What kind of species is this plant?

[Silent Doh]

I have a plant (duh) and I can't figure out what it is, it was originally a coldwater plant from my friend's neighbor's pond (read that over 2 or 3 times if you don't get it) which had adapted to a tropical environment. It does not make large roots, but grows massively if left unchecked. I have a picture, but it is sort of blurry.



You get the idea. ( I blame no one but my camera for this blurry pic.)

[Rusty]

Looks like Elodea. It's a fairly hardy and common aquatic plant around here.

Rusty

[Marc van Arc]

It may also be Egeria densa, a true cosmopolitan. I have to admit that I can hardly see any differences between this one and Rusty's Elodea (canadensis)

[Mike_Noren]

Apparently Egeria densa is considerably bigger and more robust.
Found this: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plant ... ua002.html

[B-2]

I say it's ancharis. At least that is what it looks like.

[djw66]

I agree with bettinacharlotta - ancharis - as it appears the back strand is yellowing from lack of light/nutriants/temps, which ancharis is wont to do, and it lacks a defined root system, using holdfasts to keep it anchored to a surface. Also, as I bet the original poster has noticed, ancharis can easily grow an inch a day.

[B-2]

Silent Doh got the plants from me. The ones in my aquarium are huge. The plants get so long they block out most of the light in my aquarium. I usually cut the long ones in half, leave one half in my aquarium, and give the other piece away or put it in my goldfish tank (they nibble off the leaves). Even though Silent Doh's plants came from mine, his plants are not growing and some died. I saw his aquarium last week and some of the plants are yellow, like in the picture. Not one single branch of this plant has died in my aquarium. I wonder what has happened to his? My neighbor had bought these as pond plants for her pond. I put them in my coldwater goldfish tank and my tropical tank and the plants thrived. However, they don't seem to grow in Silent Doh's aquarium. His water temperature is just a few degrees higher than my tropical tank and his water is slightly softer and more acidic. What could be the problem?

[djw66]

Could be several different things, but the most probably culprit is the lack of appropriate light (2.5 WPG of 6700k) and/or too warm a temp. Anacharis prefers water in the high 60's Æ? to mid 70's and bright light. What are the temps, water parameters and size of your respective tanks? I wouldn't try to keep anacharis in anything over 75 degrees.

Of course, that is part of the mystique of aquarium plants - for some people they grow like mad, for others, they turn yellow and die.

[Silent Doh]

Strangely, the parameters in my water are just fine, I have two energy-saving flourescent bulbs giving off 60 watts of light, but use much less power. My Ph is around 6.8 to 7.0, and my water temperature is about 79 degrees (even though my heater is set to 70) Do you recommend I lower the heater's setting even more? I use a heater made by All-Glass Aquarium, it came in the Top Fin Starter Kit 10 sold at Petsmart. BTW, they have started to branch out recently, but the original clippings are dying. I don't want them to rot in my aquarium, but the roots from the peices branching off are coming from the rotting stem.

[djw66]

Silent Doh,

Aha! Says I. As I said in my above post, anacharis needs cooler water temps (less than 75 degrees). It will struggle and eventually die at 79.

I searched for the aquarium you mentioned. I assume your tank is somewhere between 10 and 55 gallons? Its your lights for sure that are keeping it at 79, well past your heater set point (70). A small aquarium fan will solve that problem (at around 10 or 20 bucks) will help you control (read stabilize) you tank at an appropriate temp.

FYI, I keep all my freshwater planted aquaria at 77 degrees (24/7) because (a.) its the good temp for the vast majority of tropical plant species (most Echinodorus for example) and (b.) the small schooling fish species I keep are comfortable at that temp.

As an aside, you might consider getting a better quality heater down the road. The brand you mention are notorious for sticking and roasting the fish (voice of experience here)

When those branches get over two or three inches long, you can detach them from the rotting stems and stick them in your gravel and hope they take, but you'd be pretty lucky if they did, as I've said, your tank is too warm for it.

See you're in Conn. I have friends in Weston.

Dave

[Silent Doh]

Where should I buy an aquarium fan? I searched a few of the nearby pet stores (petsmart.com, and petco.com) and came up with nothing. If I need to get it online, I probably would be better simply buying a heater due to S&H reasons. Even with the higher temperature, my plants seem fine, especially my java fern, which has started to grow crazily the past few days, more than 5 new leaves have grown. I read that the java fern is a slow growing plant, could the temperature be causing the growth spurt?

[djw66]

Silent Doh,

You can find them at http://www.aquaticeco.com/ . Scroll down the left side to heaters and chillers, and you'll find them. Also, Pet Solutions http://www.petsolutions.com has some (just do a search there for cooling). Both these fans are pretty small, and thus unobtrusive. They are also VERY quiet

Java Fern enjoys warmer temps than anacharis. It must be happy in your conditions if it's kicking out leaves more quickly than usual. As I've said, troupical species prefer it in the upper 70's. Anacharis isn't a tropical species (used to be called ditch moss in old aquarium literature), thus your struggle.

