For aquatic plants, especially pepper figs, I am still a novice beginner. Because I like to play turtle landscaping, I often enter some related website forums to browse and learn, as we all know, due to the destructive power of turtles, plant landscaping in turtle tanks is really difficult to achieve or difficult to maintain.
In order to satisfy the obsession and yearning for the tropical rainforest landscape since I was a child, I had to start playing with turtles and trying to fiddle with aquarium landscaping according to my rough understanding of the original ecological landscape, began to understand aquatic plants, and found that there are such beautiful and magical underwater plants in the world - the color of the unpredictable leaves show a metallic texture and the wild beauty of the pepper banyan should be the first half of last year...
Helpless in the past two years, the pepper banyan market has been hyped very fiercely, its degree of hype is no less than that of turtle species, some varieties of less than 5cm of young plants can actually be auctioned off more than 1,000 yuan on the website, not to mention the price of adult and breeding plants...
But I was still fascinated by this underwater species with its wild beauty! It wasn't until after the Spring Festival this year that I felt that the prices of certain varieties were gradually becoming more rational, and I made up my mind to include...
It is said that the meaning of the chili banyan comes from the powerful black war horse of Alexander the Great in Greek mythology, which belongs to the genus Bucephalandra in the 107 genera of the Tiannanxing family.
Turning over the map, you'll find that the varieties of chili banyan that are known to you are all produced on rocks along the creek in Bomeo (Indonesian as Kalimantan Kaimantan), and are said to have more than 200 varieties. However, only three varieties are currently recognized internationally (Yoshiokati gigantea, Monteana motleyana, catherineae), and the rest of the varieties to be determined are tentatively marked with SP (Bucephalandra SP). Every year during the rainy season, the river rises, the pepper banyan by the creek is submerged underwater, aquatic grass players found that the state of the pepper banyan under the water is very different from the water leaves, there will be color changes that are not on the water, and since then it has swept the world as a high-end prospect grass...
Say this to prepare everyone for the psychological preparation, once you enter the chili banyan circle, you will find that there are too many varieties and too many naming controversies and never-ending temptations...
Even if the same breed, different players, different environments, different water bodies, different lighting, different temperatures, different nutrients, the state of the state color texture has obvious differences, which is undoubtedly for every enthusiast of the understanding, identification, planting of chili banyan have a certain degree of difficulty and challenge, not to mention novices, not to mention, I currently have seven different varieties in my hand, but I can call out the name and enter the seat with the physical number of browny blue, brownie ghost, browny helena, light four varieties, As far as the popular classic Koda Gang is concerned, I still can't tell...
After all, with a few years of experience in playing with turtles, the mentality is much calmer, before including the first lump of chili banyan tree, I set a principle for myself: do not hunt, do not follow the trend, do not pursue varieties, do not compare and do not compare, play what you like, let each chili banyan in your hand enter the best state, show the most textured and richest beautiful colors!
Yes, every time a new variety is incorporated, don't mention how happy you are when you see the leaves appear metallic and small bubbles when they adapt to the new environment after a few days, and then send out new shoots! I understand that they are in a state! As for the hair coloring process, you can only wait patiently and patiently...
I think that the biggest reason why the pepper banyan as a high-end aquatic plant in the landscape makes many players obsessed is the hair color during the growth process, which is not only an interest, a surprise, but also a challenge, but also a test of patience and patience, which is how similar to the hair color of the egg turtle we play, and even more than that...
Especially when you get a wild chili banyan (the price of the wild water plant is much cheaper than the price after the water transfer), you must go through the process of the plant being transferred from the water to the water (all the wild pepper figs are on the water, and the manifestations are all green branches and leaves), only the pepper fig that grows new shoots and new roots under the water is considered to be successful in turning water, and the plants after the successful water transfer lay the foundation for future growth and hair color. For this, I really admire those pepper banyan veteran players, and the beautiful underwater chili banyan seen in the market today is cultivated by them.
For novices and pure landscapers, it is still not recommended to play wild plants at the beginning, after all, whether it can successfully transfer water has certain risks, can be raised from about 5 leaves and 5 rhizomes underwater seedlings, can also be raised from about 10 leaves and 10 or so rhizomes of the adult or breeding plant, the key depends on their actual situation, after all, the price difference is not small, although the price of pepper figs this year fell a lot, but due to the excessive collection of growing places, some varieties are becoming more and more scarce.
Personally, I feel that 3 or less leaves and 3 rhizomes or less are still a bit difficult for novices, and they are not very recommended. Play pure landscaping is even more unnecessary, pepper banyan is relatively slow, wait for 3 leaves to grow into a plant scenery enough for you to wait, if it is from the water wild plants to start breeding, it is estimated that most of the novices have little patience and patience.
I play with landscaping, so the basics included are already out of the shape of the plant and breeding plants, because not deliberately pursuing the variety and hair color, the price is acceptable, I think the fun of the hair color process or leave it to themselves in the future cultivation to slowly experience more fun!
