An alien from my tank

Hi all,
Bit of frivolous one really, but I found this recently in one of the fish tanks.
I don't know where it came from, but after some research I think it is an insectivorous plant, a "Bladderwort" Utricularia gibba. It looks like really bizarre, just like very fine nylon fishing line with a series of knots in it.

Enlarged the "knots" turn into little bladder traps, and I'm expecting them to grab some of the passing snowflakes any minute now!



cheers Darrel

Very interesting plant, If anyone interested there's a informative article here:
http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/aquatics/utriculariagib.html
I wonder how it ended up in your tank?

and I'm expecting them to grab some of the passing snowflakes any minute now!

Click to expand...

lmao, i was just thinking same thing.

Strange plant.

Good article Stan

Its a very attractive plant
http://akvaforum.no/images/dt/049b_aquascape.jpg

Hi all,
This one should have a yellow flower, but it is so thread like I think it would need to bulk up a lot before it flowered. I had a different nice aquatic one that grew really well for a bit them disappeared, although this may have been Almovandra rather than Utricularia. If I was trying to grow any aquatic Urtricularia properly I'd try it in a tank with very soft water, a lead mould and peat substrate and a lot of growing moss.

"http://akvaforum.no/images/dt/049b_aquascape.jpg" I think that is another Utricularia species - "Utricularia graminifolia", Tropica were pushing it for a while as a carpeter, but they say it's difficult to grow. I'll have money that it is only difficult to grow under water, as it is 100% terrestrial.

I've grown a few terrestrial ones (in bog gardens and as epiphytes), and a lot of them have fantastic flowers.

A happy Utricularia graminifolia


U. nelumbifolia


cheers Darrel

My alien has flowered

Hi all,
I've revived this old thread because the Utricularia gibba from it has just flowered.







cheers Darrel

Is it just aquatic plants you are into or all plants? So the aquatic version of a venus fly trap, best keep it out of my shrimp tanks then.

Is that your own photography or borrowed?

I used to keep alot of carnivorous plants and it would not harm a shrimp only water born particles small enough to be eaten or consumed by the "bladders"

Your alian is U. gibba as you already know, I am pretty sure that this plant was eating my killie fry and crs shrimp But not Guppy or Plec fry. Once i removed it from my tanks the shrimp and killies were much happier.
Did your plant flower in water?, I have had it flower in very moist peat but never in the water colum.
Cool plant, as a collector of carnivourous plants it is a must have but it can be a pain in the butt if you have fish with very tiny fry (like killies) or if you are growing other plants especially mosses as it is just about impossible to remove once established.

Darrel that U. nelumbifolia looks like an orchid. I wonder if i can get my hands on that species in Australia. I am assuming not, Surely I would have come across it by now. It is spectacular. All your photos are awesome i really enjoyed reading this post and would love to see more pics from yr Garden.

Great read, Thanx Aaron

Hi all,
I'm not sure what is allowed into Australia, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Utricularia species are banned, because it is a genus with a large number of Australian species. <http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq7510j.html>.

Utricularia nelumbifolia is an epiphyte so grows like an orchid, as well as looking like one. I think I'd probably go for perlite or bark and sphagnum moss as a growing medium. <http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5592.html> I've only ever seen it (or possibly the closely related U. humboldtii) at Kew gardens, so it probably isn't easy to grow <http://www.kew.org/science/tropamerica/neotropikey/families/Lentibulariaceae.htm>.

cheers Darrel