary conditions in an aquarium. You can, though it may be a little tough. A small filter using an airstone and which produces a small amount of bubbles would be best to keep the surface from agitating too much. Because of the filter, the plants will also be pushed onto one side of the tank, where they should remain quietly to 'thicken' up.

A small number of livebearers shouldn't pose a problem for the plants once the plants become thick enough. For example, perhaps 3 platies would be enough in a 5 gallon tank. Make sure they're the same gender, or else you'll get more.

A longer tank would be much better for this kind of setup than a taller one, but it should be possible there too.

If this just seems like too much trouble, than you can try putting some gibba in a jar of 1/3 peat and 2/3 water. In fact, my U. gibba which flowered was kept in a jar with no peat and filled with hard tap water. But the peat helps a bit with algae.

I hope that offers you a couple of new alternatives you could try.

Good luck!

Chris F.

 

[Parasuco]

I read your article, and I put a bit of gibba in my D. capensis's water tray... Thats wut that guy you weretalkin about did, right?
Yaay. Hehehe...

 

[adnedarn]

thanks for all the advice!! although i cannot find this "dodec's web site" can you give the web address please?
thanks again
andrew

 

[drosera]

Hi,

Here's the URL to the web site: http://www.islandnet.com/~tmalcolm

Yes, my friend had it in a tray, but you've got to be careful. One good dry up, and the plants will *never* flower for you. If I remember, noticing the flowers made him realize how long it had been since he last watered the plants.

Also, even in a tray, I'm sure it still needs to form a good dense clump before it flowers.

Take care!

Chris F.

 

[Parasuco]

Yea, Its in a terrarium, and I don't have enough plants to forget for *that* long, lol... Along with the humidity, and my eyes, I think it will be good. Hehehe...

 

[schloaty]

How about snails? Don't people use them to keep their tanks free of algae?

 

[cchang]

Adnedarn,

By keeping the water moving with a pump or surface agitator should help. Drosera's tip on the airstone is very good also if you don't want too much disturbance in the water.

Introducing algae eating critters is also good but beware because sometimes algae will piggyback on the critters and so inadvertently bring more or introduce algae when you have none.

Frequent cleaning using a fishtank squigee (?) or wiper to wipe the glass will control current growth.

Check out the following site for more detailed ways of fending off algae. Though it's for advice for a pond, it still applies to terrariums/aquariums

http://www.watergarden.com/_update/16.htm

 

[cchang]

just found another good site for algae control...

http://honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/algae.shtml

 

[Parasuco]

I'm using an airstone in a little vase with peat, and glass marbles for my Aldrovanda, and to make it less turbulent, i pinched, and used an elastic on the hose to cut down the ammount of bubbles coming up... Theres just a single orderly string of bubles flowing to the surface...

Just an idea if your tank is not gigantic...

 

[adnedarn]

thanks all for all the ideas! at this time i have filled the aquarium up and added 3 fish. 2 white cloud and one Otocinclus (?) for the alge. and you know what? the alge is gone... not 2 days later. so for now it looks like it is working great. hopefully i can work on producing some more of this plant... then i can get cuttings of that and work on making it flower! thanks again to all of you.. here is a pic if you are interested!! (the water was clearer but i tapped the tank to get the fish to come out and they got all speratic and poofed up some peat... hehe) the filter works good on keeping the water clear though. and the Otocinclus (?) is doing good on keeping the bad green off the good green

!!
andrew

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Here's the pic of Andrew's U. gibba tank.