OMG Yes! Anubias Nana is blooming!

[Tindomul]

Very nice. I guess I've been out of the hobby for a while. Never heard of Repashy or gel fish food.
I guess the fish provide all the CO2 needed huh? Also never heard of ember tetras. Got any pics of your fish? I better stop before I start getting into this too much.
one more question, what kind of substrate do you use?
And, Seachem, that sounds like a fertilizer.

[RandomGemini]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Very nice. I guess I've been out of the hobby for a while. Never heard of Repashy or gel fish food.
I guess the fish provide all the CO2 needed huh? Also never heard of ember tetras. Got any pics of your fish? I better stop before I start getting into this too much.
one more question, what kind of substrate do you use?
And, Seachem, that sounds like a fertilizer.

I hadn't either! Gel fish food is a new one on me too!

The flourish excel is a carbon additive, it's for tanks without CO2 injection. The flourish tablets are a fertilizer.

I'll take some pics of the fish and post them later. Ember tetras are bright orange, but stay really tiny. Cardinal tetras look like neons, but have more red and are larger.

The substrate is a standard black aquarium gravel with some of the seachem flourish black sand for planted tanks sprinkled in.

[Tindomul]

Thanks for the info. Really thinking about starting one now.

[RandomGemini]

Cardinal tetras:



Ember Tetras:



And a better shot of the whole aquarium:



If you're thinking about starting a planted aquarium, go to a locally owned fish store and talk to the owners there! They can get you started. They want you to be successful in the hobby and won't steer you toward plants or animals that are too difficult to keep. Good luck! I'd love to see pics if you decide to do it!

[Tindomul]

Thanks! I will do that if I decide to do it.

[MrHappyRotter]

Nice tank! I'm also an aquarium enthusiast and all my tanks are heavily planted. Plant love runs deep and cross hobby.

My anubias grow like weeds, but I usually only see 1 or 2 blooms a year amongst all my tanks. Like most "aquarium" plants, they often grow emersed (not covered in water) for all or most of their lives in nature and rarely bloom when grown fully submerged in water.

I admit, I didn't read most of the thread, but you can probably tell from the blooms that they're related to peace lilies. The blooms are practically identical, at least superficially.

My favorite aquatic blooms, though, are the crypts. Like anubias, they are usually reluctant to bloom when fully submerged, but from time to time, they reward me with flowers.

[RandomGemini]

I didn't know that crypts also bloomed! I've not had good success with them though. I had a cryptocoryne lutea in my 5 gallon tank that did well under incandescents, but when I upgrade the five to this ten and switched to fluorescent light, it just sort of gave up on me. I'm sure the lighting is the reason, but I thought that it could handle stronger light.

For a long time, aquarium plants were the only plants I could keep alive. I couldn't figure out how to grow house plants with our light in this house. At one point, I had five aquariums scattered all over the house because the house needed a little green. I tore all of them down except for this one when I got out of keeping saltwater aquariums. I just didn't have the time to do the maintenance on them and it took two people to do water changes on my larger tanks. Freshwater planted tanks are a lot less work, so this one stayed.

Now that I've found that orchids do pretty well in the light in our windows, and I finally figured out how to rebloom my african violets, thanks to OB, I'm thrilled, but this little aquarium is special, and particularly this plant. I've thought I was going to lose it a couple of times, so I'm very glad to see it thriving under my care.

[MrHappyRotter]

Don't give up on the crypts. You'll have to take my word, but most of them are quite easy, and they grow like weeds.

What you described is classic crypt rot. The only downside to growing them is that they tend to handle sudden change very poorly. Switching lights is a classic example of the type of sudden change that tends to make them sulk and die back. But I assure you, if you've got the light to grow and flower anubias, then you've got the light to grow crypts. Either way, your average fluorescence is more than enough for crypts. They are mostly lower light aquarium plants and will do well in dim conditions.

The only major difference between crypts and anubias care for the average grower is that crypts prefer a more nutritious substrate, because they are root feeders. Also, crypts tend to grow much more quickly, so you might have to trim them back more often.

I'd definitely encourage you to try some more crypts. I have lutea as well as wendtii and a couple other species and they're all favorites in my collection. The flowers are similar to calla lilies ... in fact, if memory serves me correctly, they're related (same family) as anubias, so the flowers are similarly hooded. Like anubias, they are reluctant to flower when grown fully submerged, but the foliage is really what you're going for anyway .. the occasional flower is just a bonus.

[RandomGemini]

I had avoided them because I was concerned that something in my care of the aquarium was the problem, but really I do the same thing now that I did with the old system, just with more fish and a fluorescent fixture. I really liked my lutea. The leaves were great because they sort of waved back and forth in the flow. It was nice. If my sword doesn't bounce back soon, I'll go get a crypt to replace it.

[Tindomul]

Anubias, Cryptocoryne and Peace Lilies (Spathyphyllum) are all Aroids in the family Araceae (which includes Anthurium, Flamingo Flower and Lemna, Duckweeds). I've gotten some Cryptocorynes to flower, again always emergently, not submerged. Here is one post I made about it
Water Trumpet, Cryptocoryne cordata var Blassii

They are very beautiful if you can get them to flower.
Submerged they tend to melt everytime conditions change, but they probably will grow right back from the corm/rhizome.