Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Amazing new growth from my Crypto Wendtii...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
An update on my cryptos that I have planted emmersed in the pot:
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wow...
Wonder if this is due to the Great Singapore Sale!
Got this Oto fish food at just a dollar! Think will be great for the fishes in my planted tank!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Noticed that my parrot fish tank seems to be a tinge of red in colour!
Which is weird....
Not sure if its due to the colour coming out from the feed!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Not exactly....
Added these to buffer the water to maintain the pH of the tank!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
I checked on the status of my newly potted cryptos earlier in the evening...
and noticed that they were indeed starting to dry up.
I guess.. living on a high rise HDB flat, winds are definitely inevitable.
As such, decided to use microwave cling film to spread over the whole pot, hopefully, this will aid in maintaining the humidity levels within the pot, while still allowing light in!
Wow...
I spent nearly the whole Sunday preparing the planting of my wild cryptos in a pot today...
This post will therefore be a little more picture intensive..
Here are some of the items you will need:
A pot, of course, get one without holes, since crypto will prefer a little water logged environment.
Next added some peat moss to the hydrated sphagnum moss, as it supposedly aids in lowering the pH:
After which, I added a thin layer of activated carbon and charcoal, which supposedly aids adsorption of any toxic stuff:
Next, a layer of lightweight expanded clay aggregate was added, this helps to provide some aeration to the roots area, and also aids in the transport of water from the sphagnum moss area to the soil level at the top:
Final layer, I used a different brand of planting soil mix today, as the usual aquarium shop that I frequent is closed on Sundays, and the neighbouring shop does not stock that brand:
Upon completion, its time to take out the cryptos from their packaging, noticed that some of them have broken leaves, bitten worm hole leaves... signs of really wild cryptos?
The completed pot of wild cryptos... note that there is water filled in the pot.. that the top soil still feels wet, but no dead spots of water, as I do not want to encourage the breeding of mosquitoes!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Alright, I really think I have been bitten by the crypto bug!!!
Got myself not one specimen, but another 5 more today!!
Planted 2 in a container already!
Here's one C. longicauda, which I have already planted:
C. sp barclaya, also planted in the container:
Then I realised that I had another 3 specimens not planted, but I am short of 1 container and potting mix to plant the rest, so these 3 will stay bagged temporarily!
C. zakulii
C. purpurea, this specimen has beautiful purple coloured leaves on the underside!
C. cordata
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Before I start writing about the new wild crypto I got, would just like to do some sharing on how convenient it is to have a photo in my handphone.
You see some time back I bought some containers from Daiso at IMM, and yesterday, while I was at their Plaza Singapura branch, I was looking high and low for the same model of plastic container so that I could have a stackable design for my bottled garden.
Nearly gave up the search, until I remembered that I have a photo of the container in my handphone! Thank god, the staff there was so friendly and she brought me to the shelf where the containers were placed: right at the bottom of the shelf!
The new containers:
When I removed the wool from the little black container, I realised that it was just a cutting without any roots at all! So let's just hope it will grow well emersed in a bottle!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
My fishes are not accepting this frozen Brine Shrimp since I last fed them months back!
Strange thing.. considering, this was their favourite food back then!
