Monte Carlo takeover

[Amelia]

 

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I am new to live aquarium plants and bought a handful of hardy ones to try.  I’m a bit hesitant to plant the Monte Carlo as I am understanding it will take over the floor . I would prefer to have small areas of it and attach it to a piece of wood. Is this possible to do? Would it stay in a pot or still end up all over the place?

[FrozenFins]

No, monte carlo is not a plant that you can propergate on a peice of decor. They need to be planted. With Monte Carlo your going to want to make sure you have a strong light. IF not they will die. A sign of them needing more light is them growing towards the light instead of growing across the substrate. My monte carlo doesn't have any co2 and isn't carpeting, only pearling. Perhaps it will carpet it soon. But I would plant it, if you dont have co2 i may not carpet and you will have a beautifual plant.

[Fish Folk]

Our experience with Monte Carlo in a low-tech, no fertilizers, no CO2 set up was that it survived... but never took over. I think that if you have a decent pair of long aquascaping tweezers and long curved aquascaping scissors, you can plant, observe, and trim / pull as you like. Honestly... we wish our m-carlo would have taken over! 😂

Edited February 19, 2021 by Fish Folk

[Amelia]

If I planted it in a pot , would it stay in there?

[Fish Folk]

7 minutes ago, Amelia said:

If I planted it in a pot , would it stay in there?

Probably! But if it starts someplace else, it's a very easy plant to remove. Something like Rotala Indica might extend runners everywhere, forcing you to tear up a bunch of substrate. But, if I recall correctly, Monte carlo is pretty "chill." The Co-Op always dies a nice write up about plants -- even if they're out of stock. You can review the Co-Op write up about Monte Carlo here. 

Maybe you could help to elaborate a bit about your concerns? Let's say . . . describe your worst case scenario that you're trying to avoid and why? Let's suppose that your Monte Carlo did take over the aquarium floor . . . why would that be a problem for you? Is your concern aesthetic (you don't like that look)? Or functional (e.g. you have sand sifters that need direct access to the substrate)? 

I've attached a George Farmer aquascape with Monte Carlo, and a YouTube short that shows a build with Monte Carlo carpet. I'm (personally) just curious why this sort of end result (which is very hard to achieve, by the way) would be undesirable for  you? 

 

 

[Brandy]

Monte carlo will spread by runners across the surface of the substrate kind of like tiny ivy. You can see them and prune them any way you like. Just snip off anything that is out of bounds. It is a slow grower, but once established is capable of carpeting the whole tank--even without co2 or super bright lights. It does like nice aquasoil substrate as its root system is pretty fine and weak.

[Brandy]

Here is a tank I was given last July. The monte carlo was trying to carpet but wasn't there yet. At this point it had been set up for about a year. 

Here is the same tank last October after I had been consistent with fertilizer and lighting. Pardon the wierd angle.

 

[Charose]

Monte carlo can be grown as an epiphyte. https://tropica.com/en/articles/micranthemum-monte-carlo/

[Amelia]

Thanks everyone. Fish Folk,I have blue gravel that I want to continue to see and also I have watched a few videos of some Dr explaining how everything/debris gets stuck in the plant and it’s substrate  and is difficult to clean out without disrupting the aesthetics . I’m also not looking for something high maintenance and since my impulse buy, I’m learning more and probably just won’t bother with this particular plant in this tank ( maybe another tank to have a little experiment!)