Nymphoides indica
It appears that the Nymphoides plant I received at the club's plant exchange is a Nymphoides "indica". I compared the profiles of indica, cordata, peltata and cristata and found that the indica is the closest one in appearance.
UPDATE: A friend commented that the indica's leaves reach 20 cm in diameter. The Nymphoides in my tank are much smaller. If you believe you know the correct name for the Nymphoides pictured here, please let me know. Nevertheless, as far as I can see, this is an indica.
The plant grows long tubular stems with one flat leaf per stem. The stems grow more than two feet in my aquarium until the leaf reaches the surface and floats horizontally. The largest leaf so far is about 1.5 inches across. It's shaped in the form of a heart, thus the common name Floating Hearts. Leaves have a solid light green color. I don't see much variation from this solid color. A bit of rust color, but that's about it.
I compared the specimen in my possession to photos on the Internet.
Cordata for instance, has a light green color in the center and a darker periphery color. The indica though, has a solid color all across.
Peltata is also different in that the outer edge of the leaves is ridged. It's not smooth-like, but made up of segments from what I can see on photos. It doesn't have the distinct heart shape of the indica.
The cristata has a dark brown color throughout its floating leaves. Only the central part or edge of veines of the leaf remains light green. Plant specimens I have in my aquarium do not show this color variation. Furthermore, the leaves reach the surface and are pelted with bright light, but remain solid light green.
One week after adding Nymphoides indica in my aquarium, I can say that it is doing well. It grows new tubular stems almost daily. The first new shoots were weaker than the established leaves, but today, a recent shoot shows stamina. The stem is thicker and the leaf is larger. Perhaps the plant has started to take up nutrients from the substrate.
Photo on left shows a new shoot from the Nymphoides indica. The stem is thick and the undeveloped leaf is much larger than the leaves that came up during the transition period. To me, that's an indication that the plant might no longer be running on nutrient reserves, but might already have established itself enough to take nutrients from the aquarium. Notice from previous posts that I did wash off all the substrate media in which the plants came in. I stuck the plant's roots in the tank's substrate, which is primarily made up of EcoComplete.
Compare this post's picture with the aquarium picture from the post of August 30th and see how fast the indica has grown, to reach the surface in matter of days.
At any rate, it's a beautiful addition to my aquarium.
Picture on left appears very green. This is more a problem with my camera than what may appear as an algal bloom. In fact, the aquarium is quite clear this week. I have been dosing with PPS-Pro successfully. The Water Wysteria responded with fast growth. Notice the other Hygro in the right back corner. This is the pink kind. It's been growing very fast since I started dosing PPS-Pro. I'll have more to say about these things in my next post on controlling algae.
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