What plants do I have?

[VanDogh]

I got some free plants from someone and I am not sure what they are

 

 

Second one

Third one (tiny carpeting plant?)

 

Last one

 

Edited May 21 by VanDogh

[Whitecloud09]

@VanDogh, that 2nd one looks like Java fern. The others, idk for sure, maybe someone else will chime in as I am curious too…

[CoryWithAKatana]

Second one is Java fern, the last one looks like Java moss and Valisinsria but im not sure about the others

[Tony s]

I'm guessing dwarf sag on the bottom

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/21/2024 at 3:32 PM, Tony s said:

I'm guessing dwarf sag on the bottom

Ok yeah I was blank on the last ones name, I was like “pogo stems steltius is”? 🤣. Dwarf sag is sooo much different lol.

But to be serious, I think there is 2 that we still don’t know, maybe a plant expert will show up hopefully here @VanDogh

Edited May 21 by Whitecloud09

[VanDogh]

On 5/21/2024 at 9:23 PM, Whitecloud09 said:

@VanDogh, that 2nd one looks like Java fern. The others, idk for sure, maybe someone else will chime in as I am curious too…

I see! Do all java fern have the same needs in terms of maintenance? Or is this specific type of Java fern different? It has some black leaves and I am not sure if I am doing something wrong.

On 5/21/2024 at 9:26 PM, CoryWithAKatana said:

Second one is Java fern, the last one looks like Java moss and Valisinsria but im not sure about the others

Even if it's small? It is maybe 10cm

@Tony s and @Whitecloud09

Some suggestions plant AI identifiers have made are Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, Sagittaria subulata and Helanthium tenellum

 

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/21/2024 at 4:03 PM, VanDogh said:

I see! Do all java fern have the same needs in terms of maintenance? Or is this specific type of Java fern different? It has some black leaves and I am not sure if I am doing something wrong.

Even if it's small? It is maybe 10cm

If it’s Java fern, it is really easy to keep. One thing to keep in mind tho, if it is in the substrate, that’s not good, it’s a rhizome plant, if you bury the rhizome, it will rot. This is the rhizome, besides that, it only needs ferts, and it can handle high medium and low light, it is a super easy beginner plant @VanDogh

[JE47]

On 5/21/2024 at 12:32 PM, Tony s said:

guessing dwarf sag on the bottom

Agree with this 

Picture 1. I would guess maybe staurogyne repens looks a little stunted so hard to tell

Picture 2. As other have said java fern

Picture 3. Top picture looks like more dwarf sag but the picture underneath looks like a crypt of some sort

[VanDogh]

@Whitecloud09 Maybe that is why the leaves (some of them) are dark?

 

If that's the case, I should propably remove it from the sand 🤔

Some Java ferns seems to have a "stem" and the leaf later emerges.

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/21/2024 at 4:25 PM, VanDogh said:

@Whitecloud09 Maybe that is why the leaves (some of them) are dark?

 

If that's the case, I should propably remove it from the sand 🤔

Yes, and also u can buy gel glue from aquarium coop and glue it to rock/driftwood/decor etc. here is a link to the gel glue that u can use @VanDogh. Hope this helps. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/plant-supplies/products/super-glue-gel

[VanDogh]

This one have the leaf part the full way to the roots, I hope that sentence made sense (English is not my native language)

I pulled one leaf so it will be easier to identify

 

This one's leaf follows all the way to its root

On 5/21/2024 at 10:28 PM, Whitecloud09 said:

Yes, and also u can buy gel glue from aquarium coop and glue it to rock/driftwood/decor etc. here is a link to the gel glue that u can use @VanDogh. Hope this helps. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/plant-supplies/products/super-glue-gel

Thank you! I will do that 😁

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/21/2024 at 4:29 PM, VanDogh said:

This one have the leaf part the full way to the roots, I hope that sentence made sense (English is not my native language)

I pulled one leaf so it will be easier to identify

 

This one's leaf follows all the way to its root

Thank you! I will do that 😁

It did! You’re welcome, and yes that is what mine looks like as well. @VanDogh

[VanDogh]

@Whitecloud09Thank you!! Then I can confirm its species and will remove it from the sand to prevent root rot. You just saved my plant! 

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/21/2024 at 4:52 PM, VanDogh said:

@Whitecloud09Thank you!! Then I can confirm its species and will remove it from the sand to prevent root rot. You just saved my plant! 

Correct, Java fern, hope it makes it! @VanDogh

[EricksonAquatics]

First plant looms a little like Water Wisteria to me, just really short. Or like previously stated it could be Staurogyne Repens.

Third plant looks like a species of Cryptocoryne. I’m guessing Lucens is the specific variety?

Last one looks like dwarf sag to me.

Im not an expert but hope I can be of some help. 🙂

[johnnyxxl]

On 5/21/2024 at 1:45 PM, VanDogh said:

I got some free plants from someone and I am not sure what they are

 

 

Second one

Third one (tiny carpeting plant?)

