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Favorite Plant


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What is everyone's favorite aquarium plant? Low tech, high tech, foreground, midground, background, floating, what is the one plant that brings you the most joy in your aquarium? I know it's hard to pick just one, and it may change over time, but if you had to pick one right now, what would it be? 

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21 hours ago, ChefConfit said:

I love my Crinum Calamistratum and my Bucephalandra! The Crinum is in the center of my 35 Hex and is about to reach the top. I use the buce as an accent in a rock structure in the back of the tank. 

I wanna see! Pics, please!

I really like my Madagascar lace plant. It's not honestly as difficult a plant as many people think, so it makes me feel like I'm some kind of aquatic gardening master. 😂 (I am not.)

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I don't have that many in my tank yet!  At this point I would say my Amazon Swords, since they are the plant that is doing the best.  However, on Monday I should be getting my order from the Co-Op and I have a feeling I'm going to really enjoy my Windelov Java Fern!  If it is even half as awesome as I'm imagining it being, there should be no contest! 

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Not a sexy plant, but if I could only have 1 plant, it would be hornwort.

Hornwort.jpg.bf13a01ab9d0947f50bb57994f7564fb.jpg

Because:

  • Easy to grow (or hard to kill), absorbs nitrates like a sponge
  • I never cycle my aquariums - my method is to fill a new tank with water from established tank and throw in hornwort and voilà, instant aquarium!

  • I don't run tops on my aquariums because I am too lazy to be bothered opening the lid, and hornwort represses jumping
  • Hornwort provides a place for fry to hid while they mature
  • Bubblenest builders like bettas and sparkling gouramis readily build bubblenests in hornwort
  • Can be found growing in most road side ditches in the coastal areas of North Carolina, so is a native plant at least for me
  • Holds blackworms at the surface for days at time so surface feeding fish can partake in the blackworm feast.
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Hornwort is not just a plant, but a must-have tool in my arsenal of fish keeping supplies. Having nitrates straight out of tap, Pothos and Hornwort have always made things a lot easier in the way of balancing healthy aquariums, especially in tanks with more sensitive fish.

Shrimplets love clinging to it, and picking through it. It keeps my Kuhli loaches from hiding, they use it as a hammock and I often find them sleeping in it. Works great for line of sight breakup in one of my Ram tanks. I have 2 males together, not usually advised but they're old and have been together for a long time. The German Blue occasionally gets a bit grouchy and chases the EBR who then loses him in the Hornwort and it's over. 

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15 hours ago, DaveSamsell said:

Vallisneria Spiralis - I think a dense background, full of Vallisneria looks really nice, in an aquarium.

I love Vallisneria. I seem to have better luck with Corkscrew Val than any other type, not sure why. I wasn't really a fan of the Corkscrew variety, but it has definitely grown on me. I can dig it up, move it constanty, my fish dig it up and it spreads runners while it's halfway floating, it doesn't seem to care. It has grown on me because of how well it does.

It seems so far,  everyone's favorites rely mostly on how well certain plants do in our own water and whether or not we have trouble with them, as well as how useful it is in our tanks. 

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5 minutes ago, Lynze said:

I love Vallisneria. I seem to have better luck with Corkscrew Val than any other type, not sure why. I wasn't really a fan of the Corkscrew variety, but it has definitely grown on me. I can dig it up, move it constanty, my fish dig it up and it spreads runners while it's halfway floating, it doesn't seem to care. It has grown on me because of how well it does.

It seems so far,  everyone's favorites rely mostly on how well certain plants do in our own water and whether or not we have trouble with them, as well as how useful it is in our tanks. 

@Lynze, Initially, I had some difficulty growing Val, but turned out my substrate was lacking some nutrients.  Never tried the Corkscrew Val.  Thanks for the recommendation.  

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On 9/27/2020 at 1:45 AM, Ben Ellison said:

I'm really  digging sparkle swords. I have 2 plants sending out runners that are 4 foot long or more with several  plantlings on each! It seems they are thriving at a level ive never been able to match with anything  else.

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I got one of the sparkle swords and when it converted over to submerged growth it no longer has the spotting on the leaves. How did yours look after conversion? I'm curious how they are for others.

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It's a tough choice indeed. Some plants I love for their looks, like cabomba and water lettuce (they hate me though). Frogbit and anubias I love for their usefulness and versatility.

But the one plant that brings me most joy now is actually an unidentified moss (Christmas-tree, maybe). From a small bunch of not-so-pretty but vigorous branches found in an old tank it grew into a big ball, and then into a thick carpet. Very low light, very low maintenance, no fertilizer or CO2 carpeting plant is the winner for me. _MG_8990.JPG.7adb144fdebdcb3afc1955af81591cf2.JPG

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On 9/26/2020 at 8:14 PM, Kat_Rigel said:

I wanna see! Pics, please!

I really like my Madagascar lace plant. It's not honestly as difficult a plant as many people think, so it makes me feel like I'm some kind of aquatic gardening master. 😂 (I am not.)

1st Pic is the whole tank, the Crinum is right in the middle. IMG_20200929_143241.jpg.249f0e4240eac634ac66a9ce21feaed4.jpg

2nd is the bucephalandra, it's hard to get a good Pic because of where it is in the tank and how small it is. IMG_20200929_143307.jpg.1e3f0569a01e099358edd0816a6c25a1.jpg

3rd is cryptocoryne undulata red. Completely forgot about it earlier but it's another favorite. I got it as a tissue culture half off at petsmart because it had been on the shelf too long and was starting to die. I got 4 plants out of it and all bounced back great. The pic is the largest of the 4.IMG_20200929_143323.jpg.9602be7406856a7171f745497431a4f8.jpg

 

Sorry all my pics post sideways I can't seem to fix it. 

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My favorite plant is Downoi (Pogostemon helferi). It was one of the only plants that really thrived in the liquid rock that is my tap water. Stunning little plant and fairly low demanding all around. My tank would produce beautiful 2”x2” crowns that stayed crowns that would develop daughter plants and that was just using 2 12” Stingrays for light over a 30cm cube. They used to be a rather available species in the hobby about 5 years ago but man is their structure fragile as can all be. I haven’t been able to find nice specimens in about 4 years though (if I can even find any). I had my best luck with the tissue cultured packs. I wish it would come back but I can only assume it’s a major loss for vendors due to its fragile nature. Shipping it is dreadful in my experience. I miss that plant 😞

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