Staurogyne repens: Contemplating its Fate...

[CatfishLoachZealot]

So, a few weeks ago, I made my first Co-op purchase in the form of an S. repens, a Water Sprite, and a Water Wisteria.  Those latter two were purchased as potential floating plants which, so far, has been working with the Sprite, but the Wisteria melted completely away in about a week (which the Co-op was awesome in refunding me for my loss).  Meanwhile, the repens I bought because I liked the idea of it is a very unique carpeting plant for my 10-gallon (I'm imagining a school of Corydoras or Sidthimunki Loaches cruising among the leaves - a very lower canopy, if you will).  Anyway, the specimen I got is looking so nice in its little plastic cup it came in, I'm worried that my historically black thumb will rear its ugly head and kill the plant if I do anything to change its current setting (and consider getting a few more for the carpeting project).

Also, regarding those black cups and rockwool - is the prospect of becoming rootbound a valid concern?  I've seen that the Co-op sells a decor piece that will fit one of these cups - they have an entire youtube video about them),  But wouldn't such a decoration make being rootbound even more of a problem?  Or will most plants' roots push through the rockwool and spread out on their own?

[Zenzo]

On 12/25/2021 at 10:32 PM, CatfishLoachZealot said:

So, a few weeks ago, I made my first Co-op purchase in the form of an S. repens, a Water Sprite, and a Water Wisteria.  Those latter two were purchased as potential floating plants which, so far, has been working with the Sprite, but the Wisteria melted completely away in about a week (which the Co-op was awesome in refunding me for my loss).  Meanwhile, the repens I bought because I liked the idea of it is a very unique carpeting plant for my 10-gallon (I'm imagining a school of Corydoras or Sidthimunki Loaches cruising among the leaves - a very lower canopy, if you will).  Anyway, the specimen I got is looking so nice in its little plastic cup it came in, I'm worried that my historically black thumb will rear its ugly head and kill the plant if I do anything to change its current setting (and consider getting a few more for the carpeting project).

Also, regarding those black cups and rockwool - is the prospect of becoming rootbound a valid concern?  I've seen that the Co-op sells a decor piece that will fit one of these cups - they have an entire youtube video about them),  But wouldn't such a decoration make being rootbound even more of a problem?  Or will most plants' roots push through the rockwool and spread out on their own?

If you are worried about the plant dying back, leave it in the pot for a few weeks as it acclimates to your tank. You can then remove it from the pot and rock wool (you may have to cut the plastic). As far as leaving plants in the cup, the roots will find a way out, as the cups have enough space between the openings. The Easy Planter that you are referring to also has a hole in the bottom, which allows roots to go down into the substrate. 

[Minanora]

@Zenzo is spot on.

My experience with the rockwool has been great. I actually bought some Val that was in this same format; from co-op. I left it in the cup to quarantine, then just left it in the cup, for several weeks, in quarantine, and only added its babies into the main tank! Most of the babies grew out from the cervices' of the rockwool, through the black cup slits. I always left my potted plants in their pots while I let them quarantine and melt/regrow.

[Streetwise]

I try to shake out all the rockwool before I plant. However, I am happy to stage plants with a light and a sponge filter, and let them grow in the cups.

[CatfishLoachZealot]

Thanks for all your input, fellow tankmates!  I ended up keeping the repens in the cup a little longer, then spread out the 3 individual plants (technically 4, there's a little daughter plant growing from the largest of them) when I was re-arranging the decor in the tank.  Added some Seachem Phosphorus (this tank has plenty o' Nitrogen), and there's already a little bit of new growth!

[Minanora]

Awesome. Funny fact, I just bought a potted S. Repens from co-op yesterday. 🤣

Plan on adding any photos of this adventure of yours? 🙂

[Buckman]

Don't forget you can also put plants in regular pots on the bottom of your aquarium too. Hobby stores often sell small terracotta pots for cheap. I started doing it because I couldn't commit to where I wanted to root a plant. I thought, "Well let's just see if I can live with it here in a pot for a while." I never did plant anything permanently. I just kept buying more pots and other plants. Now I am always trolling second hand stores for pots. 

And don't feel bad about losing a plant. I have some really nice plants that I am proud of. But not long ago I bought some monte carlo from the Co-OP. It came looking lush and gorgeous. The internet say you can't keep this plant from taking over your tank. I dropped it in with about a dozen lush other plants. Some from the Co-OP as well. Noting I did made that plant happy. It hates my water and died slow over the course of 4 months. Monte carlo is just not in the cards for this tank. That happens sometimes. I didn't even bug them about a refund. That plant looked gorgeous and I put it in a good looking tank. No one could have predicted that? I just went on with it.

[CatfishLoachZealot]

On 1/25/2022 at 6:22 PM, Minanora said:

Awesome. Funny fact, I just bought a potted S. Repens from co-op yesterday. 🤣

Plan on adding any photos of this adventure of yours? 🙂

When my tank is looking at little more presentable, probably.  There's a fair amount of green spot algae on the front, which I don't want to just scrape off, as I've plans to raise a couple juvenile Panda Garras in there, and I want them to have as much biofilm to munch on as possible.