Susswassertang suggestions?

[aokashi]

I got some of this seaweedy thing a while ago. It is also called round pellia . Any have it in their tanks? Mine's been sitting in the window-side-where-everything-explodes-with-growth-tank and has seriously been multiplying. I'm going to get a 2.5 gallon tomorrow and is wondering how I should use some of it in the new tank.

For any one who is curious, you can google Susswassertang or Subwassertang, it's a really interesting plant... only if I knew how to make it look good...

[Aus]

I absolutely -love- this plant, and have had great success with it so far.

It can get a bit messy if moved about a lot, as small pieces break off.. try loosely tying it in a bunch with a bit of cotton in the middle (this will eventually rot away) and then hooking or tying that to a bit of wood or even a low-height fake plant - it sticks to -everything- after a while, and I now have it growing on fake plants, wood and even up the side of my tank where I anchored it, a bit like lichen grows on stone.

I am really surprised to find loose bits of it growing in near darkness at the back of the tank which doesn't get much light at all with wood and lots of java fern shading it. The shrimp love it, and often get in the middle of the bunch to clean the gunk off it.

I made a post about it here: in my journal you might be interested in.

[sparkyjoe]

I ordered some and figured it was dead because it was in a bazillion pieces. Happily I gave it a chance in some warm water and it has recovered a bit. I got a teeny tiny piece of drift wood from the LFS and sorta bunched it up and loosely tied it to the wood and it's doing well in my tank.

I'll have to check out your journal, Aus; I had no idea it would adhere to anything, I just thought it sorta loosely clumped together. Neat!
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[aokashi]

Awesome, Im going to find a twig to attach it to. I have so much of this stuff it isnt funny

[Aus]

sparkyjoe, it does grow slowly - but surely. And yup, I was surprised, too, lol, when I went to rinse my silk plant and there was green stuff stuck all over it..

aokashi, I can see it growing into a sort of little tree, lol. Just don't expect it to attach in a hurry, it took mine a few months to really start attaching to stuff.

What I'm finding really interesting is that it's attaching mainly to the underside of the silk plant, and thriving in the darkest corners/shade of other plants. Maybe it's truly a low-light plant, in that it prefers deep shade? Worth researching/observing a bit, I think.

I'll try to put some pictures up this week of how it's doing.. it's just in awkward corners of my tank for photos, but I'll work something out.

Here's some info from mizuworld's website:

It is in fact a thallus (plant body) of the Fern, Lomariopsis lineata. It is also referred to as Loma Fern for short.

This jelly-like plant closely resembles Pelia. It can be kept in low light tanks easily and grows well with or without CO2 supplementation. Due to its rounder growth, it is nicknamed "Round Pelia".

It is not very demanding and can do well even when placed in poor lights. However, the water temperature should not be kept too high. The growth is larger and rounder than Pelia and can eventually grow into a very tight bunch. Under low light conditions and even without CO2 injection, growth is more stringy.

"Loma fern" sounds pretty - but I think I prefer 'susswassertang', kind of sounds neat!

[aokashi]

I read somewhere that all the susswassertang in thebaquarium hobby are male, I think the female has a different form

[Aus]

.. serious.

Well, now I want both kinds!

[aokashi]

ofcourse I read that at 4am in the morning and may have totally just dreamt the entire thing