Can anyone help ID this plant and advise on trimming/propagating please?

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I bought a package of mixed plants on Amazon (was a great deal!) but it's luck of the draw what plants you get, so I don't know what some of them are! I love this grass like plant, but it's got tangled and scruffy at the top, should I just trim it down as you might a lawn? If anyone can ID it, I'd be very happy. It's been in there for a couple of months now, and it has put on a good amount of height, but haven't really noticed it getting thicker or spending out runners to produce new plants, how does it produce new plants? Would really like to grow more of it for other tanks, and tidy it up, just nervous to trim the scruffy top before finding out more about it.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Eleocharis.. possibly parvula. You can trim it as you said. It forms runners from the root and creates new plants

Edit: the more i look at your pics the less certain i am.. could you take a few more pics?

 

[EllRog]

@PheonixKingZ ?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Eleocharis.. possibly parvula. You can trim it as you said. It forms runners from the root and creates new plants

Edit: the more i look at your pics the less certain i am.. could you take a few more pics?

I can certainly try! If it helps, it looked very much like grass when I first got it, like a little bunch of that stringy like grass, the same sort of texture as the stem on a grass seed head, rather than a soft blade, you know? It was all straight at first, but it grew to the top of the tank, got wrapped up in another very fluffy plant and some hair algae, and I couldn't untangle it very well. So I think it's meant to just grow straight, the tangling makes it look bushier than it really is. Will try to snap some better photos now.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I have no clue what the plant is.

Although, it seems similar to Java Moss. You can trim it if you like, I just don’t suggest it - especially because you just added it to the tank.

I would wait a few weeks before trimming. That way it has time to take off.

(After some research, it does look to be Eleocharis. This plant definitely need Co2 or liquid fertilizers, or it will start to fade/rot)

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Gah, camera has died, and I don't have any other photos of it on the laptop. I can take some more photos tomorrow. Another photo from today, it's the grass in the left front corner, but pretty hidden by the thermometer in this shot. It does seem like the kind of plant that would send out runners, I also wonder if I have the base of them too tightly bunched. They're loosely joined to some shallow roots, when I moved things around recently, I did tease away a few stems and planted them on the other side, which have survived.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

When did you get this plant? I was under the impression that you had just received it from Amazon.com.

 

[mbsqw1d]

1st pic in OP looks like eleocharis but on the other two it looks at bit too 'wispy'.. eleocharis is a fairly rigid straight grass.

You should attempt to seperate as many plants from the bunch you received...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I have no clue what the plant is.

Although, it seems similar to Java Moss. You can trim it if you like, I just don’t suggest it - especially because you just added it to the tank.

I would wait a few weeks before trimming. That way it has time to take off.

(After some research, it does look to be Eleocharis. This plant definitely need Co2 or liquid fertilizers, or it will start to fade/rot)

I think you nailed it! It looks like the giant hairgrass. I'd only ever seen dwarf hairgrass, so I didn't know there was a giant version.

The texture is very different from java moss, and it's long straight stems rather than branching tendrils like moss - mine is just a tangled mess right now, lol! It's been in there for a few months now and doesn't seem to have melted back or anything, and it put on a lot of height. It seems to be doing well in that it's alive and doesn't appear to be struggling, just maybe not enough ferts/time to begin propagating? I do add root tabs, and have been using tetra PlantaMin monthly, but would like to find out more about daily or weekly dosing with ferts, since the monthly one probably isn't enough when you account for water changes. Still very new to this planted tank thing! Co2 is definitely way above my skill level right now, but I want to learn more about ferts.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

When did you get this plant? I was under the impression that you had just received it from Amazon.com.

I got it from Amazon, but not recently. I got a mixed package of 50 stems maybe eight months ago, and some survived, some didn't. Got another batch maybe two - three months ago, which included this one, so it's been in there a while. I've also collected the odd plant here and there from my LFS, like the sword and the lily. the lily is the newest thing in there, and it has grown like mad, has put about 12 pads to the surface since I added it, and a bunch of new leaves.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Very nice lookin tank you have setup there

co2 goes hand in hand with lighting, some plants require a lot of light (and hence extra co2, the co2 from the fish alone isnt enough). Most plants however, do well with regular lighting, natural co2 and a little helping hand from root tabs and liquid ferts.

I use TNC complete liquid ferts. Instructions say to dose each week but I have converted the dose to a daily one.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Very nice lookin tank you have setup there

co2 goes hand in hand with lighting, some plants require a lot of light (and hence extra co2, the co2 from the fish alone isnt enough). Most plants however, do well with regular lighting, natural co2 and a little helping hand from root tabs and liquid ferts.

I use TNC complete liquid ferts. Instructions say to dose each week but I have converted the dose to a daily one.

Thank you so much! That video was so helpful as well, I planted it all wrong! The plants arrived just in little bunches, and since I didn't know what most of them were, I followed the "stick it in and hope for the best" plan. It's fairly tightly bunched together and held with a plant weight, so that probably isn't helping encourage it to spread out. Tomorrow I'll trim the tangled top and separate it out, will post an update photo!

Even if it turns out not to be the giant hairgrass, it's so very similar, it likely needs the same treatment and propagates the same way. I've only started keeping a tank since last year, so I'm very happy with the way the plants are doing in the low tech set up so far. Want to work on getting the balance right, manage having some algae but not too much algae, learn about ferts, learn when and how to trim the different plants etc; so much to learn! I'm really enjoying it though

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Sorry, another awful photo... I'm clearly not the best at photographing plants. The one in the middle, long stems with lots of little round leaves, almost a rubbery texture to it - I think it might be rotala indica? Fairly slow growing, but when you next look, you seem to have a lot more than you started with?

This one I know is a super common one, hornwort or that type of bushy, fast growing floating stem plant? I don't know which this one is though. The next one, I have no idea what it is, but I like it a lot, and it seems to do well. These are some smaller cuttings from the main plant.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Glad we figured out what it was.

 

[mbsqw1d]

1st pic think could be moneywort (bacopa monnieri)?
2nd yeh, hornwort, maybe soft hornwort
3rd .. hygrophila polysperma.. maybe!?