# Vriesea 's ???



## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

I see a few people using these in their vivs and I'm going to hopefully be planting some new tanks soon and want to try something different in some of them and I really like the striped patterns on some of these broms . How do they hold up to the humidity compared to Neo's . Are there many that will stay small enough for a 20 High and not go crazy growing too big ? 
I have a couple tanks I planted some unknown neo's in last year that I didn't realize they would get that big ! The frogs like them and they are great for tads , but all you see in the tank is brom and hardly any light reaches the floor . There are a couple that would probably be 25" in diameter if they laid flat and I didn't regularly trim 4-5 " off the end of some of the leaves !


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Mark,

The Vriesea genus is enormous and comprises of plants of all sizes from mini to gargantuan.
I would say in *general* most Vriesea would be too large for the average size viv. That said 
There are a handfull that would work size wise and some of those could even be functional for tad 
rearing. I will give some info on the few I've tried myself in terraria.

V. erythrodactylon mini form: This is a miniature in terms of Vriesea. It gets about fireball size.
It does hold water and my Escudos have used these to rear tads in. It is very sensitive to dry air 
So try not to plant it too high in the viv.

V. corcovadensis: This is another mini. It has basically identical requirements as V. erythrodactylon mini.
The foliage turns a vibrant brick red with splotches and it holds water. This plant is also very 
prolific and pups regularly. I have some with 5 pups at once on them. It holds water and should be great 
for thumbs and pums.

V. racinea Brazil: This miniature is a wonderful plant but in my experience makes a horrid viv plant. 
It is very sensitive to moisture and will rot at the blink of an eye. If air flow could be maintained perfectly 
wothout comprimising the humidity for the frogs, it *might* work.

V. vagans: This species would be perfect if it too were not moisture sensitive. Its a stoloniferous species and holds 
water. The problem is that it comes from areas that dry out considerably and have lots of sun. I have seen some people 
use it but I would probably stay away from it bc its a pricey mistake.

There also the many home epot ones. They do work if you stay with the smaller ones but also 
have rotting issues if not careful with the moisture.

I'm typing this from my blackberry and my thumbs are tired so I'll.leave it at that. Hope 
that helps some.


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## pigface (Apr 28, 2006)

Thanks ! , Now the search for a couple begins.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

You don't have to go far...


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## NathanB (Jan 21, 2008)

Do you have V. vagans? i dont think i got that one yet


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

bussardnr said:


> Do you have V. vagans? i dont think i got that one yet


Yup. Its a biatch to grow too. I love/hate it.


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## holidayhanson (Apr 25, 2007)

I have had one in a viv for about a year and a half now. It hasn't done great but is still growing.

Here it is when first planted, it is the dark green plant with the red "flower"









I dont think it likes the wet spot it is planted in. Here is another picture...you can see the mother plant is deteriorating and a pup is taking off.










And today....the mother plant has completely died away or rotted. The pup I think is too wet causing the really light color...










I think these plants are a little trickier in a viv than neos. But try it out and see what happens.


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## tzen (Nov 22, 2007)

When I got my plants just over a year ago, there was one labeled "Vriesea erythrodactylon x recurvata." and another medium neo.
I was pleased at first when the center of the Vriesea turned pink-- I thought it meant I had good lights. But then it was a more yellow pink, and I discovered that the center had rotted right out. I left the whole plant in place, though, and now that corner of the viv is taken over by about 5 of its pups. They are all solid green.

Meanwhile, I killed the neo and one of its pups one day when, while trying to get rid of the rampant scale that plagued them, I soaked them in bleach solution for 4 hours. I was just going to soak them for 20 minutes, but I got too busy doing gardening outside and forgot about them.

I'm just full of ways to kill plants. If only I could kill off scale.


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