What do you feed to your root feeders?

[Melody]

I bought a couple of Sword plants, then I won more at the auction and I hear they are root feeders. They'll be in pots for the most part as most of my tanks have shallow substrate. The pots have that red plant gravel that I can never remember the name of.

I was thinking of getting some clay fert balls from Mr. Mykiss - are they appropriate for Swords? What do you feed your root feeders? Any tips?

Thanks!

[amber2461]

Speaking of mykiss, where is he nowadays? I am still interested in getting some shrimps off him.

[jewels]

Here is a short list of things my swords love

Substrate pellets
Water changes
Staying put
IRON
Creating "black holes" over any other plant who happens to sprout in their shadow.

This may be brazen considering my relative lack of expereince in the hobby; but anyhow here is my take on sword reproduction.
Any time my swords (Radican/marblequeen and common Blerhni{sp}?) send off daughter plants it is a response to deteriorating conditions
more specificly following ...
- a black out
- a reduction of lux or " light power "
- a tansplanting
- any massive die off (pruning due to algae, sediment on leaves. malnurishment)

When my swords are super happy it s all about them; leaves four inches wide and growing right out of the tank. Things change @ the first sign of trouble. Four or five clusters appear along a single runner, while growth in the parent plant slows. I have managed to grow out a few generations over the last two years.
Ironicly enough it has been success through poor judgement and error. :err:

[Melody]

Speaking of mykiss, where is he nowadays? I am still interested in getting some shrimps off him.


PM him - he's a member, just a busy one...lol...but he always replies.

[Melody]

Here is a short list of things my swords love

Substrate pellets
Water changes
Staying put
IRON
Creating "black holes" over any other plant who happens to sprout in their shadow.

This may be brazen considering my relative lack of expereince in the hobby; but anyhow here is my take on sword reproduction.
Any time my swords (Radican/marblequeen and common Blerhni{sp}?) send off daughter plants it is a response to deteriorating conditions
more specificly following ...
- a black out
- a reduction of lux or " light power "
- a tansplanting
- any massive die off (pruning due to algae, sediment on leaves. malnurishment)

When my swords are super happy it s all about them; leaves four inches wide and growing right out of the tank. Things change @ the first sign of trouble. Four or five clusters appear along a single runner, while growth in the parent plant slows. I have managed to grow out a few generations over the last two years.
Ironicly enough it has been success through poor judgement and error. :err:

You don't need experience to know what works and what doesn't in your tanks... actually, that IS experience in a nutshell. Don't look now, but you're experienced! :laugh:

What pellets do you use?

Thanks for the input!

[thegrandpoohbah]

When I moved my Cryptocoryne balansae from sand to Flourite it made a HUGE difference in their growth rate. From the sounds of it you are using the Schultz aquatic gravel. Try switching it out for some Flourite and I'm sure you would see an improvement.

[Melody]

It's Flourite that I have - like I said, "red plant gravel". I can't believe you didn't get that from my highly scientific description:rolleyes: :laugh: . So it will be sufficient or should I supplement on top of that?

The Swords I bought at the store have lots of brown spots - should I cut off the worst leaves?

[thegrandpoohbah]

Flourite should be sufficient. Do make sure to prune any dead or dying leaves regularly.

[Melody]

That's what I shall do then. I got my auction Swordplants today and they're big and healthy. I'd prefer to keep them that way.:yes:

[jewels]

I have used aquariumplants.com subsrate pellets. They came free with a pail of substrate I purchased at the same time. I think they felt sorry for me after the shipping I paid !
The pellets contain only N and K . so of course there is more to provide.
I have been reading about DIY pellets and have most of the elements, I just have'nt done it. Pretty sad if you can't find clay in Medicine Hat

[Melody]

Craft stores should have clay, but you probably already thought of that. Isn't Medicine Hat supposed to be clay central?

Thanks for the pellet notes, I'll look into that. :smile:

[jewels]

check out plainsmanclay.com any kind of clay you want, about six blocks from my house - Fifty pounds @ a time. :twitcy: