No joy with floating plants

[AquaBarb]

Not had much luck with floating plants

Tried water lettuce, frogbit and salvinia and its only lasting a couple of months. (Not sure if its because i have a hood/lid on both my tanks)

All my rooted plants have been growing well. Want to try a stem plant which can float instead.

Anyone recommend a good stem plant that can grow floating? Water sprite one?

 

[Metalhead88]

I had water sprite and it was growing great, until my fish decided to make a salad out of it.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Anacharis is a good stem plant, that can be grown buried in the substrate, or grown floating.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Anacharis is what I have the best luck with too. It doesn’t like a lot of Flourish fert though. What fish do you have?

 

[Colin_T]

I have never kept frogbit, but salvinia and water lettuce both rotted away when kept under cover glass in my tanks. They don't like humidity and need heaps of light.

The best floating plant is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).

If you want stem plants that float on the surface and continue growing, then look for Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, Hydrilla, Ludwigia and Elodia. These plants will all grow on the surface or planted in the substrate.

Elodia should only be bought when it's warm (during summer) otherwise it falls apart when put in a warm aquarium. You should also quarantine it because it comes form ponds and is usually infested with hydra, planaria, leeches and snails.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Definitely snails!

 

[Fishmanic]

I have tried frogbit and watersprite with little luck. I do have luck floating Hygrophilia Difformis though.

 

[seangee]

Are you sure the frogbit was amazon and not european frogbit. My experience was similar to yours until I bought the "real" thing rather than what they sell on ebay / amazon.

In my case I bought a little tub of Tropica 1-2-3-grow and now its all over 3 tanks. Costs a bit more but worth it IMO. And its tissue culture so no hitch-hikers.

 

[AquaBarb]

Are you sure the frogbit was amazon and not european frogbit. My experience was similar to yours until I bought the "real" thing rather than what they sell on ebay / amazon.

In my case I bought a little tub of Tropica 1-2-3-grow and now its all over 3 tanks. Costs a bit more but worth it IMO. And its tissue culture so no hitch-hikers.

I did buy my Frogbit off Ebay but it was indeed amazon frogbit. Little bit of me suspects my rainbows and snails tucked into it while i was away on holiday.

 

[AquaBarb]

Thanks everyone,

Ive got some Anacharis in my smaller tank planted. Good to know it can also float tho

Think ill try some water sprite in my big tank and some Hygrophilia Difformis in my smaller tank and see which goes best

Cheers

 

[AquaBarb]

Anacharis is what I have the best luck with too. It doesn’t like a lot of Flourish fert though. What fish do you have?

At the moment i have Dwarf neon rainbows and Albino corys in my big tank. Wanted to put a bit of cover in for them.

 

[FishGuest5123]

At the moment i have Dwarf neon rainbows and Albino corys in my big tank. Wanted to put a bit of cover in for them.

Both should be fine with any floating plant.

 

[Mongo75]

I recently bought some Hygrophilia Difformis for my 20g. I floated it until it was developing some good roots. I planted about half of it, and am toying with keeping the rest as floaters. The ones I left floating are all developing roots from almost every junction where the leaf meets the stem.

As a side note, I upgraded from the kit lighting to a Finnex 24/7 SE about half way between floating them and planting them, and the increased root development was very noticeable.

 

[AquaBarb]

I recently bought some Hygrophilia Difformis for my 20g. I floated it until it was developing some good roots. I planted about half of it, and am toying with keeping the rest as floaters. The ones I left floating are all developing roots from almost every junction where the leaf meets the stem.

As a side note, I upgraded from the kit lighting to a Finnex 24/7 SE about half way between floating them and planting them, and the increased root development was very noticeable.

Thats good to know thank you, ive ordered some Hygrophilia Difformis to try. Hopefully it works out but im too looking into upgrading my lighting next. Got to do a bit of research first tho because i dont know where to start with lighting.

 

[Back in the fold]

Lighting was briefly mentioned by Russjw. I'm curious about actual sunlight. My tanks get a good amount of indirect sunlight and just a very little full on direct sunlight. My low light plants seem to be thriving very well. What kind of experience are the rest of you having? I know that too much will cause algae to go wild. I'm sure the amount of light will vary throughout the year due to seasonal changes. Angle of sun and length of day. I'm not sure I'm contributing anything useful here just curious about your experience.