Aquatic Plant Or Not?

[The-Wolf]

Is this an aquatic plant or not?


close up of leaves


The reason I'm asking is CFC said in another topic that plants with verigated
leaves are generally not aquatic plants. I have had this for about a month
now and as you can see by the first pic it is doing rather well.

 

[Jen]

Yes. That is hygro polysperma. I've had it as well. Does quite well in low and high light. When it gets too tall, you cut it, and plant the top back in the ground

 

[qwikimpss]

I trim mine by pulling it outta the substrate and cutting the bottom of it so I dont end up with sticks but will trimming the top make it "bush" out more?

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> plants with verigated leaves are generally not aquatic plants.

There aren't many aquatic plants from the wild that have varigated leaves. What has been done is domesticated cultivars of these plants have been line bred to produce varigation, coluration, spots, stripes etc.

Generally the special cultivars are sold as such because the shops can charge more money for them.

Your plant looks like H. polysperma 'Rosanervig' cultivar.

 

[The-Wolf]

Thanks for the ID canoechiq

I'll keep both trimming methods in mind, for when needed

 

[Jen]

I trim mine by pulling it outta the substrate and cutting the bottom of it so I dont end up with sticks but will trimming the top make it "bush" out more?

technically, yes. You are creating more plants doing it that way. You get the 'sticks' becuase the light isn't bright enough to get down to the bottom leaves. If the plants are really bushy up top, or are really close together, then the light is being stopped,and new leaves wont develop at the bottom. If you cut the tops off, you might get new growth at the bottom, but chances are it will rot before they grow. How much light is on you tank?

 

[Rodders]

My mate has one of those, a branch fell off and rooted it itself in another part of the tank.

I would say thats a verigated plant though???

 

[Angry_Platy]

A LFS told me a simple way of telling a true aquatic. True aquatic plants will grow roots when placed in the substrate.....others won't.

Its no big deal if the plant isn't a true aquatic, it probably won't grow in your tank but it may still look nice for a long period of time.

 

[rdd1952]

I have some (actually a lot) of that in my 75 gallon. I think I read on here a while back that if you can't grow that stuff then you don't need to mess with live plants. I have to trim it weekly. It grows like a weed and that's with no ferts or CO2. It grows new roots from the stalks like anacharis. They grow down to the sand and start another plant. It is a good plant to take a stalk and lay it flat on the sand, staking it down at both ends. it will grow a new plant from every node.

 

[lljdma06]

I have one H. polysperma in my 10g betta tank. A leaf fell out once and I stuck it in a betta bowl. Now it has 4 leaves. These plants have grown well for me.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

A LFS told me a simple way of telling a true aquatic. True aquatic plants will grow roots when placed in the substrate.....others won't.

Its no big deal if the plant isn't a true aquatic, it probably won't grow in your tank but it may still look nice for a long period of time.

another way to tell if its not a true aquatic is if it stands up straight. if it flops over than its an aquatic. there are some exceptions though, such as anubias.

 

[qwikimpss]

85 watts of 6700 k over a 29 US gal. I wasn't saying I was getting sticks but I've heard of other people having that happen.