My experience with Riccia

An overview of the plant Riccia fluitans

Bring up the plant riccia fluitans, or riccia as its commonly called, and most planted tank hobbyists should be more than familiar with this plant. Not only do many make use of this plant for the lush lawn effect that can be created with some creativity, many are also intrigued by the appearance of ‘pearls’ on this plant. These ‘pearls’ are actually bubbles of oxygen trapped among the leaves as a result of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process whereby plants make use of light and carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce food and oxygen. In the case of a planted tank, due to the absence of an air pump, oxygen produced by water plants is crucial for the survival of aquatic animals. Thus the amount of CO2 and oxygen must be balanced not only for water plants to photosynthesize, but also to account for the respiration by the live stock in the tank.

If one has come across planted tank setups by the famous Takashi Amano, he/she will observe that riccia is one of the plants that he commonly uses. The different types of planted tank setups with the presence of riccia indeed enhances his creations to bring across a smoothing and relaxing water environment. I was undoubtedly amazed by his ideas when I came across his Nature Aquarium series of books and that was one of the main reasons why I took up planting riccia. Besides that, some aquarium shops also use riccia in their planted display tanks with the ‘pearling’ effect to attract people. It is no surprise that some of us were actually lured into the planted world simply to try our hand at recreating those wonderful aquascapes with riccia. Ever since I set my eyes on the lush lawn effect with beautiful pearly bubbles on the leaves of the plant, I began to meddle with planted tank setups involving riccia.

While its a sight to behold once lush and green, it might not be everyone's cup of tea to maintain it well. Some people are repelled by the usage of riccia in their tanks, mainly as it can get rather messy if one does not handle it well. I understood that that would be one of the barriers I would have to overcome when I first used riccia. At the same time, I was frustrated by the untidiness of it when a lot of it starts to float about on the water surface. On one occasion I was so irritated that I threw away all my riccia. It is really a test of patience but nevertheless, using riccia is both interesting and fun and the end effect done properly can be beyond words.

Requirements

Those with simple knowledge of science should be familiar with how the process of photosynthesis works and therefore he/she will have an idea of what is required for the plants to produce oxygen. In order to achieve a desirable effect, some conditions must be attained. The desirable effect, to me at least, is not just for your riccia to grow well, but that they also produce the so called ‘pearls’, little bubbles of oxygen.

First important requirement is the presence of strong lighting. I am currently using 2 tubes of 36Watts PL lighting for my 2 ft (by 1ft width and 1ft height) tank. Previously I only used 1 tube of 36Watt PL light and I observed that only some parts of my riccia lawn bubbled. The parts that were actually bubbling were the parts receiving the most amount of light while some other parts turned yellow due to insufficient light. After seeing this, I decided to go for the 2 tubes of 36Watt PL lights. Once I placed the new light on top of the tank, bubbles started to appear on the riccia after a short while. Not only that, many of my other plants also began to form bubbles under their leaves and some others creating rows of bubbles that rise towards the water surface just like what you see in a bottle of sparkling water.

Another requirement is the presence of ample dissolved CO2. Green plants used it to produce oxygen via chemical processes in the leaves. Riccia are green plants and it depends on how much CO2 content is present in the water before converting into oxygen and thus trapping the bubbles among the leaves. I would recommend 2 bubbles per second with high intensity lighting to have the ‘pearling’ effect.

It would be advisable that the above requirements are met because having just one of the conditions met may not ensure that your riccia will have the bubbling effect. For example, having too much light without any CO2 will not cause any prominent bubbles to form. You could be lucky to see a few small ones. Too much CO2 without light is not encouraged either as not only wont your riccia bubble, it could also lead to CO2 poisoning which eventually could kill off all your fishes in the tank.

There are also some minor requirements that indirectly contribute to the well being of your riccia. Regular changes of tank water and adding of liquid fertilizer would definitely enhance the appearance of your riccia.
 

Working with Riccia

I will next go through some of the common ways of using riccia, that is, tying them onto certain objects to weight it down , as it is no naturally a sinking plant.

1 ) Tying Riccia on pebbles

1) Choose a suitably shaped pebble	2) Place some clumps of riccia on top of the pebble
3) Wrap some netting over the riccia that is placed on the pebble	4) Turn the rock around and twist the netting as above and use fine fishing line to tie a dead knot to keep the netting in place
5) Snip off the excess netting with a pair of scissors	6) Should get something like the above picture
7) This is how it looks like when done	8) Will take some time for the riccia to grow over the netting

2 ) Tying Riccia to wire mesh

1) Cut a piece of stainless steel wire mesh to the desired shape and size	2) Place a few clumps of riccia evenly spaced on the mesh
3) Place the piece of netting over the mesh	4) Wrap the netting over the mesh edges. The wires should hold it in place. Bend the mesh slightly into an arch shape to retain the netting
5 ) Should look something like the above picture	6) Cut off any excess netting
7) Mesh ready to place in tank	8) Should grow out to form a nice looking bubbly lawn soon

3 ) Tying Riccia onto a piece of driftwood

1) Get a suitable size of driftwood	2) Place clumps of riccia on it evenly spaced
3) Place the netting over the wood	4) Using fishing line, tie the netting onto the wood
5) Try to keep the knots on the back of the wood to conceal them better	6) Snip off excess line
7) Finished product ready to place in tank

I hope that the above steps would be sufficient to help you to tie the riccia confidently. Once you have learnt the techniques, it is time for you to explore with other ways to create different planted aquascapes.

Precaution

I do have some bad experiences with yamato shrimps and riccia. If your riccia is still in the growing stages, try to limit the number of yamato shrimps as they have the tendency to strip off your riccia and eat them.

Conclusion

One good thing about riccia is that it is readily available in the market and they can grow fast given the right conditions. They definitely play an important role in making a prized aquascape. If you have excess riccia, do yourself and others a favour by not throwing them away, but instead giving it away to others who might need them to create their own prized aquascapes.