Amazon Frogbit Roots

[marnold00]

Hey all,

Ive recently added some amazon frogbit (and some salvinia ), and I must say they look fab and the fish love them.


The roots however are huuuuuge. In under a week theyve gotten to about 7 inches long. Do these need pruning or can i leave it? Im rubbish at doing neat and tidy so the whole idea of my tank is to not do too much pruning... Make it look rustic etc. I have bacopas going all over the place etc etc. It looks great in my eyes. Id only prune the frogbit if i HAVE to

 

[NickAu]

You can prune the roots if you like.
 

 
Im rubbish at doing neat and tidy so the whole idea of my tank is to not do too much pruning.

Me too I prefer the wild jungle look.
 
 
As I cant have Frogbit where I live its illegal I have Water sprite and the roots are also long but my Betta's love it.

 

[marnold00]

You can prune the roots if you like.
 

 
Im rubbish at doing neat and tidy so the whole idea of my tank is to not do too much pruning.

Me too I prefer the wild jungle look.
 
 
As I cant have Frogbit where I live its illegal I have Water sprite and the roots are also long but my Betta's love it.

My little baby cherry barbs adore these floating plants!

I wont trim it for now - i love how it looks only if it starts to go a bit ridiculous...

 

[NickAu]

I only prune the plants  my tanks when the fish start tapping on the glass asking for hedge trimmers.

 

[Byron]

I've never tried pruning roots, but I would suggest leaving them.  After all, the plant is taking up nutrients and releasing oxygen via the roots.  I have found that floating plant roots vary (with the same species) in different tanks, so clearly the plant is reacting to conditions.  It is best to leave them alone.  And as mentioned, fish will like browsing roots, it is natural.

 

[marnold00]

Totally leaving them alone... the salvinia roots have really grown today. it all looks incredible

 
Here's one of the nicer pics of my horribly messy tank

first pic with all 7 barbs in though

 

 
 
Once I've got a proper ID for the breed of bacopa, I'm gonna get 2 or three more to go against the back of the tank its the thin one poking out of the drift wood that's going all over the place xD

Also tempted by another one of those crypts in the bottom right. again don't know the exact strain though

 

[NickAu]

 
I've never tried pruning roots, but I would suggest leaving them.

I have pruned roots on Anubias, Crypts, Blue Stricta, Water Sprite, Banana Lilly  And Vals all without adverse affects to the plant.
 
Try it on 1 frogbit plant, cut 50% of the roots off put it back in the tank, they will grow back in no time, Try it.
 
When I got this Crypt I trimmed 75% off the roots and it did not hurt the plant at all. That is a standard keyboard 44 Cm ( 17 inches ) long.
 

 
                                                                                              
 
 
 

 

[marnold00]

To be honest I really like the look for now especially with the little 'hairs' (not sure on the name) which give them a lovely conical shape... If I trim the length then I'll have to give the thing a haircut to keep the shape xD

 

[Byron]

Trimming roots off of plants like swords and crypts when planting or trans-planting is a different matter from regularly and continually cutting roots off of floating plants.  I wouldn't go pulling up substrate-rooted plants just to cut the roots back, and while I am not suggesting cutting roots on floating plants is particularly harmful, it doesn't seem necessary and we can be certain it will affect the plant's response, however it may be.
 
I had an interesting behaviour with Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes).  In the tanks with fish, the roots grew down maybe 3-5 inches.  In the 20g QT tank for new fish, when it was empty of fish, the roots grew down to the substrate and the entire tank water was thick with roots.  The conclusion would seem to be that without fish present, some nutrients, primarily ammonium and CO2, would be less, and plants will normally grow longer roots and leaves to help in taking up more nutrients when they are minimal.  I have seen similar behaviour with Water Sprite, longer roots in some tanks compared to others, and this again seems to relate to organics/nutrients from the fish load.

 

[marnold00]

So byron these roots growing to half the depth of the tank in under 1 week could be lack of ammonium? Proof ive cycled the tank eh?

That was all tongue in cheek. Something useful to bear in mind though. So just because the roots are there doesnt necessarily mean theyre thriving? The leaves are looking healthy and sprouting new ones though

 

[Byron]

So byron these roots growing to half the depth of the tank in under 1 week could be lack of ammonium? Proof ive cycled the tank eh?

That was all tongue in cheek. Something useful to bear in mind though. So just because the roots are there doesnt necessarily mean theyre thriving? The leaves are looking healthy and sprouting new ones though

 
I am surmising the root length is nutrient-related, but it makes sense as leaf size can be related both to light intensity and nutrients.  And what I described in that QT has occurred so often, there is a pretty clear connection.  Plants do send out roots to collect nutrients, so it all holds together.
 
Plants that are fast growing, as all floaters are, can take up a lot of ammonia/ammonium.  I went into this a while back with Tom Barr elsewhere, and he said the chances of ammonia increasing beyond what the plants could take up would be next to impossible given the circumstances.  Obviously dumping in "ammonia" is a very different thing; here we are talking about naturally-occurring ammonia/ammonium from fish and biological processes.  I also went into this with Dr. Neale Monks, and in answer to my question that my floating plants would easily handle any ammonia from the fish in my fairly well-stocked tank (I sent him a photo), he said absolutely.

 

[NickAu]

 
I wouldn't go pulling up substrate-rooted plants just to cut the roots back

Who suggested that?

 

[Byron]

 

 
I wouldn't go pulling up substrate-rooted plants just to cut the roots back

Who suggested that?
 

 
My point was that if I wouldn't cut the roots back on "planted" plants, why do it on floating.  The roots on both function the same.

 

[marnold00]

 

 
I wouldn't go pulling up substrate-rooted plants just to cut the roots back

Who suggested that?
 

 
My point was that if I wouldn't cut the roots back on "planted" plants, why do it on floating.  The roots on both function the same.

Good point the attitude with my plants is only do something to them if they actually need it to survive. Otherwise im leaving them be