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A CREATION with an open mind

Item #1275955529

Current Auction Time: Tue May 14 05:11:44 2024

		Final:	$20.01		First Bid	$1.00
		Time left	00:00		# of Bids	8 (bid history)
		Started	May 24 2010 - 01:05:31 PM		Location	Richmond IN 47374 United States
		Ended	Jun 7 2010 - 07:05:29 PM Auction Closed
		Seller	Bayleesfishees (2398/2400)
			(View seller's feedback) (view seller's current auctions) (ask seller a question)
		High Bidder	Stevebelliveau (61/63)
		Payment	Money Orders/Cashiers Check, Visa/Mastercard, American Express See Item Description, PayPal
		Shipping	Will Ship to Continental United States Only Seller Pays Shipping, See Item Description

Seller assumes all responsibility for listing this item. You should contact the seller to resolve any questions before bidding. Currency is U.S. dollars (US$) unless otherwise noted.

Description

 

GET READY TO SEE A NEW PAPA. I think that everyone that really wants to take this hobby serious should consider putting LIVE PLANTS in their tanks. I think the graduation that a person goes through from being a person with a fish tank that goes to a pet store on Sunday afternoon each week after church to find a weekly special on a fish, to a more serious aquarist that studies fish behavior and trys to recreate nature, should go ALL THE WAY. Going all the way means not only replacing that purple gravel with a more natural color to relieve stress, or learning what fish mix well together so one doesn't get eaten, or providing cover for smaller fish, skittish fish and even a place for fish to spawn. WELL, PLANTS CAN HELP Plants do much more than make you look like you know what you are doing.  The first thing they do is help balance the water chemistry of your tank by filtering out the harmful toxins that can build up.  They also help provide oxygen for the fish, much like trees do for people.  Plants provide cover for fry, or a save haven for smaller fish or females to possibly hide from bullies which helps relieve stress for both them and you.  They also provide places for fish to scatter their eggs or simply lay them on and in some cases, trigger more spawning. So whether you have a show tank with substrate, a tank with clay pots or even a bare bottom tank, you can find plants to help. This is where I come in.  I want to help. One of the most common things I here when I go to a club and give a talk, or a show to sell plants is "I can't keep plants" or "I always kill those".  Well, first off, you have to start with good plants.  Believe it or not, plants are making a strong comeback into the hobby.  I see more and more clubs not only focusing on live plants, but even branching off into "specialty groups" or forming their own "plant club".  In the past, I think some pet stores didn't do a good job with plants.  They either only dealt with floating plants like anacharis or hornwort (which require almost no care) or they brought in bog or marsh plants that looked really cool when they dropped them in the tank, but since they do not belong UNDER water, they die when you take them home.  Thus giving ALL aquarium plants a bad reputation.  I see it all the time. I could go on and on, but here is something I also know.  That one of the best feelings I get in what I do is convincing that person who has swore off plants to try it one more time and a year later, having them thank me and tell me how awesome they are.  I want to enjoy through you! I have to be completely honest with you folks.  When I graduated from a hobbyist to a wholesaler, I lost something.  I lost the ability to create.  When I was a hobbyist, and set up a new tank, I could do anything I wanted to.  I could try new plants, new looks and so on.  But that is not the case when you decide to be a wholesaler.  Now, most of my tanks or tubs look like outdoor gardens with rows of radishes and carrots.  Not much creativity there and is boring.  So I find my enjoyment in this hobby by helping people create there own show tank or tanks.   The hardest part of that is simple, I could easily spend countless hours setting up various "show tanks" and take pictures of them, post an auction for everything you see, but for me, it's not practical.   The other part is that I would never have the time to do it, and every once and a while, I lose track of my inventory and end up running out of certain plants I may have promised.  For most people, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but if the ONE plant that you truly wanted caused you to win an auction and I didn't give it to you, it would be a big disappointment.  I'm looking to make you happy, not sad. So, I am going to try to make packages of plants that I think are not only cool, but maybe a tank that I would like to set up and live it through you.  In fact I would love it if you not only would share your enjoyment with me through an email, but with a picture as well so I can post it on my auctions and give more ideas.  Let's face it, anyone can buy the same plants for a garden, but not everyone puts them in the same place. So look for my CREATION packages, as I will try to do several so everyone has something to choose from.  I will also continue to do smaller deals called SPRINKLES for those just wanting to add a few new plants to their already established tanks. AN OPEN MIND CREATION This package is for people that are like me in the respect they do not jack around with glass tops.  But before I go any further, if you have a glass top and hood, you can still make this package work. So let's talk about something really quick, what does having an open top tank do, or require?  First off, you probably need to figure out if your fish like to jump or not.  I don't want to encourage anyone to try this with killies or fish we KNOW will end up crispy on the floor. The other thing we need to consider is the light source.  Since we are not having a glass top, we have to consider the heat from the light source not being too hot to dry out the leaves that float or grow out of the water.  This will simply dry them out.  Having an open top tank will also affect your temperature by not holding in heat and will allow your water to evaporate faster in warmer tanks.  So if you have the ability to have a cooler tank inside, with a light source that is either a pendant, or mounted to the shelf above on your rack, then let's get creative. The idea behind this is to allow plants to grow out of the water much like they probably do in nature.  