When choosing plants for an aquarium, the owners first of all think about beauty, and only then about practicality and care for them. So I want a small oasis of water to live and develop behind the glass, pleasing the eye with brisk inhabitants and lush greenery. A wonderful design option for freshwater aquariums is didiplis diandra. This grass creates a bizarre effect of a multi-colored middle and background, making the aqua-design elegant and rich.
Plant habitat
In vivo didiplis diander is found in North America. Grass has chosen the eastern part of the continent. It populates wetlands, estuaries, and banks of water bodies. The plant prefers standing places or sluggish water. In areas with a rapid course, it does not come across. In stagnant water, it grows underwater. On lake and river banks it can grow above water.
Plant description
Didiplis diandra (didiplis diandra) is a species of aquatic (aquarium) plants of the Tolstyankov family. In the descriptions you can find the name "peplis", sometimes the plant is called butyrlak dvukhtyinkovym. The grass has a long thin stalk and acicular green leaves without stalks. Leaves gather in whorls of four. The sheet plate is longer than 2 cm in length and approximately 0.3 cm in width.
Small flowers are located in the sinuses, they have quadrangular sepals and thin short stems. The flower has 4 stamens and a short pistil, sometimes there is no pistil at all. There are no petals on the corolla. Appear singly. After flowering, a spherical ovary is formed. The fruit of didiplis diander is a box, the size of the seeds is less than a millimeter.
If favorable conditions are created for an aquarium plant, then its height can reach 35 cm. The color depends on the conditions of detention. The grass didiplis diandra can be either saturated green or light green. With sufficient lighting, the upper whorls become reddish-brick.
Aquarium Plant Content
The best option if the water grass (butyrlak) will be planted in an aquarium with a volume of at least 40 liters. In aqua design, the plant is used at the side walls, in the middle and back of the composition. Separate bushes can decorate the foreground.
Aquarists know that to create vegetable color spots, you can use only a few types of algae, including didiplis diandra. Keeping this plant in the aquarium has a medium degree of difficulty. To ensure the correct process of plant life, it is necessary to create a high level of illumination for it. Daylight hours should last at least 12 hours. An additional supply of carbon dioxide and a temperature resistance of 22 to 26 ° C are required.
The aquarium should be filled with soft water. In extreme cases, water of medium hardness is suitable. It is mandatory to install a filter and remove foreign impurities. Particular attention is paid to clean water. Filtration should be carried out regularly, and fish will have to be selected those that do not dig in the ground. This will help to avoid the rise of turbidity.
Didiplis is not planted in a new aquarium. The plant requires a certain biological balance. For the first planting of water grass, sprouts are selected whose length does not exceed 15 cm.
Soil requirements
For planting didiplis diandra, the bottom of the aquarium is covered with a mixture of clay and sand with the addition of humus. Sludge on the upper layer should not be, and the soil itself should preferably be composed of large fractions. The thickness of the soil layer should be more than 3 cm.
Breeding options
Didiplis diandra reproduces in two ways:
- You can carry out cuttings. To do this, cut a stalk about 10 cm high and plant it in the ground. The lower leafy whorl of the handle must necessarily be covered with soil, since the roots will begin to grow from its base.
- The easiest way to propagate didiplis, dividing its rhizome. In this case, the plant adapts better.
View Features
This type of water grass is characterized by seasonal growth. Winter is a period of rest. The rest of the time, butyrlak grows by 8-10 cm per month.
Over time, the plant forms many side shoots, densely populating the aquarium. Occasionally, green mass can be sheared, but this procedure should not be abused. Mowing is stress for an aquarium plant. After it, didiplis diandra for a long time does not release new side shoots.