Just Bought A Pack Of Plants, Id's Please :d

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Jallen

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I got a pack of 25 plants from last-trading-post for £3.99. They are rinsed under the tap and now soaking in a bucket of water.

Can you Id them please?

1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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These plants appear to be different - I've got loads of both types
5.
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Big vallis :D
6.
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Thanks!
 
1. Amazon Sword I think. It's certainly some type of sword.
2. Unsure
3. Unsure
4. Cabomba
5. Elodea
6. Straight vallis (though you already know that :)
 
OOh we got similar ones lol

I got some of the little vallis to and some others, Is the Cabomba a floating plant or should it be planted?

sorry to hijack
 
1. Amazon Sword I think. It's certainly some type of sword.
2. Unsure
3. Unsure
4. Cabomba
5. Elodea
6. Straight vallis (though you already know that :)
Excellent, thanks. I'm going to plant them in a bit, I have ridiculous amounts of the elodea :p
The swords are great. I'm very impressed with the overall size and quality of the plants.

OOh we got similar ones lol

I got some of the little vallis to and some others, Is the Cabomba a floating plant or should it be planted?

sorry to hijack
I just read on wikipedia they are planted in the substrate.
 
Only thing I'd be wary of is die back on the leaves from the amazon sword.
That's why I didn't recognise it 100%, I'm pretty sure they are the leaves of a specimen that was grown emersed.

Not a problem as I think it's done quite regularly. But it just means you may get more die back of leaves in the beginning compared to if you'd recived a fully immersed specimen.

But then saying all that I'm no plant expert.
 
Yeah amazon swords are emerged, regular pruning (breaking leaves off at the crown) of the largest leaves will help it send its submerged sword shaped leaves through a bit quicker.
 
As others have said #1 is an Amazon sword. Needs lots of light, otherwise tends to turn to mush. Wrecked by plecs. I'd argue it also needs a rich, loamy substrate, but others might argue decent fertilisation of the water or gravel will do.

No idea what #2 is, but given the shape of its leaves and its wood stem, it is almost certainly not a true aquatic but an amphibious plant. Anything that has a stiff stem and holds its leave erect out of water is very unlikely to be a true aquatic. This plant looks like it'll be happy in a bog garden than an aquarium. There are a lot of non-aquatic plants in the trade, and they're often put in "bargain packs" even though they die within weeks, perhaps months of purchase.

#3 looks like a Ludwigia, Rotala or something along those lines. These tend to be difficult to grow, and need a LOT of light. #4 and #5 are Cabomba and "Elodea" respectively. These plants need a lot of light as well, and in tropical aquaria, "Elodea" especially tends become straggly unless given really intense lighting. It must have hard, alkaline water. It's one of the plants that performs biogenic decalcification, and in soft water tanks won't do well, and often messes up the pH dramatically.

#6 is some type of Vallisneria. There are numerous species. All are adaptable and do well across a range of conditions. However, they become big and grow quickly, and need to be aggressively pruned back. While you can break off leaves at the base of the plant, if you do this too often (or too clumsily) the whole plant will rot. It's easier to simply remove adult plants that get too big, and leave the daughter plants to take their place.

As a general comment, "value packs" are usually nothing of the sort. It's always better to choose one or two plants ideally suited to your precise conditions (substrate, lighting, CO2 usage, water chemistry) and then allow those few plants to prosper. Get this right, and you'll soon have lots of daughter plants to fill the tank. For beginners, hardy Crypts, Anubias, Java ferns, and Java moss are the plants to concentrate on, being the least demanding. If you have moderate to bright light, you could add Vallisneria and perhaps Hygrophila polysperma to that mix.

Cheers, Neale
 
As others have said #1 is an Amazon sword. Needs lots of light, otherwise tends to turn to mush. Wrecked by plecs. I'd argue it also needs a rich, loamy substrate, but others might argue decent fertilisation of the water or gravel will do.

No idea what #2 is, but given the shape of its leaves and its wood stem, it is almost certainly not a true aquatic but an amphibious plant. Anything that has a stiff stem and holds its leave erect out of water is very unlikely to be a true aquatic. This plant looks like it'll be happy in a bog garden than an aquarium. There are a lot of non-aquatic plants in the trade, and they're often put in "bargain packs" even though they die within weeks, perhaps months of purchase.

#3 looks like a Ludwigia, Rotala or something along those lines. These tend to be difficult to grow, and need a LOT of light. #4 and #5 are Cabomba and "Elodea" respectively. These plants need a lot of light as well, and in tropical aquaria, "Elodea" especially tends become straggly unless given really intense lighting. It must have hard, alkaline water. It's one of the plants that performs biogenic decalcification, and in soft water tanks won't do well, and often messes up the pH dramatically.

#6 is some type of Vallisneria. There are numerous species. All are adaptable and do well across a range of conditions. However, they become big and grow quickly, and need to be aggressively pruned back. While you can break off leaves at the base of the plant, if you do this too often (or too clumsily) the whole plant will rot. It's easier to simply remove adult plants that get too big, and leave the daughter plants to take their place.

As a general comment, "value packs" are usually nothing of the sort. It's always better to choose one or two plants ideally suited to your precise conditions (substrate, lighting, CO2 usage, water chemistry) and then allow those few plants to prosper. Get this right, and you'll soon have lots of daughter plants to fill the tank. For beginners, hardy Crypts, Anubias, Java ferns, and Java moss are the plants to concentrate on, being the least demanding. If you have moderate to bright light, you could add Vallisneria and perhaps Hygrophila polysperma to that mix.

Cheers, Neale
Number 2 doesn't have a woody stem, it's actually quite flexible and the description specifically said that all of their plants are true aquatics.

I still consider it a worth purchase if 3/4 of the plants die, because it would still have cost less than an LFS.
I'll just see how it goes and hopefully it will do good :)
 
Sorry, when I used the phrase "woody stem" I should have explained. Doesn't mean its obviously wood, but rather it's stiffened with lignin, i.e., the polymer that makes wood. To me, the plant seems to have that kind of stem. Perhaps not. If you can hold the plant up by its base, and the stem stays vertical rather than flops over, it has a woody stem, or at least a stem stiffened with vascular tissue, like a classic land plant.

I applaud your enthusiasm. I was young once, and yes, I bought bargain packs of plants. But over time, I've learned to be more careful. In other words: How much light is there in your tank? What's the water chemistry? What's the substrate? If it turns out that your tank isn't right for these plant, they'll die. Stem plants (like #2 and #3) tend to get leggy in tanks without strong light. It's called "etiolation". Look it up. The thing hobbyists call Elodea is different again, needing not just bright light, but also hard water.

Anyway, enjoy your plants.

Cheers, Neale
 
that aint too bad for £3.99!

1 - amazon sword
4 - camboba
5 - Elodea (grows v. quickly ime)
 
Nice, Ebay link :p ?

Considering purchasing a pack, although at 40W T8 lighting for my tank i'm not sure what ill get awway with (Opinions seem to vary massively here).

Nmonks - Thanks for posting, learnt plenty!
 
Do Last Trading Post only have an eBay shop, or a proper website?. I don't have access to eBay.
 
last trading post are reknown for thier vallis, they alwyas sell high quality vallis.

no3 is not rotala as nmonks suggested it might be, it look more like a species of bacopa.
 
As others have said #1 is an Amazon sword. Needs lots of light

Not to be picky, but i think there and two types of amazon swords, ones a pond plant and doesnt need much light, and the other needs high light

Im not sure what ive got but i grew them at 1wpg for ages...

Just saying, try it. But what works for one may not work for another...
 

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