Fusion Aquascape Planting

On our way home at the weekend, we popped into Aquajardin near Gloucester to get some plants for my new tank. they didn’t quite have what we wanted so we came away with less than expected. Just one little pot of 1-2- Grow Eleocharis sp. mini and 1 pot of 1-2-Grow Staurogyne repens, along with 6 cherry shrimp for the tank in the beach room.

Once home I settled the shrimp into their new home and then set about dividing the pots of plants into individual little plantlets. Next was the painstaking task of planting each tiny little plant. It’s like planting a lawn blade of grass by blade of grass, but also strangely therapeutic. It took quite a while but I got there in the end and had them all planted in time for dinner.

I then ordered a few other plants online which arrived earlier today. I have therefore once again divided and planted these so things are beginning to take shape in the tank. I still need some taller stem plants for the back of the tank on the right hand side. I have yet to decide what I’ll use here yet and can’t really plant those until the tank has water in it anyway so there’s no rush with these. I also want something nice for the front right as well. I might go for an Anubias growing on the rocks here and some Hydrocotyle tripartita emerging from behind the rocks. Finally there is a small area at the back on the left hand side that needs filling. Maybe with a low growing red stemmed plant if I can find something suitable.

Today’s new additions were some Echinodorus tennellus for the upper slopes of the hill on the left hand side of the tank and some rossette like plants called Pogostemon helferi for the slopes on the right hand side of the tank.

I’m attempting what is known as the Dry Start Method (as described in my previous post about the tank) hence no water in the tank yet, except for a thin layer at the bottom to keep things moist. I shall be keeping a close eye on the plants over the next few weeks and hopefully if all goes to plan they will all start putting down some roots, making themselves comfortable and better still start growing and throwing out runners. So far all of the plants I’ve put in are hopefully going to be fairly low-growing, carpeting plants that will form a lush green ‘lawn’ over my hardscape of craggy hills. If all goes well, the rooted plants should then stay in place when I eventually fill the tank with water. I’ll then be able to plant the taller stem plants at the back and after a while start stocking the tank with shrimps and fish.

We’ll see what happens though as things could just go downhill and I could just end up with a soggy rotten mess of plants before I even get to the filling the tank with water stage!

Tags: Aquarium & Aquascapingplants