devonian and carbonian plants

[KarstenHeydahl]

It may sound stupid, but i plan my polypterus tank to be made like the devonian/carbonian time period. That means only polypterid fishs and plants that existed back then. So what plants do you advice? I know Selaginella is great and a very old plant species, but its not able to grow full submersed forever.

 

[KarstenHeydahl]

push

 

[pookie]

Hm that sounds really cool actually! I dont know much about plants but.. maybe me saying something will make other people who do know come check the thread out..

 

[Cohazard]

Ferns are a pretty good bet, java fern is from africa, maybe even bolbitis.

Both are low-light somewhat easy plants to grow.

 

[JamesF]

A lot of fern/palm/cycads were around back then and are today. Not much for aquatic though to my knowledge.
Some horsetails might work growing emersed, but I'm not sure how deep they can handle water.

 

[cjiejian]

well could try out anubis and java fern... looks ancient and could stand to the low light condition of a bichir tank

 

[KarstenHeydahl]

Anubia is a pretty modern plant. Its 200 million years too young

The only plant i know from that time period is Selaginella.

 

[JamesF]

Bolbitis is another good aquatic fern. Looks very ancient and probablt is.
I've searched for ancient aquatic plants online, but most are based on extinct fossils, not current living plants.

 

[MaddMaxx]

Thats a really cool idea, I'll be interested to see how it turns out...

 

[Fruitbat]

Um...I hate to be a bubble-burster but Polypterus did not exist during the Devonian/Carboniferous. The earliest fossil evidence of fish even remotely related to polypterids is from the Triassic and Polypterus itself is an even younger genus...the earliest records coming from the Cretaceous.

What this means is that your list of acceptable plants has grown significantly. Bolbitis would be appropriate because it is not only a fern (which is quite an ancient group) but it is also found in Africa which is where most (but not all) fossil polypterids hail from. You might also consider Java Moss (Vesicularia)...another very primitive plant (though not an African one).

-Joe