# Killies Import > Planted Tanks >  Dragon's Claw

## timebomb

Hi, folks,

There's a new plant in the market, sold exclusively at Sam Yick fish shop at Marine Parade. It's often called the "Chendol Plant" by hobbyists on the internet. "Chendol" is a kind of iced drink sold commonly in Malaysia and Singapore. The iced drinks come with a lot of good stuff, one of which is a worm like thingy, green in colour. It looks somewhat like the leaves of the plant, hence the name. Anyway, I bought some yesterday and the staff at Sam Yick's said the common name is "Dragon's Claw". Here are some pictures:



It may not look like much but mark my words, it's going to be the plant every hobbyist would want to have in his tanks. When grown well, it forms a very thick carpet. Maybe carpet isn't the right word. I should say mat instead. It forms into such a thick mat, the leaves bunched so closely together, nothing can get through, not even water  :Laughing:  It can be quite a headache to plant them properly though. I sort of half-buried the patch I have into my tank. I'm not sure if I should separate the stalks like the way we do with Hairgrass. Here's how it looks in my tank:



The staff at Sam Yick's don't know its scientific name but my guess is it's a species of _Uticularia_, more commonly known as Bladderwort. Some of us may be familiar with the Bladderwort that often comes entangled with _Riccia fluitans_. It's a weed and once it gets into our tanks, it's hell impossible to get rid of completely. Anyway, here's a close up pic of the Dragon's Claw.



Loh K L

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## stormhawk

A thread regarding this plant was recently discussed in Petfrd.com.

It seems to have been properly identified on the APD forum. I don't have the link handy so some searching might be a worthwhile alternative.

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## Roark33

Its a very impressive plant when its grown in. I've tried it in my tank but all turned brown and died in under 2 weeks. Was told that it needed low temp. The temperature in the tank that I planted it in ranges from 24-26 degree celcius ( air-conditioned + fan ), with jbl base fert, ada amozonia and gravel on top. Doses KNO3, KH2PO4 and Lushgro aqua. Real sad when it died, not sure what went wrong though.

By the way, it's not sold exclusively at Sam's pet. Gen X was selling some of it a couple of months back, and have seen it occasionally at Petmart too.

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## Slaigar

I know what article that Jianyang is referring to, but I have not found it yet. The plant was used in a competition before and it was a stunning foreground. Others were shocked to hear that it was a _Ultricularia_ and it was proven afterwards by flowering.

Let's see more pictures  :Very Happy:  !!!

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## stormhawk

Found the article. Here's the link to the discussion on APC.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...ht=Utricularia

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## timebomb

> Found the article.


Thanks, Jianyang.

I don't know if you all noticed but I was quite shocked to find a direct link to a porn site on almost all the forums on APC. Perhaps it isn't quite right for me to comment as I'm also an administrator of a forum but don't you think something's not right when an aquaria forum has links to pornography?

Loh K L

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## stormhawk

If the link appears via an advert on the site, its ok with me since you never quite know what the advert company will put up. Since ads very much change like the wind, sometimes the content and links might change to something undesirable. The best way is always to NOT have such ads in a website. 

But then again, revenue is generated from such ads. Revenue that may be important to keeping the site running.  :Wink:

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## crandf

....It was I who started calling it chendol grass!!!!! Muahahahahahaha!!!!!!
BTW, the pics in APC, though similar to those in sam yick's tank, appears much less dense. Maybe this is due to the growing conditions, or maybe they are actually very close but still different variants in the genus?

Roark, I'm growing some in my tank with temp about 27, so I dun think higher temp is what killed yours. Its definitely starting to spread in my tank now although the colour is still too yellowish. I suspect it prefers to take in nutrients thru its roots, because I stupidly buried the whole plastic rectangular thing into the gravel, and the plant is growing pretty poorly where the plastic base is blocking access to my root monsters. Whereas the runners that have grown past the edge of the plastic base are definitely growing denser and healthier looking. 

With this in mind, I'll be experimenting with injecting liquid fert via a syringe directly into the gravel. Tell you guys the results later.

One interesting thing is that roots and runners can sprout along the leaf blades as well.

FYI, I'm using Dr mallicks aqua and micros, distance from gravel to 18W PL lights is about 1 ft.

Robbin

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## confusekid

Hi guys,
I found something in Sarawak that look like that also but the leaves are smaller. Hopefully will grow in my tank, will try to post some picture later.

Jack

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## strung_0ut

I haven't seen the porno you guys are talking about, believe me I've searched all over  :Shocked:   :Very Happy:  . But sometimes, I don't know why this happens I'll go to say this site, and then porno will pop up. I think its like a hack thing or something.

Regards,
Dennis

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## RRG

> I haven't seen the porno you guys are talking about, believe me I've searched all over   .


I don't see any porn, either. Its probably that the browser has been hijacked and that is the cause of the porns showing up. I use the Yahoo! toolbar with the Anti-Spy to check if I have spyware or malware and Ad-aware software to thorough check my computer if I have these unwanted files.

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## timebomb

> I don't see any porn, either.


