# plants (Christmas Cactus)



## boyaminalnurse (May 7, 2008)

Ok so I have a lot of questions. I am setting up my new tank. It is 4 ft high x 2 ft x 2 ft. It has been a great project working on the rock wall and I am now starting to buy plants (FINALLY, whew). I have of course searched the threads and could not find many answers on the first. So here goes. Please remember I am asking because people here always have great ideas. My expertise is not in darts, yet. 

1. Is it ok to put Christmas Cactus in the tank. It is from the Brazil Rainforst according to the tab on it. 

2. I have moss, Broms that will be mounted on back and on sides (are any broms toxic? looked but lots of broms stuff came up.), Orchids that will be mounted upside down, African Violates, Ivy, RootBeer plant and a few others I cant think of right now. Would love to walk to my room to look at them but I am being lazy as I have worked 17 hours today. 

3. Any suggestions would be wonderful, both things that I can buy locally and things that are very exotic. The tank will be housing Green and Bronze Auratus (very beautiful). I value all opinions so please dont think I am only asking people with years of experience, I would like everyones opinion. If you saw something I had up there that wont work feel free to tell me. Thank you all for your help. I will be reading more in the plant thread as I have gotten some good ideas from there, just thought I would ask here also. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone. 

Marshall


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## dwdragon (Aug 14, 2008)

Just a quick note  These are not an "expert" opinion but just general knowledge from my own experiences and what I've read.

I don't know if the Christmas Cactus will survive but I don't think it will thrive in a vivarium. Even though they are tropical they are the type of tropical that likes it a bit on the dry side and lower humidity. They also prefer it a bit colder like 50 - 60 degrees. I might also worry about the spines they can get pretty sharp my mom has one. I think there was also a thread about spines on broms. It's kind of a mixed opinion thing.

Most Ivy's are another one that might not particularly thrive in a vivarium due to temperature. It might just be me but I tried to get one to take and it died rather quickly...

The rest sounds good though I have no clue what a root beer plant is lol.

If you would like a couple suggestions. I don't know if you are a fern person but my 'suzi wong' fern I got is doing great and looks wonderful. I also have what is called a Purple Waffle. I got it at Home Depot but so far it has been really hardy and no matter where I seem to put it even soggy soil it grows like a weed when you add light. The nice thing is that so far it hasn't gotten too tall (hehe don't know if it will stay that way) but has filled in very nicely and has a nice purple color on the underside of the leaves while a dark to light green on the tops with some great veining. I have pictures of the suzi wong but due to the placement of the purple waffle it's a bit hard to take a picture of (the glass is horridly water spotted..).



boyaminalnurse said:


> Ok so I have a lot of questions. I am setting up my new tank. It is 4 ft high x 2 ft x 2 ft. It has been a great project working on the rock wall and I am now starting to buy plants (FINALLY, whew). I have of course searched the threads and could not find many answers on the first. So here goes. Please remember I am asking because people here always have great ideas. My expertise is not in darts, yet.
> 
> 1. Is it ok to put Christmas Cactus in the tank. It is from the Brazil Rainforst according to the tab on it.
> 
> ...


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

I think a Schlumbergera may work if mounted with only a little soil. Most don;t have spines so they should be OK. I have seen Hatiora gaertneri (Easter Cactus) in a rainforest house with a minimum temperature of 65 and it was growing great epiphytically with no soil.

As for Root Beer plant. If you are speaking of Piper auratum you may want to rethink it. It can be very invasive. I have a patch in the greenhouse with stems about 2" in diameter and 10 feet tall. Stems look like bamboo and it is coming up 20 and 30 feet away from underground roots. Not sure what it will do in a viv but it's a tough plant.

You may want to look into more Gesneriads such as Aeschynanthus (it's actually and Asian genus), Columnea and Nematanthus. Rhipsalis is also something that may work. Your setup sounds my like what I'm working on which is a 6'x2'x18". I would love to see a picture of you setup.


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