Cladophora

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Video: Cladophora

Video: Cladophora
Video: Кладофора шаровидная. Не все водоросли одинаково БЕСполезны 2024, March
Cladophora
Cladophora
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Cladophora (lat. Cladophora) Is a rather interesting aquatic plant from the family of the same name.

Description

Cladophora is a very unusual and rather original plant that looks like a green algae huddled into a single colony. Usually these are radially located filamentous algae. The average diameter of such bizarre formations is usually twenty centimeters.

Inside the rather large balls forming over the course of several years, numerous air cavities appear, and a densely knotted colony of assembled algae develops as a ball shell.

Cladophora is characterized by a rather slow growth - in a year it grows by only 5-10 mm. By the way, if you try to cut the fluffy balls, you can get a good look at the zones of annual growth.

Where grows

Cladophora can most often be found in the cleanest lakes of Russia and Europe.

Usage

Cladophora is perfect for growing in cold water aquariums - their design transforms instantly thanks to funny balls of juicy green shades.

In addition, this plant is a truly unique natural filter - it allows quite substantial volumes of water to pass through itself. Cladophora is an indispensable plant for aquariums, home to miniature crustaceans and tiny fish fry. Delicate strings of algae folding into colorful balls are a favorite delicacy of shrimp, while fry feed on infusoria and various protozoa that settle in the bodies of balls.

Growing and caring

To make the cladofora feel as comfortable as possible, it is placed in cold-water aquariums, the water temperature in which does not exceed twenty degrees. If you maintain the proper temperature conditions, this handsome guy will thrive throughout the year. And if the thermometer rises above the recommended values, then at first the cladophore will develop quite rapidly, and after a couple of months it will simply disintegrate into several separate parts, which are distinguished by a very sloppy appearance and often clog the filter grates in aquariums. By the way, after some time, such units can easily form a new colony, however, the process is not fast - often such transformations take a whole year, or even more. In addition, cladophora is also capable of disintegrating in water of medium or high hardness, therefore it is extremely important to grow it in soft water. However, water with an alkaline reaction is also far from the best effect on the development of this water beauty.

With all this, it is quite permissible to use the cladophora in saltwater aquariums - it can withstand a moderate salt content (no more than 5%) in the water.

The best option for the proper development of cladophora will be well-filtered and regularly replaced water. Any particles settling on funny colonies must be carefully washed off with clean water. And after such "procedures" the fluffy balls are slightly squeezed out by hands.

The intensity of lighting for growing cladophora should be small, and the nature of the light itself in this case does not play any role at all. But in good light, you can watch how the colonies of bizarre algae in turn float to the surface - this is due to the accumulation of oxygen in them by the end of the day.

Reproduction of cladophora occurs vegetatively, through its decay or division. You can divide it into parts mechanically, or you can wait for the spontaneous disintegration of funny balls (for this, it is enough to increase the temperature in the aquarium to twenty-four to twenty-six degrees).