Oh, it's there alright. I'm surprised you guys can't find it. It's a link. Scroll down halfway when you're on any of the sub-forums and look for the words "Morpheus of Porn brings you........". I can understand the need to generate revenue to keep a site running but as someone who administers a forum, I can tell you the costs aren't that high. Maybe a bit pricey but definitely not high enough to justify advertising porn. Killies.com didn't have to resort to ads, much less porn. 

I know I started this but let this be the last post on the subject. We're straying way off-topic here. My fault, of course and I apologise. 

Loh K L

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## jerryC

Loh,

I got hold of this plant 2 weeks ago from a local stream. I thought it was a nice plant and collected it to grow in my tank.

I tie them on a rock and it'e been growing upwards. They are crawlers just like glosso. Will take a pic. Perhaps if I were to bury them in the gravel they might stay in place.

Planting them might be a nightmare. So tiny and thin.

jerryC

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## RRG

> I got hold of this plant 2 weeks ago from a local stream


What area or country are you from, Jerry? I'm hoping it's in my area, but I doubt it. 

Can't wait to see your pictures and also take pictures of the plants growing on your local stream, if it's not too much a bother to you.

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## kimco

Yeah Jerry, do post some of your pictures of your local stream. It'd be interesting to see that  :Cool:  

Cheers,

KG

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## stormhawk

There was an article I read somewhere on an issue of PFK telling us how the Brits do it when it comes to planting such tiny plants.

They use a piece of hessian matting (otherwise known as gunny sack here in SG) and then using a pair of tweezers, squeeze in the plants into the spaces in between the hessian material. Then the entire piece is slowly moved into place with some gravel being placed above it to weigh it down.

The hessian matting is biodegradable over time so once the plants are rooted, the matting would have rotted off already by then.  :Wink:

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## jerryC

Sorry false alarm. It is not the Dragon Claw as Loh mention. I took a closer look and found that the leaf structure is different. 

I pick this plant from Sg Perak in Lembah Belum. Was there for photography assignment and fishing.

Will try to post the pic soon.

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## timebomb

I heard through the grapevine recently that the Dragon's Claw can be found in many places in Singapore. So I went searching for some yesterday. I have a poor eye for details so I could be wrong but I think the rumours are true - The plant can be found in many places. Here are 2 pictures:





As with the mosses, we just weren't looking hard enough before  :Laughing: 

Loh K L

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## stormhawk

KL,

Since the Dragon's Claw was identified as a _Utricularia_ sp. originating in Brazil or Taiwan ?? I'm not sure which is the source country but a Brazilian hobbyist grew them pretty nicely in his tanks. 

I guess you probably found another _Utricularia_ sp. in the stream you photographed, rather than the actual Dragon Claw itself.

The numbers of bladderwort species are so plentiful and diverse in both shape and size simply boggles me. Yes, sometimes we tend not to look hard enough, but it is the plants that we tend to overlook, that might probably be what we've been looking for.. for example the mosses.  :Laughing:

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## kimco

These are my dragon claw which was given to me by a friend who chanced upon some while on a hiking trip sometime back. Wonder if it is the "real" chendol??



Cheers,

KG

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## timebomb

Nice pic, KG. Yours look like the real McCoy.

Would you mind sharing some tips on how to grow them well?

Loh K L

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## kimco

Hi Loh,

There are basically 2 types of hobbyist, one that's very technical and the other very un-technical. Well, I happen to fall under the 2nd type. Therefore, it would be very difficult for me to pin-point tips to growing my plants well  :Opps:  I just try to grow them thru trial and error, only thing I know of my water parameters is the temp which is 27-29C and that I grew the chendol using ADA Amazonian soil, the fine mesh ones with CO2 infusion and that I do daily fert dose of Dennerle A1.

KG

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## primavera

Hey Kimco, beautifully grown "Chendol" I must say. Luckily the shrimp don't find it tasty  :Wink:  . 

When you received it from your friend, did you just put it straight into the the tank? Or did you grow it emersed first? I have 2 suspects for utricularia, but they are all growing emersed. Only very small amounts. So dont want to risk losing it in water. 

Also, does everyone's chendol grow slowly? Mine's growing real slow. Loooks smaller than the pics posted too. 

Min

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## kimco

Actually, when I reveived my chendol from my friend, he told me it was already submersed. He found them in the stream, so naturally, I put them straight into my tank. My initial worry was the temperature as temp in most streams here are quite cold, maybe around 20-23C. Anyway, it took some time to acclimatize and after doing so, grow real fast. What you saw in the photo is about 5-6 months old. Remember its from just a few strands!!!!

KG

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## budak

I found ample lawns of these Utricularia plants at the fringes of the reservoirs. According to the Science Centre guidebook series on local carnivorous plants, there are seven species of Utricularia in Singapore, two of which are extinct. U. gibba is the most familiar, being the wirey threads that get tangled up in some tanks. The others are mostly as pictured, short leaves that spread out as a lawn, except for U. aurea, which has feather-like leaves that look superficially like Cabomba/Limnophila. [/img]

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