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Greetings from a Plant Lady


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#1 asukawashere

asukawashere
  • NANFA Guest
  • CT

Posted 05 April 2016 - 01:37 PM

Hi NANFA folks! I have no idea why I don't already have an account here, all things considered, but lo and behold I went to reference something on collecting laws down south the other day and realized I didn't. So I fixed that. Here I am! :)

 

Anyway, I am Amanda, and if you are in the Northeast and involved in any of the fishclubs/societies thereabouts, you probably at least know somebody who knows me. I'm the plant lady. I'm not totally sure how that happened seeing as I love fish and shrimp and whatnot just as much as I love plants, but that's what people know me for, so there you go. I guess in a hobby where everybody has fish in common, it's the flora that stands out.

I live in CT but I've snorkeled my way up and down chunks of the East Coast, and love poking around in puddles to see if some interesting plant just happens to be growing there. Every spring my family drives to somewhere in the Southeast and I spend several days poking my nose in muddy ditches in front of Chik-fil-A restaurants (Dad has a bit of an obsession with their sandwiches) and getting strange looks from the locals. This year's trip was Savannah, GA with a brief stop in Charlottesville, VA.

I keep some native fish along with the rest of my odds-and-ends aquatic menagerie, plus tons of native plants…though at the moment I'm downsizing and reorganizing the fishroom so my only native fish right now are a bunch of Gambusia and a sunfish named Slim…and I think there are still one or two old Jordanella poking about in my 120g glorified swamp. Maybe. Sometimes I have a hard time finding things in that tank what with all the driftwood and rocks and plants. Fish have gone missing in there for a month and then turned up all of a sudden.

I like smaller fish, so our native killies, livebearers, darters, dwarf sunfish, shiners, etc. are on my radar. Basically anything plant friendly. And crayfish, which are not so very plant friendly, but do a good job of disposing of my excess duckweed.

Feel free to ask me any plant-related questions if you like. ;)



#2 Chasmodes

Chasmodes
  • NANFA Member
  • Central Maryland

Posted 05 April 2016 - 01:56 PM

Welcome Amanda!  I'd love to see some pics of your tanks and fish inhabitants (if you can find them).  Glad you are here!


Kevin Wilson


#3 mattknepley

mattknepley
  • NANFA Member
  • Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 05 April 2016 - 02:25 PM

Greetings! I, too, would love to see some of your set-ups.
Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

#4 asukawashere

asukawashere
  • NANFA Guest
  • CT

Posted 05 April 2016 - 03:16 PM

Trust me, you don't want to see any of my fish room right now, between the reorganizing and desperate need for some spring cleaning. However, I'll gladly share some older stuff!

 

Here's a few photos from a 55g gulf coast natives tank I tore down last fall after running for 3 years, for example:

CROP_P1010537.jpg

 

It housed a bunch of sailfin mollies I caught in FL, their many offspring, some olive nerite snails, a few Jordanella and Gambusia, and at one point prior to this photo's taking, one stray Cyprinodon variegatus and an Adinia xenica.

 

I totally cheated with the plants and threw in some Java fern, moss, crypts and Vallisneria spiralis in addition to a couple of native Sagittaria, but there aren't a whole ton of readily available, salt-tolerant native plants to choose from.

A blurry photo of some of those mollies:
CROP_P1010561.jpg

 

And here's Slim being all camera-shy:

CROP_P1010569slim.jpg



#5 gerald

gerald
  • Global Moderator
  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 05 April 2016 - 03:26 PM

Welcome Amanda.  "Getting strange looks from the locals" is one of the best perks of NANFA field trips.  Najas guadalupensis and Val americana are fairly salt tolerant, at least up to 3 or 4 g/L.   Most of the other brackish natives need stronger light than my tanks offer.

 

BTW we've really been needing a new "plant lady" since Laura B (nativeplanter) drifted away a couple years back.


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#6 asukawashere

asukawashere
  • NANFA Guest
  • CT

Posted 05 April 2016 - 04:49 PM

I had a lot of V. spiralis in the fishroom when I set up the tank. Not so much in the way of V. americana. As for Najas, I just didn't feel like having floaters in there (otherwise I'd have wedged in some hornwort, too; it can take the salt).

If I'd gone for higher lighting I'd have maybe added Eleocharis parvula and Sagittaria montevidensis ssp. calycina.



#7 Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe
  • Board of Directors
  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 05 April 2016 - 04:54 PM

Welcome. Like Gerald said we are in need of a plant person. Particularly one with piscitarian proclivities.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#8 MtFallsTodd

MtFallsTodd
  • NANFA Member
  • Mountain Falls, Virginia

Posted 05 April 2016 - 06:54 PM

Welcome aboard Amanda. Love the pictures, thanks for sharing. Wouldn't think of having an aquarium that wasn't full of plants!!!
Deep in the hills of Great North Mountain

#9 Matt DeLaVega

Matt DeLaVega
  • Forum Staff
  • Ohio

Posted 05 April 2016 - 08:00 PM

I have to say it once more, we have surely needed a plant specialist for quite some time. Welcome!


The member formerly known as Skipjack


#10 steve

steve
  • NANFA Guest

Posted 05 April 2016 - 08:42 PM

Feel free to ask me any plant-related questions if you like. ;)

The offer is much appreciated and I'm sure there will be many of us take you up on that.  Welcome to the forum.  I've already been enjoying reading the plant info. in your posts.



#11 dsuperman

dsuperman
  • NANFA Guest

Posted 05 April 2016 - 09:44 PM

Welcome, love that photo of the real slim shady. :smile2:





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