 

Last one

 

The second one you don't want to bury in the substrate like that you can let the roots get in the substrate on their own or attach it to a stone.  I stuck mine in a crack of the wood.  It's called Java fern and it can't be buried like that it will die on you.

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/21/2024 at 8:13 PM, johnnyxxl said:

The second one you don't want to bury in the substrate like that you can let the roots get in the substrate on their own or attach it to a stone.  I stuck mine in a crack of the wood.  It's called Java fern and it can't be buried like that it will die on you.

Yes, I mentioned that to him, he is going to take it out of the substrate, hopefully it will live.

[johnnyxxl]

On 5/21/2024 at 8:23 PM, Whitecloud09 said:

Yes, I mentioned that to him, he is going to take it out of the substrate, hopefully it will live.

Sorry didn't see your post first my bad

[FLFishChik]

Third picture (tiny carpeting plant) looks like it could be Crypt Parva and the last one looks like Vallisneria. That’s my guess.

[Odd Duck]

1. No guess, I’m terrible with stem plants.

2.  Definitely Java fern (Microsorum pteropus newer name Leptochilus pteropus) as others mentioned. Glue it to hardscape or at least lift it enough the rhizome stays out of the substrate. The roots can be in but not the rhizome.  Either is a good option.  Some of my best growing Java ferns are glued to small wood pieces so their roots can make it into a nutrient rich substrate or into the slowly decomposing wood.

3. Looks like Crytocoryne parva.  Adorable little plant but is one of the slowest growing Crypts. If you’re patient enough it can carpet beautifully but it takes FOREVER to get there!  I’ll add a link at the end with a pic of my Crypt parva.  I think yours is most likely parva.

Since I’m not 100% on the scale / size of the plant in your pic it could also be Crypt lucens as mentioned by @EricksonAquatics.  If it gets leaves more than about 1” long, it’s more likely to be lucens which gets a fair bit bigger when happy - up to about 3”.  Plus its leaves tend to stand up more than parva.  Crypt parva leaves stay about 1” long in mature plants.  It would have to flower to be absolutely, completely certain and I don’t think Crypts ever flowers when grown submerse.

In my pic, the parva are the tiny plants in the foreground.  This is a tiny, 2.1 G shrimp and snail only tank with moderately fine sand substrate, moderate light, no CO2, and a rather sporadic fertilization regimen.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

4. Looks like a Vallisneria start but I can’t rule out dwarf Sag - Sagittaria subulata. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve grown any dwarf Sag so I can’t remember for certain if it has those little horizontal zig zag lines that Val always has. I think it does, so I can’t tell for sure which species you have there.

If it does well, and starts to produce runners and the main plant is still only about 6” tall, then dwarf Sag is more likely.  If the main plant shoots up to 8” or more (especially if more), then Val is more likely. Still can’t identify species of Val unless the leaves start to get crazy wide, or crazy long, or a plant sends up a flower stalk.  Then we might be able to narrow it down more for you.

5. Agree with @CoryWithAKatana on likely Java moss behind the Sag/Val (not sure if you were asking about ID for the moss).  That family of mosses can be notoriously difficult to identify with accuracy.  For me, it has to be grown in a single, stable spot for weeks to months for anything remotely resembling an accurate ID by growth form.

Hope this helps some and doesn’t just add more confusion.

 

[VanDogh]

On 5/22/2024 at 1:23 AM, EricksonAquatics said:

First plant looms a little like Water Wisteria to me, just really short. Or like previously stated it could be Staurogyne Repens.

Third plant looks like a species of Cryptocoryne. I’m guessing Lucens is the specific variety?

Last one looks like dwarf sag to me.

Im not an expert but hope I can be of some help. 🙂

Good guess! Maybe you are right, the first one is a cutting of a plant I received for free. It's been in my tank for 2, almost 3 months now. Not sure if I am not giving it enough CO²/nutrients/light or if it's just a really slow grower. Maybe it won't grow taller than that, I am not sure.

I think you are right that it's some sort of cryptocoryne! I did a bit of googleing and this one I estimate to have leaves around 3-4cm (1.2-1.6 inches?) I have had it for 2-3 months and it hasn't grown anything. Either it's a very slow grower or maybe it won't grow larger? I think Cryptocoryne lucens grow to 15cm? (6 inches?) Maybe it's Cryptocoryne parva? I just Cryptocoryne mini and parva seemed small enough. 

Last one is 10cm (4 inches?) so maybe you are also correct. If there is something I can do so it is easier to identify I'll do it. If you want a better picture or just one of the leaves of the plant.

[VanDogh]

@Odd Duck Thank you! Good idea, I had not considered using small wooden pieces. I'll try to find some next time I'm in the forest (after sterilization ofc) I am also thinking scaping a cliff-thingy with rocks so I could use some cuttings and glue it in the cracks. I think it can look very nice

I see, so my suspicions were correct! Is there some way of growing it a bit faster? Maybe root tabs or good lights?

This plant is as of now 10cm (4 inches?) I thought Vallisneria were large plants? Or maybe you are referring to a species I am not aware of. Or maybe it is not fully grown. It looks a bit sad, I want it to get healthier so any tips of how to do that is appreciated!

