# Diplis Diandra Questions



## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Diandra needs a lot of light and needs CO2, any shading of this plant will make it lose its leaves normally starting at the bottom of the stems. When I grew it I never had any fish eat it and shrimp will definately not.


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## Georgiadawgger (Apr 23, 2004)

I had it a long time ago. I remember the top 2/3 looking great, but the bottom had the characteristic blackening (I thought 4.4 wpg was enough light). My temperature may have been too high though, it is a cool water plant (from NE US). It also doesn't like to be trimmed, nor replanted...but that's just my experience.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

I had the same problem with _Didiplis diandra_. Even the slightest bit of shading caused to bottom of the plant to blacken up and die.

Mike


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Ahh, Diandra is a delicate demanding plant, prefers soft water, grows like mad for me now, took me a few weeks to get the hang of when I first started growing it 6 or 7 months ago, I have some now about 12" tall pearls like mad and beautiful.
I don't seem to have any trouble trimming tops and replanting. takes off and multiplys rapidly.

I've not had any fish or shrimp eat any of my plants including the diandra.

Specs per tropica http://www.tropica.com/productcard.asp?id=031


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

I had bad luck with the first batch of Diandra that I bought. I planted it in a 55G tank with a little over 2WPG. The bottoms keep dieing but the tops stayed green; I contributed this to not enough light. So today I bought another batch to try in my 20G tank with over 3WPG, hopefully this time it will grow.

My plant books says not to plant to close together, good light (3WPG) and regular fertilization (iron) needed.


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## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

Mine grew great in kh/gH 3/8 4WPG and lots of CO2 but it croaked in kH/gH 14/8 with 4WPG and lots of CO2. It appears that this plant requires soft water.


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## pphx459 (Jun 25, 2004)

Hm, I have some real awkward plants! They are the opposite from what you guys are saying. The plants in the shade seems to be growing while the plants out in the open are withering.. Another difference I forget to mention is that on the right side that is withering, I have multiple groups of the plant. How far am I supposed to keep them apart?


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## Gomer (Aug 14, 2003)

I had mine growing wonderfully in KH/GH of 9/9. This tank was not cool water (around 80 n average peaking to 86). High light and CO2. Bottom stems never blackened but old bottoms weren't that colorfull. They were grown in a tight bunch.

one thing I have definately learnedwhich has always held true for me with this plant: Have patience. It HATES frequent prunning. It has about a 2week period after trimming where it looks blaaah and lacks a lot of color. After this, it colors up quite nicely.


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## pphx459 (Jun 25, 2004)

Gomer, my tank conditions match that of yours, I will give this plant a chance. The thing that really boggles me is that one side is growing fine while the other side looks like it wont make it..


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)




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## pphx459 (Jun 25, 2004)

:drool: Never got these plants to be red at the tips, but they are rebounding!


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

The CSM+B and an extra shot or two of iron seems to help with the redness


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

I am making a second attempt at this plant right now. The first time I tried it was when I just started planted tanks and it wouldn't develop any roots and just kind of got shorter and shorter. My water is medium soft and the lighting is high, so I'm not sure what happened the first time, but I fully expect complete success this time. That pic of it with the pearling and red tips looks so good, I feel like jumping in my car and picking some more up right now. 
-Aphyosemion


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## pphx459 (Jun 25, 2004)

At least you have a place to go pick them up..


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

My second attempt at growing D. Diandra is going well, they are green, growing and best of all the bottoms are not dying. :bounce:


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## Thanks (Oct 9, 2004)

how high do they get? im considering them for a 24 '' high tank... would they be tall enough for a good background centerpiece, and is 3.5 wpg enough for them?


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Thanks said:


> im considering them for a 24 '' high tank... would they be tall enough for a good background centerpiece, and is 3.5 wpg enough for them?


Yes and Yes roud: Mine are 18" tall now
With the proper conditions they are just like any other tall plants :icon_bigg


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

They only get around 6" tall, so not a good background plant. 

Yes, 3.5 WPG is enough.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

trenac said:


> They only get around 6" tall, so not a good background plant.



Shhh...Don't tell my Diandra that :wink:


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

I have not had mine long enough to see if it will actually get over 6" or not. I was going by what was written in my plant book, maybe a misprint :icon_conf


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## BSS (Sep 24, 2004)

I just put two bunches in my tank last week. The stuff I received was about 12" long. Per the Kasselmann book, it grows 10-40 cm submersed (5-10 emersed). I'm hoping to use it as a midground, so 6-9" would work for me  !

Good thread. It'll be interesting to see how mine fairs...
Brian.


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

Tried this plant once before in the past, but I don't think it likes my water. Gave it plenty of light and enough nutrients, but it didn't last long. Two weeks and by then, it had blackened out and disintegrated in the tank. This was before I went pressurized and the water was more basic then.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Bummer  Sorry to hear that, I've heard several folks say they have a hard time with this plant, it thrives for me, if you want to try it again, Ill be glad to ship you a generous portion, maybe an even trade for some "Hemianthus callitrichoides" :tongue: 




Ibn said:


> Tried this plant once before in the past, but I don't think it likes my water. Gave it plenty of light and enough nutrients, but it didn't last long. Two weeks and by then, it had blackened out and disintegrated in the tank. This was before I went pressurized and the water was more basic then.


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

I have noticed that locally most of the Diandra in the stores are not in the best of shape to begin with and have already started to have stem rot; they (LFS) say the plant does not ship well. I think the key is getting a really healthy plant to begin with. The last batch I obtain had just begun a bit of stem rot, I cut the bad part of the stem off & planted, I only lost one stem all the rest is doing very well.


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

Hmm...might have to do that next time. Parts of the plant were already blackened and the stems were translucent when I got them. I just attributed that to lack of nutrients and thought that it would recover in my tank. Well, that never happened...

The Hemianthus callichtroides is doing well. It has finally settled in after about two weeks and is starting to put out new leaves. I'm moving it to the 90G when that's set up, so it might be awhile before someone else gets a hold of it.


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## SCMurphy (Oct 21, 2003)

This plant doesn't mind hard water, prefers bright light, and a good substrate, water column ferts are a plus. If it is healthy it does not notice that it has been trimmed, nor will the lower leaves turn black in a thick planting. The concept of it prefering cool water is only for people who want to keep it longer than a year, 72 or under like Wö£fëñxXx has it growing. The idea is to keep it in 'spring' conditions, if you let it get to summer conditions it will switch gears after a while and crap out. Yes it will grow in warmer water, yes it will look fine, but eventually its genetics decide summer must be over and it goes into it's fall die back. 

I had the best growth of this plant when I kept it at a 10 hour day, when i jumped the tank up to 12 hours it looked great for 3 months and it died back, after 2 years of really nice growth and color.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Do you think the longer photo period simulated the longer days of summer and the plant decided to go dormant after the summer lighting period?

Mike


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## pphx459 (Jun 25, 2004)

This makes a lot of sense. My tank conditions in the summer time was exactly that! The temperature was consistently at 80C and it thrived for a couple months. When summer was over is when I started noticing the plant to die out. In it's place I have decided to give E. Stellata a try.


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## SCMurphy (Oct 21, 2003)

Momotaro said:


> Do you think the longer photo period simulated the longer days of summer and the plant decided to go dormant after the summer lighting period?
> 
> Mike


Yes, considering how long I had it going like a little rose bouquet, along with the way it suddenly crapped out after that length of time after the photo period change. It just went into a fall die back.


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