Dave

[Silent Doh]

Maybe I don't need to do anything at all. My plants aren't dead, their still growing, and my fish seem fine, too. It all makes sense now! My thermometer is at the top of my aquarium, the place where the lights are heating the water, causing a high reading. My fish stopped "hanging out" at the top of the aquarium AFTER I put the lights in. They must be avoiding the hotter zone! My anarchis survives because it is far enough below the "heat zone" and my java fern flourishes because it is higher in the water. It finally all makes sense!!! I can't believe I hadn't seen it before .

[B-2]

Silent Doh, is your thermometer on the other side of the tank from the heater? It probably doesn't make much of a difference in a 10 gallon aquarium, but if the heater and thermometer are too close by, you will get bad readings. When I was helping Silent Doh set up his aquarium, I advised him to use flourecent lights. The hood can't hold more than two 25 watt lightbulbs. The lights that came with the tank were incandescant and probably around 10 to 15 watts each. His lightbulbs right now are each 11 watts and give off the same amount of light as a 60 watt incandescant bulb. They are mini flourecent screw bulbs. Is it really possible that the two bulbs are heating the tank? They are much better than the lights that came with the tank (the incandescants produced more heat and made the tank have a strange orange glow). The flourecent lights are much brighter and the plants grow better under them. They are probably the smallest flourecent lights available. How would a fan be installed in a hood? I was just wondering even though I don't have a hood with lights on my tank.

[djw66]

bettinacharlotta,

If you click the former link in my previous post, you'll find small fans that do not have to be installed in a hood.

I haven't had to install fans in a hood (see below) since I was a young teen on a homemade lighting setup my late dad helped me with. Just drilled a couple of holes of an appropriate size in the wood, epoxied it in, put the temp probes about half-way down, and voila. I don't know how you would do it in plastic hoods, but someone probably does.

Small tanks, like Silent Doh's are EXTREMELY easy to overheat due to the water volume, thus it is highly likely the lights are the culprit. The larger the tank, the easier it is to stabilize at a desired temperature level. Also, its the QUALITY (color temperature) of light more than the wattage that's important with plants and other photosynthetic organisims, although I do aim for 2.5 watts per gallon in fresh water, and about 6.5 watts per gallon in reef aquaria.

I use JBJ Formosa DX's (with 6700k power compacts) on my planted tanks, as even their smallest model (24") is fan driven, as even in a large, deep tank, PC's put out a lot of heat (nowhere near the halides on the reef tanks, tho')

Dave

[Silent Doh]

Do you recommend I buy simply a fan? Or should I regulate the lights better (turn them on only when viewing, or something) My thermometer is on the opposite side of my heater, bettinacharlotta. But maybe I could just install other lights or something, I have the original lights, and other lights that are "moon glow" (non-commercial translation: Makes my gravel look purple.) In my next post I'll put 3 pictures, one right now, one with the original lights, and one with the moon glow.

[djw66]

Silent Doh,

Just like people, plants have a diurnal cycle. If you wish to keep plants successfully, the lights should be on no less than 12 hours daily, in other words, 12 straight hours of light and 12 straight with them off. And, to reiterate, its the SPECTRUM (aka Color Temperature expressed in Kelvins) of the lights that cause plants to grow, thus, the lights that bettinacharlotta set you up with should remain in use.

If you want to keep anacharis, buy a fan, if you don't, don't buy one, as your Java Fern, which enjoys upper 70's, attests that your tank conditions are fine for it. I can suggest a few plants species sutible for your tank which would also thrive at the temp and lighting, but I would strongly suggest purchasing a competent aquarium plant book to further undertand what you can and can't keep at 79 degrees in a 10 gallon tank.

If you wish, PM me and I'll give you my recommendations with sources.

Dave

[Silent Doh]

In fact I just looked at my temperature after adjusting the heater ( I set it to 65) and my water temperature dropped 5 degrees. I hope this will allow me to keep anarchis in my aquarium setup.

[B-2]

Silent Doh, the problem with lowering the heater setting is that at night, when the lights aren't on, the heater will keep the water at the set temperature, 65 degrees. I would consider that a coldwater temperature. Your ancharis may like it but your java fern and fish won't. By the way, I had a great idea. Why don't you just take one lightbulb out of the hood? One light will be enough for your 10 gallon tank and won't heat it up as much. You should try it. Just be sure you cover the empty lightbulb socket with duct tape or something so you don't electrocute yourself if you touch it. If you still want 2 lights, try experimenting by using the old incandescent lightbulbs with one flourescent light. You might get a cool effect if one end of the tank is orange or purple, and the other normal. The fish might like it because it would be kind of like having a shady part to the tank. However, having one flourescent light will make sure the plants have the right lighting. What do you think?

[Silent Doh]

good idea, bettinacharlotta! My catfish also don't like the light, so that will be a + for them!