In fact, there are many plants that simply do not grow fully submerged, we merely teach or train them to.  However, some plants will never learn, and I won't deal with those here. So let's start at the bottom.  I think everyone that see a planted tank or wants a planted tank, really gets a kick out of not only foreground plants, but carpeting foreground plants.  Carpeting plants are the type of plants that spread sideways just like phlox or periwinkle does in your flower garden.  In other words, carpeting plants are like ground cover.  The only difference is, you don't have to jack with weeds in an aquarium.  Now, even though over time these plants will spread, provided you have a decent substrate like Baylees Better Bottom, I know that when I am buying ground cover, I never buy one or two, I usually buy a whole flat.  Otherwise my neighbors would think I was an idiot if I had this big garden with one little sprig of phlox.  Plus, I'm not the type of person that has a lot of patience, I want it to look awesome now.  So instead of telling you I will throw in 3 little foreground plants, I am going to send you 12 of them.  I am thinking along the lines of Narrow Leaf Chain Swords and Cryptocoryne Parva.  Both of these plants should do very well in this type of tank.  They should be able to get enough light from a light source that is not directly on the top of the tank.  The only thing they might need is a dose of Flourish or your favorite fert from time to time. Now lets move onto a "filler" plant.  Because of the type of tank we are going for here, I am going to go with Hornwort.  Hornwort is an interesting plant that can be used in many different situations.  This crap can tolerate a WIDE range of conditions which makes it a desirable plant for any aquarium.  This plant is used commonly in outdoor tubs and ponds as an oxygenator. Because of it's bushy structure, it provides plenty of cover for small fry or fish to hide in.  The other cool thing about hornwort is you can float it, but I'm suggesting that you don't float it in the tank as we don't want to "shade" the foreground plants we just planted.  Instead, I would create some bushes by planting it in the substrate.  This stuff is dark and will do a good job hiding crap behind it you don't want to see, and provide a nice contrast to the lighter foreground plants in front to make them pop.  I think 3 nice bunches of this will be perfect. Now let's start talking about the cool things we can do with this open top tank.  See with an open top tank, we don't just have to look through the front glass, we can look down from the top.  So why not throw in some plants that are going to make that a little more interesting.  I'm thinking along the lines of lotus and lilies.  The cool thing about some of these types of plants is if you want them to stay small, you can always cut the stems of the surface leaves to keep them down, but in this case we are wanting them to shoot up to the surface and lay on it.  I am thinking throwing in some Dwarf Lilies like nymphaea or even some Red or Green Tiger Lotus. For the most part, the dwarf lilies are cool enough to stay small, but every once and a while, a surface leaf will shoot up to the surface.  Now those tiger lotuses are also cool because they will have big leaves that will find their way to the surface and they are really cool looking.  So I am thinking of throwing in about 5 of whatever type I happen to have in stock when you win this auction. OK, now we are starting to get somewhere.  Now for the real reason we are going for an open top tank.  Did you know there really isn't a single sword plant that grows underwater in nature?  Of course you didn't and that's why I am here.  But as I might have mentioned, we can TRAIN certain plants to do it.  But in this case, we are not going to do anything but let them grow. How cool is it when these plants decide to grow up out of the water?  Doesn't that sound more interesting?  You know what else happens when swords grow out of water?  FLOWERS!!!  See, that is a secret...if you see a plant that has flowers on it....then it was growing out of water.  Kinda like that narrow chain sword picture I put in the foreground section.  But don't worry, because most plants commercially grown are grown out of the water or immersed to keep up with supply and demand.  So you just have to know which ones will acclimate over to submerged.   Since we are talking about Swords, I think I will talk about another type of plant that looks like a sword and that would be certain types of anubias plants.  See when I think a customer wants to try sword plants, but I don't think they can handle them, I point them to anubias which just about ANYONE can handle.  So I am thinking of tossing in 5 Amazon Swords and 3 Anubias Congensis.  These plants are going to look cool when they grow up out of your tank.  One more thing, that anubias congensis should be planted with care or tied to a piece of driftwood or rock.  Never bury the rhizome of an anubias plant.  So there you have it.  A nice package of plants that would be great for an open top tank, or even a lower light situation. Let's Recap 12 Foreground (chain swords or parva) 3 bunches of Hornwort 5 Lilies or Lotus 5 Amazon Swords 3 Anubias Congensis That is a total of 28 plants that would probably dress up a 55 gallon tank nicely.  If I were to sell these plants at a retail shop, I would probably get around $80-100 but I am starting this auction of at  $1 with NO RESERVE BUT I AM GOING TO GO A STEP FURTHER I won't ask you for anything more than what you bid.  I will simply ship them to your door and eat the shipping cost.   SHIPPING INCLUDED! Send your paypal payment to: bayleespapa@aol.com   ENJOY AND HAVE FUN You may now start bidding like a mad man!

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Bid History:

Bidders		Bid Time		Bid		Comments
Aussiesrbest (33/37)		May 24 2010 - 02:30:33 PM		$1.00
Stevebelliveau (61/63)		May 24 2010 - 03:41:45 PM		$7.03
Stevebelliveau (61/63)		May 24 2010 - 06:38:53 PM		$8.33		Bumped up by: Aussiesrbest $8.33
Stevebelliveau (61/63)		May 24 2010 - 07:35:34 PM		$10.00		Bumped up by: Mountainkingfishes $10.00
Stevebelliveau (61/63)		May 25 2010 - 06:03:11 PM		$11.36		Bumped up by: Aussiesrbest $11.36
Ghostknifer (64/64)		Jun 1 2010 - 09:22:26 PM		$11.69
Stevebelliveau (61/63)		Jun 3 2010 - 05:39:18 PM		$15.00
Stevebelliveau (61/63)		Jun 3 2010 - 08:36:21 PM		$20.01		Bumped up by: Ghostknifer $20.01

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