2nd week.....for the stellata, this is the "make or break" week. they have all started to turn submerge and now comes the hard part...do they develop damage heads or not? stellata with a damage head will not grow fat and tall, instead they will develop multipile new shoots, they look quite nice with their bushy new shoots, but this is not the standard i wanted...they must have a stem mininum 0.3inch in diameter,thats the size of one's index finger and the leaves must be in full growth from top to bottom. alot of things could go wrong with the stellata. damage heads, botak bottom, short curly leaves, man ,they could even die overnight after growing well for a few weeks. they are not term diffcult and demanding for nothing. lighting plays an important part...too little they will refuse to grow well, too much the leaves will turn curly. how much is too much..i have no idea really, i just relie on instinct as i have been planting stellata many times over, and each time they will provide a different challege. out of 44 stems i planted this time round, only 2 develop damage heads as for now...a good turn over actually, but then its too early to judge until the 3rd week, past this, the they should be okay, matured stellata seldom develop damage heads if given the proper care. i usually would throw away those with damaged heads ..no point keeping them as they will not be able to catch up while the rest grows taller around them.
the gladulosa is abit slow in turning, but at least the stems are intact and not rotting, i guess they should be okay as i notice side roots forming. i was tempted to add in KR26, a growth hormone i got from thailand, but guess i wait as i have not add in any liquid or solid fertilizers pending the 14day curfew after rescape..just my method to avoid brown algae
this lot is growing too fast for my liking...i have trimmed on sunday and this photo is on thursday night. anyway i will be replacing they with something else, if i could find anything good.
ah my favourite...Laetacara curviceps, got them from 4mata in pudu pasar at rm1.50 each, haha, this 4mata is a joker, sometimes he remembers me as a fs owner, sometimes he doesnt know who the hell i am...guess it all depends on how many "goyang kepala" pills he had the night before.
anyway, L.curviceps has always been my favourite since i was a kid, they have never given me any problems in a planted tank, along with the kribs, they are they only cichilds i trust with my plants...well, well, this trio is different ...they went straight for the stellatas, i was kinda shock to see this happen, normally they are quite well behave, but not this bunch, they are bend on destruction...guess 4mata has been sharing his pills with the fishes too. ...THE DECEPTICONS MUST BE STOPPED....so out came the mineral water bottle with blood worm trap...cichlids will always find their way in this bottle but never the way out...funny really .
