[Ideas how to contain Pothos roots]

On 9/18/2022 at 4:09 AM, Twigflinger said:

I have a hollow log standing vertically mine was growing in.  That is a lot of roots though...

That's an interesting idea. I've been working more or less with the plastic canvas. But when the roots are new and small they still can get very long and in all directions.
Maybe that coule be a better Idea. a more solid "tube" like a wood log with 2 or 3 specifically directed openings. Might look alot cooler too.

[Will Scuds reproduce in Brackish water?]

I ended up with a 10-gallon tank and was thinking about either attempting to breed nerite snails. But remembered enjoying having a scud culture back in the day for my betta's. I have some now, along with other small fish that would enjoy the treat. I'm trying to find out if maybe I could do both?

General answers so far are "Scuds are found in a variety of environments" but trying to find out if the random scud culture I'd buy off e-bay might also reproduce in brackish water along site nerite's is avoiding me. 

Anyone try this before with success? Will "Freshwater Scuds" adapt and still reproduce in brackish water?

Thanks for any input!

[Ideas how to contain Pothos roots]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:23 AM, Guppysnail said:

No I took that tank down. Now I do as @Odd Duck said and trim and redirect. The zip ties only function temporarily as the roots go wild again. 

Yea after my firs cut back they regrew in a week. 😕 Redirection it is!

On 9/1/2022 at 8:57 PM, PerceptivePesce said:

Bonsai folks train their plants to grow smaller leaves and roots by routinely cutting them back.  Pothos is a hardy plant, I bet its roots could be trained.  It'd be cool to find out!

That could be interesting, like wrapping in some thin wire that then it'self become part of the decor of the tank as the roots come down to the bottom.
 

[Ideas how to contain Pothos roots]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:33 AM, Jenja said:

I've got mine, along with lucky bamboo and a spider plant, in a marina slim filter with some lava rock - no visible roots and a little extra water movement. If I ever repeat I'd probably go with something bigger, likely an air driven hang on breeder box, as I suspect at some point in the future I'll see the roots cascading from the filter into the tank as it really is a slim amount of space.

Instant hydroponics system!
Haha, love it. That's a solid plan B if I can't find a solution for inside the exiting tank.
(I had a hang on back filter break and siphoned out a ton of water years ago, been paranoid about them ever since.)

On 8/30/2022 at 10:07 AM, The Killer of Fish said:

WoW!!!  the picture with the roots looks great.  I understand not wanting your other plants affected but the natural look of those roots coming down through the water looks really good.  Instead of "containing" them could you direct their growth down the back of the tank?  Maybe move the plants that are getting crowded out.  There is a Youtube channel called PlantLife Projects where he does a lot with Pothos and other plants and aquariums.  He shows different ways he has secured Pothos within and above the tank.  FYI - I know there are a lot of other channels with similar content, but he caught my eye recently.

Again I must say WoW, your Pothos looks amazing.

Thanks, it's gone full blown crazy. Me and the wife love it.(This is just a small 20 gallon tank with a Red Cherry Shrimp colony roughly 50ish in number.)
I'm sure they love roaming all the roots too, but I'll defiantly check out that channel. Hadn't see that one yet.

[Ideas how to contain Pothos roots]

On 8/29/2022 at 3:12 AM, Flumpweesel said:

Could you tidy them up using that plastic canvas stuff either force them into a tube of it or just use it as a tank divider and have a kinda false wall to contain them you can trim some of the roots without causing harm they are going to grow back. If you did the false wall thing you could get some aquaponic beads to roots the plants into and provide additional surface for bio filtration 

Plastic canvas looks promising. Cool Idea thanks!

On 8/29/2022 at 5:01 AM, Guppysnail said:

I have previously zip tied pothos roots in a clump. It works but does not look the greatest. 

Yea I had thought of that, at first I just cut most of the roots off and they just grew back in a week.
Seems rough on the roots long term, are yours still holding in the zip ties okay?

[Ideas how to contain Pothos roots]

Hello all,
been mulling over how to tackle this project.
From other fish keepers online I've seen examples of Pothos used as an out of water plant addition to freshwater aquariums.
It's a fun project so I grabbed a Gold Coin Pothos from my local gardening store.
A few wire wraps to hold it in place and bam! 2 aquariums with Pothos.
Alls well until I notice the Pothos in the smaller tank which gets direct sunlight at a window grows enormously.
Which frankly is Awesome! See photos. All Pothos plants came from the same bundle and were put in the same day.

The downside is the roots are growing wild in the aquarium making cleaning more difficult and starting to block out the few other plants inside. I've tried to find root bags / pond bags. But they either seem to be designed to bio-degrade or be for larger plants/roots so the holes are quite large in the netting.

Anyone got a product or home DIY idea to help contain them?

 

Update 9/1/2022:
I'm going to try to guide the roots, I love how big the plant is.
And more plant mass = cleaner water (in theory) so I want it to just keep going nuts.
I've made a tube with plastic canvas (Thanks @Flumpweesel) and zip ties, which after setting it up looks promising. 

Yes there was a sponge filter in there and I'm going to transition into a new one since it's literally caked full of roots! Lol Hopefully in the next few weeks the roots keep themselves mostly inside.

 

[Mopani Wood Soup]

I've seen lots of post's online about Soak wood X number of hours or Y number of Days before putting in tank, but it's all over the place. My tried and true method is, 5gal bucket in the garage. Toss the wood in an come back in a week.
Water too brown? dump and refill, repeat until a future week has gone by, and an acceptable amount of "tea" is leached in the water.
The wood will go in the tank when it's ready.
 

[What did you get done today?]

Finally replaced the gravel in my shrimp tank with a nice black substrate. Really makes the green plants and Cherry shrimp pop.

 

 

 

[Is it just me??]

Have any Celestial Pearl Danio or pea Puffers? those are 2 small fish i've been thinking about for my next tank.

[Is it just me??]

A baby catfish/pleco would like that too!

[Detritus Worm Capture to feed other fish?]

Hi All,
have a Red Cherry shrimp tank that's been breeding for about a year now.
I started feeding more a few months ago to keep up with the growing population and this generated a boom in Detritus Worms.
I'm wondering, is there a reasonable way of catching them? I have some other fish in tanks that I'm sure would love to eat the extra population. 

Just something I've been pondering about,
Happy fish keeping!