Thanks guys, again, growing these plants without all their symbiotic companions is extremely labor intensive and expensive; some people have CO2 pumps that artificially carbonates the water, and still, have to change a third of the water out weekly.
Dave has a few of my previous postings archived now. When you get to the login frame, you can select Aldrovanda from the top line, and read one of three of my previous posts.
The detritus feeders are another important aspect of growing Aldrovanda. In the pond, small snails not only graze on any algae that might attach onto the strands, but they also pull out the spent prey from the older traps before algae gets to them as well. When they’re grown in fish tanks, or other containers, without these snails, the older traps that still have spent prey in them quickly gets loaded with filamentous algae, and it spreads out all over the stems and the entire plant. As these snails grow larger, they may even rip off the entire trap, and sometimes the entire leaf, leaving only a thin stem behind the apical growth point. Then the predatory snails' populations gets in gear, and brings the problem back into check. Pretty complicated symbiotic relationships here, huh!?
- Rich