Water Hyacinth in the aquarium and pond.

[Tanked]

A friend is moving and forced to give up his ponds.  Water hyacinth was the only plant that I did not give him, so I grabbed some plants. These are not a dwarf variety.  Now what? 

Can I grow them in the aquarium?  Will they dwarf themselves over time?, will the Silver dollars and Barbs add them to the menu?,  Is this a bad idea?  Any thoughts?

[Tihshho]

Water Hyacinth is a very robust plant as long as it has adequate light and plenty of nutrients. The only qualms I have with it in the aquaria is that it grows too fast and likes to shed its roots which can create a mess. The plant is ideal for egg depositing species and are a natural spawning mop. I've never been able to get this plant to successfully dwarf, more so this plant will just generate small offspring fast and they will then explode in size and the cycle will continue.

In terms of the Silver Dollars and the Barbs, you might see some destruction to the roots, so just keep an eye on it. If the roots get too badly damaged or thinned the plant will more than likely start to decay. If you catch it early enough, you can move the plants to another aquaria or tub with ferts and overhead lights and they will recover.

 

[Tanked]

On 9/21/2021 at 10:53 AM, Tihshho said:

Water Hyacinth is a very robust plant as long as it has adequate light and plenty of nutrients. The only qualms I have with it in the aquaria is that it grows too fast and likes to shed its roots which can create a mess. The plant is ideal for egg depositing species and are a natural spawning mop. I've never been able to get this plant to successfully dwarf, more so this plant will just generate small offspring fast and they will then explode in size and the cycle will continue.

In terms of the Silver Dollars and the Barbs, you might see some destruction to the roots, so just keep an eye on it. If the roots get too badly damaged or thinned the plant will more than likely start to decay. If you catch it early enough, you can move the plants to another aquaria or tub with ferts and overhead lights and they will recover.

 

I've never kept this plant before, so this is all new. I'd like to overwinter these in the aquarium if possible, but logistics will a problem.  A tub in the basement is doable and may finally provide the motivation to seal the ancient metaframe tank I've been storing.

[gardenman]

I currently have water hyacinths in my fifty and twenty gallon tanks. I had them in my pond last summer (2020) and brought them inside to overwinter them and then had enough in the spring (2021) to keep some in the tanks as they were doing well. The first photo below is of them in the 50 gallon tank and the second photo is of them in my 20. Water hyacinths grow differently in different conditions. Some get very leggy and stretched out while others grow more compactly. These are growing quite compactly.

 

[Tanked]

On 9/22/2021 at 9:57 AM, gardenman said:

I currently have water hyacinths in my fifty and twenty gallon tanks. I had them in my pond last summer (2020) and brought them inside to overwinter them and then had enough in the spring (2021) to keep some in the tanks as they were doing well. The first photo below is of them in the 50 gallon tank and the second photo is of them in my 20. Water hyacinths grow differently in different conditions. Some get very leggy and stretched out while others grow more compactly. These are growing quite compactly.

 

I picked the smallest plants I could get but I may have to drop the water level or trim them to fit under the covers.  They are in my pond for now, so I have a few more weeks to come up with a plan. Have you gotten them to bloom?

[gardenman]

On 9/22/2021 at 10:20 AM, Tanked said:

I picked the smallest plants I could get but I may have to drop the water level or trim them to fit under the covers.  They are in my pond for now, so I have a few more weeks to come up with a plan. Have you gotten them to bloom?

Just a few times in the 20 inside. They flower fairly often outside. They've never flowered in the fifty for some reason.