Yes you are correct that is Java moss, it aaccidently made its way to the picture I did not mean to include it haha. I bought it in a store so I can confirm that your guess is indeed correct 😀

Thank you for adding the picture, they look very adorable indeed. What fertilizer do you use for them?

[Odd Duck]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:05 AM, VanDogh said:

they look very adorable indeed. What fertilizer do you use for them?

Thank you, I really like them in this tank.  I do the very occasional root tab trading off between corners of the tank.  It gets out of balance if I do too much fertilizer.  In between I do occasional small amounts of Easy Green, no more than 1/2 squirt and I try to do only a few drops.  When I set up this tank I had a well-aged piece of wood covered with Buces that I tried.  I couldn’t keep it in balance even with large (percentage-wise), weekly water changes, and over-planted relative to its size with Crypts and Vesuvius sword.

I no longer have any wood in here.  Instead the Anubias is on a piece of lava rock and it stays in much better balance.  It still skews off balance a bit and I lost the Pink Panther Crypts you can see in the background of that pic during one of those shifts.  I have a couple tufts of BBA in the tank that I need to treat with peroxide and even doing that tends to shift it a bit off balance.  Planted tanks can be a bit of a pain sometimes, especially tiny ones!  Tiny tanks are sooooo much more work relative to their size!  😝 I have mostly Crypt jacobsenii and a single Crypt nurii (the one on the right that lays flatter) against the back wall now.  I had to take out the frogbit since it was shading too much plus I think nutrient stealing from the Crypts and Anubias.  I didn’t use this pic because I was trying to specifically show you the Crypt parva before.  This simple little tank is one of my favorites once I took the wood piece out of it.  I also need to move snails out of this tank before they get big.  I moved snails right after this pic but they were pretty so I took the pic before I moved them.  I try to only have 2-4 ramshorns this size in there at a time.  They get moved out before they get much bigger than these were.  This pic was from early February and the Crypt jacobsenii are doing really well (much better since I took out the frogbit 😆).  They’re starting to spread to where I’ll need to thin them soon.

 

Edited May 23 by Odd Duck
Clarify.

[VanDogh]

On 5/23/2024 at 6:40 AM, Odd Duck said:

Thank you, I really like them in this tank.  I do the very occasional root tab trading off between corners of the tank.  It gets out of balance if I do too much fertilizer.  In between I do occasional small amounts of Easy Green, no more than 1/2 squirt and I try to do only a few drops.  When I set up this tank I had a well-aged piece of wood covered with Buces that I tried.  I couldn’t keep it in balance even with large (percentage-wise), weekly water changes, and over-planted relative to its size with Crypts and Vesuvius sword.

I no longer have any wood in here.  Instead the Anubias is on a piece of lava rock and it stays in much better balance.  It still skews off balance a bit and I lost the Pink Panther Crypts you can see in the background of that pic during one of those shifts.  I have a couple tufts of BBA in the tank that I need to treat with peroxide and even doing that tends to shift it a bit off balance.  Planted tanks can be a bit of a pain sometimes, especially tiny ones!  Tiny tanks are sooooo much more work relative to their size!  😝 I have mostly Crypt jacobsenii and a single Crypt nurii (the one on the right that lays flatter) against the back wall now.  I had to take out the frogbit since it was shading too much plus I think nutrient stealing from the Crypts and Anubias.  I didn’t use this pic because I was trying to specifically show you the Crypt parva before.  This simple little tank is one of my favorites once I took the wood piece out of it.  I also need to move snails out of this tank before they get big.  I moved snails right after this pic but they were pretty so I took the pic before I moved them.  I try to only have 2-4 ramshorns this size in there at a time.  They get moved out before they get much bigger than these were.  This pic was from early February and the Crypt jacobsenii are doing really well (much better since I took out the frogbit 😆).  They’re starting to spread to where I’ll need to thin them soon.

 

I see! So you must have pretty soft water? I have the total opposite of a problem, my water is so hard it leaves white residue when it dries, so I should probably use more wood than rock! But then I will try using both liquid fertilizers and root tabs 🙂

Is it a snail-only tank? How big is it? It's very gorgeous so I can understand that you really like it! Too bad you lost it, but I think it looks good with the current cryptocorynes 😀  what floaters do you use if you removed the frogbit? I have a tiny tank of... I think... 7 gallons (25L) and I just keep mostly Java moss and anubias, you won't have too much trouble with those plants atleast 😉

[Odd Duck]

I have very hard water but the wood was adding too much in the way of total dissolved organics.   Essentially too much bioload.

I have shrimp and snails in there. I’ve had shrimp colonies go bust a couple times so I try to move some out to other tanks regularly. The tank just doesn’t support too many at once it’s so small. I only had snails showing in the second pic.  Here’s a pic with shrimp for you.  Sometimes the shrimp will randomly hide like crazy.  🤪 

 

Edited May 23 by Odd Duck
Typo