Tales from the Crypts

We gathered at our house in Wooloowin on Friday, 25th February 2005. There were ten people in attendance on the night, with several others sending their apologies. Everyone had a look at the fish we brought back from our Darwin trip and the fish room expansion. (I said we would never get more tanks, but we did).

Alan and I chatted about our fabulous trip to Darwin. There might be an article in the future if I can motivate myself to put all the notes into some sort of sensible story. We met up with Dave and Robyn Wilson, and squeezed in a few collecting trips between all of Dave's meetings. There is something just magical about the Northern Territory and we really love being there. This was our second trip with the first one two years ago. Dave has certainly expanded his aquaculture business and is even breeding some frogs as well.

There was brief mention of Herbert Axelrod and what sort of sentence he is facing. Gunther says it looks like it might be one year, but could be three. For those of you who don't know, Axelrod,a multimillionaire who had turned his interest in tropical fish into a worldwide publishing empire (Tropical Fish Hobbyist).

Greg mentioned that he still has plenty of Pontederia cordata (blue pickerel rush) to give away. He brought along entry forms for the Pet Expo tank competition. He also had a slide show presentation on heat and how to avoid it, but the meeting ran long so we will have to wait until next time. This should be interesting since many of us experienced fish loss the previous summer due to the heat.

Phill's six foot tank sprung a leak. Not a pretty sight. All the fish and plants had to go elsewhere. The Barclaya longifolia that he had mentioned at previous meetings that was doing so poorly is now going wild and doing well. It had completely disappeared and then came back in full glory.

Barry hasn't been doing much. In fact, we haven't seen a lot of him since he started building his home and moved in. He wanted to know if anyone has had any experience with pond vacuums. He thinks that if he removes some of the accumulated mulm on the bottom of his pond it would be better all around. The mulm definitely builds up and he has to stop the sump pump and flush it out. Bruce advised cleaning out some of the leaves and mulm and then adding more plants to absorb the nutrients. Barry says that the dog doesn't help matters and occasionally jumps in the pond and up-turns the potted plants. He has been considering putting a dirt and gravel bottom in the pond and planting the plants directly in the substrate. Greg is going to drop off some of the pickerl rush which will help absorb extra nutrients. Alan mentioned using trees or larger plants to absorb nutrients. Ken added that Cyperus papyrus is a good filter plant for ponds and absorbs lots of nutrients.

Gunther was along for the night and has been busy taking lots of pictures and getting ready to move house. The new place is on 2 1/4 acres with rainforest and lots of wildlife. He is finishing up some fish photography and then will be taking the tanks down in order to shift them to the new place. He also informed us of a male Rhadinocentrus ornatus that was trying to mate with a male fish of another species. He is keeping the Rhad under observation. We also heard about the woes of being a professional photographer - getting paid poorly for use of photographs, signing away rights, chasing payments, etc. - no respect. We should all be very honoured to have such a wonderful photographer amongst our ranks. Barry informed Gunther that the big money comes only after you die. Gunther agreed that it was the unfortunate part of the business.

Bruce brought along Utricularia gibba (humped bladderwort) in flower. It has a very small and pretty yellow orchid-like flower. Bladderworts are not a favourite among fishkeepers as these predatory plants often feed on small fry. Alan and I mentioned (Darwin) Dave collecting several different bladderworts on our collecting trips. One that I remember had very dark/black bladders making it quite striking. Ken added that there was a bladderwort near Caboolture that is sort of bushy. Bruce also brought along some books from his library:

  • Waterplants in Australia: A field guide (1st-1987, 2nd-1988, and 3rd-1994 editions) by Sainty and Jacobs
  • Waterplants of the Townsville Town Common by Ursula Rowlatt
  • Wetland plants of Queensland: A Field Guide by KM Stephenson. and RM Dowling
  • Aquatic Plants Identification Guide by Sainty and Brayne (1973)
  • Aquatic and Wetland Plants: A field guide for non-tropical australia by Nick Romanowski
  • Planting Wetlands and Dams: A practical guide to wetland design, construction and propagation by Nick Romanowski
  • Water and Wetland Plants for Southern Australia by Nick Romanowski
  • Farming in Ponds and Dams by Nick Romanowski
  • Water Garden Plants and Animals by Nick Romanowski
  • Aquatic Weeds in Australian Inland Waters by D.S. Mitchell
  • Waterplants of New South Wales by Sainty and Jacobs
  • Aquatic Plants of Australia by Helen Aston
  • Floodplain Flora by Cowie, Short and Madsen

Peter did not have much going on. He only passed on the information that the school's bus would no longer be available for field trips. Someone borrowed it and had an accident, so the school was limiting it to school trips only. I was sad to hear this, since the bus was a nice way for a small group to go on a collecting trip. We will have to find alternate transport.

Seweryn was very excited about his newly acquired Crinum calamistratum. Right now he has it planted in a 8cm deep sandy substrate bottom, buried up to the bottom of the bulb (most of it is exposed). He also acquired a bathtub a short while ago and is making it into a pond. We can't wait to see and hear how it turns out.

Ken's ponds are going well. He brought along some Ludwigia sedioides plants to share with the group. We also got an update on how the fish shed is coming along. The builder has finished the shed and Ken is now waiting on the plumber to finish and the council to visit. Then he will work on insulating, installing air conditioner and the guts of the fish room. He estimates completion to be sometime around Easter. Jokingly we all agreed that the BPSG summer meetings will all be held in Ken's fish room - in air conditioned comfort).

To end the night, Alan showed some photos we took on our recent trip to Darwin.

There will be no meeting for March or April due to Easter and the ANGFA National Convention in Melbourne. See y'all in May.

The Brisbane Plant Study Group (BPSG) meetings are held on the 4th Friday of every month and begin around 8PM. If you need directions or have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email at bpsg2002@hotmail.com or via mobile on 0403 790 701. For the latest information, please visit our website at http://bpsg.frell.org