Ok, my new really truly aquatic planta are in. They're in black gravel for a few days until I get the new substrate in.

First issue - the Ozelot Sword is a lot bigger than I expected from photos and descriptions. I trimmed off the tallest leaves which were a little beaten up anyway. I'm wondering If I should continue to trim the leaves that break the water surface, or if they will be fine half in and half out. Does anyone know?


Second issue - The Java Fern is smaller than I thought it would be. I put the rhizome (skinny green bit) mostly under the gravel hoping it would encourage some root growth. The plant friendly substrate comes in on Monday, so I'm stuck with the gravel until then. When I move the plants to the new substrate, should I just let the Java Fern sit on top of it? Will it send roots into the substrate without being burried a bit?

The Lucky Bamboo stalks should be in on Monday. Their bottoms will be in the slotted glass vase you can see in the next photo - bare root, no substrate. One more week of watching the temp and waterchanges - then I'll test the water chemistry and maybe start looking at Bettas.

It looks great Daniel.Your little betta boy will love it

Looks truly magnificent! U got a knack for micro-aquascaping

Its beautiful Daniel. Cant help you with your plant issues though.

I love it! Very, very preatty!

wow that looks sooo good!!! very stylish!

I've read that the rhizome thingy of any plant should be above gravel as the plant will die or something.. Java ferns attach themselves to things like bogwood and rock, so if you get a stone or something and tie the plant to it with fishing wire (tightly, so no fish can get stuck in it) it will grow better than in gravel. They dont really send roots into substrate, they send them out to crawl over things and attach to them.

I'm not sure about the Ozelot leaves.. I'd leave them to grow out the surface, chances are they will be fine. You will just find that the leaves in the air are a lot tougher than the ones in the water. It will look really good too, kinda like those lillies that do the same thing.

Lucy is right Daniel, you have to have make sure that the crown of the plant isnt covered
As for the (cant for the life of me think of the name so am just going to call them the leaves in the wine glass), they send roots out through the back of the leaf which they like to use to attatch themselves to things. the container is a little small (and far too pretty) to try and get a piece of bogwood in there (plus in that small space id be worried about PH issues).

What kind of lighting do you have on it? it looks quite efficient

That looks really nice, the glass, green and black combo. But where is the Java fern...I thought I had Java fern in my tank but it may not be now I see those plants. Maybe I have Java moss NEway as Lucy says the Java is very floaty and needs to be secured. i used cotton thread.

When will you be getting your betta- cant wait to see him in there

Thanks for the nice comments and the suggestions.

I'm trying to decide how to deal with the Java Fern (the leaves in the wineglass). Something should come into my tiny brain in a while. Driftwood just wouldn't fit the style anyway.

I'll let the Ozelot Sword grow out of the water if it likes unless the leaves get nasty.

The light is a broad spectrum 75W Halogen Spotlight good for plants Tink. It's up in the ceiling.

I'll post a couple more pics as it gets closer to complete. Some day (a couple weeks) I will even have pics of a Betta. haha!

Peace y'all.

oo, cool! can i see a pic of the light please?

It is beautiful Daniel. I don't know about the vase between the two plants though. you may want to remove that to give him more room to move around by removing just that. As for the light. Live plants need light but don't overdue it. Mine grew a lot of algae on it when it got too much light ( I had it sitting on a table under a table lamp) . But you are really good at landscaping. How bout some pics with your fishie in there

Swords are very adaptable and can be both terrestrail AND aquatic. If the top leaves are not aquatic, they may die off, but terrestrial ones may re-grow

Hmm.... ok.

I'll get it tomorrow.

Here's the light Tink. Just a broad spectum bulb in a boring Tracklite.


Now check this out. This first picture is about 27 hours ago. Look at the length of the new leaf growth.



Now look at the new leaf growth 27 hours later. So fast!

Aquatic plants grow sooooo fast! Its insane! When I first tried live plants, I couldn't believe my eyes two weeks later. It was like a whole different plant. I could hardly keep up with how much it grew. It out grew my small tank so I had to get rid off it but it was fun.

haha, that plant seems to be loving it

Holy Cow!

Two more days and look at it now!


This is great, the new leaves are coming in with the color, markings, and size I was expecting.

wow that is pretty cool how fast that grew DFernandez