outside water plants

[NjOyRiD]

is there any plants that can be planted in water ,but is better outside the water?

As soon as i find my usb cord for me digital cam, I,ll post the pic of my tank with my turtles

[rockgarden]

Back in the early days of all glass aquariums (i.e. the 60's), I used to repair damaged metal framed aquariums for the University and a few school boards as well as build custom ordered all glass aquariums.  One of my most interesting projects was to build a large aquarium for two soft shelled turtles. The final product ended up being a tank 4 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet with a shelf at one end with a raised edge to allow a couple of inches or so of gravel and earth to be placed on top of the shelf. A ramp was included to assist the turtles getting out of the water and up onto this "land" area of the tank. The shelf was suspended in the tank so that the turles could swim under the shelf  thus not reducing the aquarium's aquatic space too severely.

When the aquarium water was "topped up", sufficient water was added to "flood" the tray area of the tank.  Various bog plants were able to survive quite nicely in this manner and the soft shells had a place to "dry out".

A few years after building and delivering this aquarium to the happy onwer, I happened to bump into him and asked him how his soft shelled turtle environment had worked out. He was still happy, In two years he had never seen his turtles out of the water on the shelf area but he knew that they were using the shelf when he wasn't there during the day because he would hear "Plop" "Plop" every night when he arrived home and closed the front door.

You might like to try setting up a similar environment for your turtles.  As far as plants are concerned almost any of the outdoor "bog" plants will grow inside under these conditions if given adequate light and not allowed to dry out completely. Many local bog plants have seasonal growth patterns and die back about this time of the year (understandably so given the upcoming changes in temperature).  Some bog plants might still be available at garden cnetres but this time of year you might have to find them through your local florist or from the indoor garden centres such as the ones at RONA or from on-ine retailers.

Some of the aquatic plants that some fo the OVAS members bring to the club meetings and mini-auctions have a terrestrial as well as aquatic growth form. Maybe they had left overs from the auction and can supply you with ideas and plants.


Some interestng carniverous bog plants to consider would be:

Sarracenia - carniverous pitcher plants - may need to be fed an insectonce in awhile if kept indoors and probably too large for your needs

Heliamorpha - marsh picher plants - also carniverous -  About six inches in height max and often mentionned in terarrium books.

Nepenthes - monkey cups - also carniverous -  actually a vine like plant so if you have your aquarium/terarrium/indoor bog garden in a south facing location you might be able to have it grow with its roots in the aquarium and its vine outside the aquarium and train it around a window.

Drosera - sun dews - also carniverous - Australian and African species  - I haven't tried it but apparently D. Adelae likes a shadier area and will likely do well therefore under typical aquarium illumination conditions.

Dionaea - Venus' Fly trap - also carniverous - readily available in local garden shops 12 months of the year - needs a seasonal cold spell when it goes into dormancy

For a lot more ideas on the bog gardening theme, take a look at:

http://ca.dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Home_and_Garden/Lawn_and_Garden/Bog/

Good luck.

Ron

[jaracas]

the thing with all of the Carnivorous plants is that they like straight moss peat or perlite (or a mix) and very soft acidic water (preferably rainwater).
start giving them anything with nutrient in and they just wither away and die.

all of them live in areas with little or no nutrient, hence why they evolved traps.

basically, if you can grow other plants then the conditions are wrong for CP's

have a walk along your local creek, you will see plenty to give you ideas, things like Moneywort/Creeping Jenny and Watercress all thrived in marshy conditions

have a look for Dartfrog info, those guys have been doing it for years and have some awesome info
here's one to get you going
http://www.dendroboard.com/links/index.php

[rockgarden]

Jaracas: I've always wondered why my carniverous plants only lasted so long.  Despite growing them in low nutrient peat/perlite mix, I would eventually decide to give them some fertilizer to help them along.  Thanks.  Now with more knowledge than before, I have to go out and try some more carniverous plants and remember to give them less care than in the past.

Njoyrid:  Disregard my suggestion for carniverous plants.  Wouldn't work in the turtle environment that I described.

Ron

[jaracas]

i've just remembered i have a CP care page on my own website, lol

here ya go
http://www.geocities.com/bugsnstuff66/CPcare.htm

[dpatte]

i recently tried growing water chestnut and chinese arrowhead. They will grow in the tank - and right out since they reach about 3-4 feet high.

YOu can get these in Chinatown

[jaracas]

i forgot about Arrowhead/Sagittaria, that was another i got from alongside my local creek, it grows rampant.
submerged it is grasslike, but emersed it grows large (4") arrowhead shaped leaves, hence the name

*edit* the species i have tops out at around 12"-18"

[rockgarden]

When I bought the 100+ gallon outdoor mini-pond set-up from ROOP this Fall, I needed somewhere to overwinter the plants that he gave me from his pond set-ups.  I came up with a tight squeeze solution between my furnace and the back wall of my fish room.  The large plants in the picture are Royal Taro. Container is a half whiskey barrel with a plastic liner which provides a capacity of 20+ gallons.  In addition to providing a place to keep the plants until they can go back outside next Spring, the barrel is also home to numerous WCMM's and a few Cories. Water temperature fairly constant at 68 degrees.  Lighting is provided by compact spiral lights in an old three lamp post light.

[NjOyRiD]

wow, thanx for the suggestion, my tank is already half half, a lot of wood and a good filter..I,ll have thep ic soon

[Roop]

that is absolutley amazing. i cannot belive what you have done with it. thank you for giving it a good home.

[NjOyRiD]

yep, its really a nice picture!

[PaleoFishGirl]

That's beautiful! I think you could probably market that - if they can sell bettas in Calla lily bowls...

[squeeker]

Super Pet in Kanata will be starting to carry bog plants and marginals.  I think we have a shipment coming in next week.

[NjOyRiD]

ok heres the tank i was talkign about, i just needs plants that my turtles wont eat!

[Nelson]

Looks good NjR.

[NjOyRiD]

yeah but they eat all the water hyacynth and duckweed!
I'd like the look of a real swamp I'm gonna add some peat in my filter so that the color of the water will be brown!