Next, I would like to share my understanding of the environment, for the creatures in the water, the environment is the body of water.
Water bodies mainly include water quality, pH, hardness, temperature, oxygen, light, fertilizer, etc., and CO2 for plants, which constitute the necessary conditions for underwater plants to not only grow in water but also grow well. This knowledge to Baidu to search for a lot of information is also very complete, most of the players are basically the same, for novices to play the foundation can benefit a lot.
Here I mainly share my differences for reference and criticism:
1, pH: I use volcanic rock mixed with river sand to lay the bottom (alkaline), pepper fig root on the sunken wood (acidic), in order to keep the water body PH value basically maintained at about 7 (neutral), neutral water quality is suitable for pepper fig and suitable for peacock fish, why raise peacock fish in the tank? The main activity area of peacock fish is in the middle and upper part of the water, which can effectively eliminate the oil film on the surface of the water, as for other functions I will talk about below. There are also many people who are weakly acidic in water quality, but I am worried about dissolving leaves...
2, hardness: pepper banyan and peacock fish growing water body hardness is relatively high, which is the water quality of the original hard northern friends can not be too considered, friends in the south can add coral sand to increase water quality hardness, some people will worry about adding coral sand after the alkalinity of water quality increases, it does not matter! Peacock fish adapt to the water quality PH can reach 8, and the weak alkaline water quality can also effectively prevent the leaf dissolution and rotten roots of the pepper fig to some extent.
3, CO2 and oxygen: I know that all the people who play aquatic plant landscaping rarely do not add CO2, playing pepper fig is even more, it is said that CO2 can accelerate the growth of pepper fig to promote its hair color, but I am very disgusted with this thing, I think of putting a CO2 cylinder at home, in case one day this gas leaks or explodes What to do? Yes, any plant that needs to absorb oxygen and CO2 for growth, so where does nature's CAPYAN ginseng get the CO2? It is certainly not added manually with steel cylinders, so I gradually add a certain number of peacock fish in the chili banyan tank, which not only ensures the supply of a certain amount of CO2 but also the fertilizer needed for plant growth. In addition, in addition to the d-ex120 filter barrel, an xy-2822 double-headed water goblin can maintain a normal water cycle, cultivate water nitrifying bacteria and release oxygen, plants and animals breathe oxygen and CO2 at the opposite time, so as not to cause the conflict between oxygen and CO2 in the water.
Excess CO2 dissolved in water will destroy the established water acid-base balance, and the lack of CO2 has an impact on plant growth, I can adjust the number of peacock fish in daily observation (so the above is written to gradually increase peacock fish). As for how to observe, I mainly look at it from the following three points:
1>, the dorsal fin and tail fin of the peacock fish, the swimming state, the degree of color brilliance (the reason why I chose the peacock fish of the two fine lines of bluegrass tail and red lace is to facilitate the observation of their subtle changes), how to determine the health of peacock fish Search on Baidu.
2>, whether the leaves of the banyan pepper appear metallic and bubbles, whether the color is bright, whether there is color, whether there is black hair, through these aspects can determine the oxygen, CO2, fertilizer, light and other conditions of the water body.
3>, ensure that there is no moss and other algae in the tank, just in case, the tank can put some black shell shrimp and apple snails that will not harm the plant.
4, water fertilizer: almost all people who play with water grass tanks will add this fat to the water, the same reason, how does the original ecological chili banyan grow to obtain fertilizer? Just as artificial CO2 is not required, artificial fertilization is certainly not required! The excrement of the peacock fish in the tank is just right, OK! It's my principle to do everything as pristine as possible, and to add those artificial as little as seven plus eight as possible. If there is not enough fertilizer, put a few more peacock fish, which is easy to control.
5, temperature and light: the growth temperature of pepper banyan and peacock fish is between 18-28, I do not like to use the heating rod to keep the water temperature constant like most people, any creature in nature will experience the difference between cold and warm in spring, summer, autumn and winter, which is good for the resistance and growth of the organism itself, any life is in the most excited growth state all year round, okay? Just think of people. As for the light of natural light is enough, the light is too strong, it is good for the hair color, but the leaves of the pepper banyan are easy to grow black hair, the cylinder body is also easy to grow moss, no matter what, the state is always the first, play the hair color under the premise of ensuring the state.
6, water quality: to ensure water quality must first establish a biochemical filtration system in addition to physical filtration, establish a circulating biological chain of water bodies, in order to ensure the healthy growth of all organisms in the water, the principle I will not say more, almost played biochemical filtration understand this truth.
The above is my sharing of some of the questions raised by friends combined with their own practice exploration, in short, do not be too superstitious about others, as long as you fully understand the living habits of a species, as far as possible to establish a pseudo-ecological environment and find a balance as much as possible, so that you can play easily and interestingly.