Would Like A Particular Kind Of Plant

[coldcazzie]

the kind that have long stems with large leaves that float on the surface - if you know what I mean? I thought I had a picture in my plant book which would give me an idea on what to hunt for but I don't - can anybody give me some names?

 

[BigTom]

the kind that have long stems with large leaves that float on the surface - if you know what I mean? I thought I had a picture in my plant book which would give me an idea on what to hunt for but I don't - can anybody give me some names?

Do you mean single long leaves that reach the surface (like vallis), or 'lilly pads' like nymphaea?

 

[Carlovel1]

the kind that have long stems with large leaves that float on the surface - if you know what I mean? I thought I had a picture in my plant book which would give me an idea on what to hunt for but I don't - can anybody give me some names?

Do you mean single long leaves that reach the surface (like vallis), or 'lilly pads' like nymphaea?

She is probably talking about the water lilies as Vallis doesn't really have stems.

 

[BigTom]

That would make sense. Several species of nympaea to choose from - http/www.plantedtanks.co.uk/nymphaea-144-c.asp

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, it sounds like water lilies, which I think of as a pond plant but what's the story on that, are there smaller versions of plants that look like traditional water lilies but work in the smaller context of freshwater aquariums?

I have a sword plant (Echinodorus) species that sent up long stems (well, long for my little tank was about 16") which then allowed the leaves to behave almost like lily pads on the water surface. The leaves are not as round as the lily pad type but are more round than oval, I'd say. There must be 20 species of Echinodorus that I feel I see in shops and plant lists, so I'm not very clear on which one this was but the closest pictures I seem to find are Echinodorus cordifolius.

This brings up a related question (apologies Caz) in that my Echinodorus cordifolius (or whatever it actually is) stayed huge with surface leaves for a year or two but then died back. I ended up moving it to a different spot in the tank and now it seems to be having a new life almost as a miniature carpet plant, it's got 4 or 5 little leaves that of course look the same as before but in miniature. Is this sort of change common? (I'm running low-light, Excel, reduced EI, so it's pretty likely I'm quite carbon limited.) ???

~~waterdrop~~

 

[coldcazzie]

Yes lily-type plants. I have some vallis already

I don't necessarily mean actual lilies, just something of that type - that sends stems up to the surface and then has leaves on the surface.

PS. Tis fine wd

 

[elisew]

Frogbit perhaps?

 

[BigTom]

Yeah the nymphaea species can look really nice in aquaria, although most people tend to keep them submerged as they block a lot of light on the surface.

http/www.google.co.uk/images?q=nymphaea+aqaurium&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1886&bih=1428

 

[coldcazzie]

Frogbit perhaps?

Don't seem to have much luck with floating plants... although I do like the red root one.

Yeah the nymphaea species can look really nice in aquaria, although most people tend to keep them submerged as they block a lot of light on the surface.

http/www.google.co.uk/images?q=nymphaea+aqaurium&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1886&bih=1428

Mmmm, I guess it depends on how many plants you have, and whether you let them get out of control. Blocking light is easily solved by simply removing some of the leaves, just as you would have to do with a floating plant.