Aquarium Gardening Notes

Anacharis? Oh Really!

Seems like there's this plant called Anacharis... Everyone says it's very easy to grow. Despite that, I'm almost ashamed to say, I don't have much luck with it. I used to grow it easily in a large aquarium with no fertilizers or substrate other than epoxied gravel. See picture on left: A castle surrounded by a forest of Anacharis.

In my current richly fertilized tanks, the plant just welters away in a couple of days.

But that's beside the point. My question is: What is this Anacharis after all? What did I actually purchase? Was it Anacharis... for real? I ask because we were asked the same trick question at the aquatic gardener's club last week.

There are several plants that could be sold under the generic "Anacharis" label. Perhaps these different plants have different needs? This might partially explain why one does well and another just rots.

For more information on this subject, load this PDF file. It's a very straightforward elucidation on Elodea Canadensis, Egeria Densa and Hydrilla Verticillata.

Full link: http://www.dnr.sc.gov/water/envaff/aquatic/img/anacharisalert.pdf

New Plant - Some sort of Nymphoides

Had a good time at the Madison Aquarium Gardener's club last night. Many members brought interesting plants for exchange. I managed to grab a specimen later after most people left. This leftover species of  Nymphoides is quite pretty in my aquarium. However, the owner wasn't sure of its actual name. If you know what it is from these pictures, please let me know.

The plants, three of them, came in little black plastic planters like the ones found at any greenhouse or gardening section of a large shopping mall in the spring. The material was a dark muddy substance covered in broken sea shells.

The pad-shaped leaves stand about 8 to 10 inches at the moment. The previous owner assured me the plants would grow fully submerged under water.

Seen on left is one of the three specimens I brought home. I simply watered the mud away and stuck the roots firmly in the EcoComplete substrate.

Wikipedia had this paragraph regarding Nymphoides as aquarium plants: Species of Nymphoides are sold as aquarium plants, including the "banana plant", N. aquatica and the "water snowflake", N. indica. Species native to the United States are N. cordata in the northeast and N. aquatica in the southeast. Nymphoides peltata is native to Europe and Asia, but can be found in the United States as an invasive N. cristata and N. indica also reportedly occur in Florida (Jacono 2000). - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphoides

I have several Nymphoides aquatica (Banana plants) in my aquarium, so I know this isn't it. I'll search for pictures of Indica, Cordata, Peltata and Cristata.

I hope the next sprouts will grow all the way to the surface. It would be pleasing to actually see something proportionate in this aquarium. Now that the Aponongetons have all died back to their dormant state, the tall tank has low and mid level growth only. The top portion of the water is bare.

As far as algae is concerned, this aquarium looks very good today. I fertilized using PPS-Pro for the first time this morning. Algae did not cover the front glass. PH is around 6.4.