Anyone had success with Pearlweed?

[Fishdude]

I have clumps of pearl weed that have grown from a sample I bought years ago. I cannot for the life of me keep it rooted in the substrate. Part of this is because I have a bratty corydora who keep insisting that it shouldn't be in the gravel and she likes to pick through it. She knows she's a brat.

[Brandy]

Mine stays rooted in the shrimp/guppy fry tank, but they don't have the mass to pull on it. I think ACO sells plant weights...might be your only hope.

[Jungle Fan]

A few rocks, or some strategically placed driftwood right in front of the pearl weed can put a kink in the rampage and persuade the brat to frolic elsewhere.

PS: I've got a pleco who made his peace with some Lobelia cardinalis in that way after it had seemed to be doomed to float in perpetuity.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Jungle Fan
PS

[Koi]

Planting three to four stems/strands at the same time could give it a little more grip to grab the substrate. I find the a deeper substrate helps a lot in anchoring in plants. Two to three inches should suffice, three to four makes it even easier.

A way I like to establish most of my plants, especially carpeting types, is to actually to completely bury it into the substrate. If you are not confident your lighting is strong enough you can allow a few leaves to show above the substrate. 

Heres a shot where I have the leaves barely above the substrate

Here is a picture where you can see exactly how deep I planted my glosso and the leaves above the substrate is what grew.

[JettsPapa]

I let mine float and it grows pretty well (I have a local LFS that will pay cash for all my extra).  I've recently started rooting some and it's doing okay also.

[Ken]

I was watching a Friday Night Q&A and somebody asked about getting pearl weed to root. LRB's answer was "put a rock on it". You gotta love Lucas. I tried it (actually several smaller pebbles) it likes it. I can't promise it's rooted but it is certainly growing better and isn't wandering around getting tangled up in all the other plants. There are six Panda Cories and three Hillstream loaches in the tank and so far nobody has got them floating again.

[StephenP2003]

23 hours ago, Brandy said:

I think ACO sells plant weights...might be your only hope.

Absolutely. I take 3 or 4 stems of pearl weed and clamp them at the bottom with a quarter-piece of plant weight and shove that sucker deep. In most cases this works splendidly. But it does not work in my live-bearer mosh pit. Platies and guppies are even crazier than corydoras when it comes to scavenging. They eat at all levels of the tank and 50 fish will pile up on a morsel of food in the substrate. Delicate stem plants do not stand a chance.

But pearlweed is carpeting nicely in my betta tank (which also has 20+ pygmy and habrosus corys):

[Fishdude]

2 hours ago, StephenP2003 said:

Absolutely. I take 3 or 4 stems of pearl weed and clamp them at the bottom with a quarter-piece of plant weight and shove that sucker deep. In most cases this works splendidly. But it does not work in my live-bearer mosh pit. Platies and guppies are even crazier than corydoras when it comes to scavenging. They eat at all levels of the tank and 50 fish will pile up on a morsel of food in the substrate. Delicate stem plants do not stand a chance.

But pearlweed is carpeting nicely in my betta tank (which also has 20+ pygmy and habrosus corys):

That is absolutely gorgeous. Do you use anything special like CO2?

[Patrick_G]

3 hours ago, StephenP2003 said:

Absolutely. I take 3 or 4 stems of pearl weed and clamp them at the bottom with a quarter-piece of plant weight and shove that sucker deep. In most cases this works splendidly. But it does not work in my live-bearer mosh pit. Platies and guppies are even crazier than corydoras when it comes to scavenging. They eat at all levels of the tank and 50 fish will pile up on a morsel of food in the substrate. Delicate stem plants do not stand a chance.

But pearlweed is carpeting nicely in my betta tank (which also has 20+ pygmy and habrosus corys):

That looks great, I love how bright well tended pearl weed looks. 

[StephenP2003]

40 minutes ago, Fishdude said:

That is absolutely gorgeous. Do you use anything special like CO2?

Yep, a little bit. 1 bubble every 2 seconds. But that was to help out the cabomba and scarlet temple, and of course it just makes the pearlweed grow almost annoyingly fast. Needs maintenance badly.

Before CO2, it was still looking good:

[Patrick_G]

5 minutes ago, StephenP2003 said:

Yep, a little bit. 1 bubble every 2 seconds. But that was to help out the cabomba and scarlet temple, and of course it just makes the pearlweed grow almost annoyingly fast. Needs maintenance badly.

Before CO2, it was still looking good:

Is the Cabomba the brushy plant on the left? 

[StephenP2003]

37 minutes ago, Patrick_G said:

Is the Cabomba the brushy plant on the left? 

Yep

[Bev C]

Thanks everyone for the advice,  I am currently trying to find out what plants is working and which ones is not for my tank  I am having better luck with plants stem/rooted a little harder plants .Seems the  beginner’s plants like Java fern,  Java Moss &  Anubias  banana plants I can  not keep alive 

I am trying to get a few different  plants in the background I want a jungle look one day (🙏 hopefully)

 I just ordered some pearlweed  Sunday first time buying it hope it does well in my tank it I want to do it both ways float it &  plant it might pick up a few plant weights..for it ..I might  try to plant it near a piece of dragon rock  that is covered in nerite snail eggs  hopefully it will grow on/round it to cover some of the eggs 

[sumplkrum]

I use little terracotta pots for plants I want to protect from Corys. They sell tiny sizes at Home Depot.
I don't see them on the website, but I have about a dozen I picked up at the store. They're about 1.5 inch in diameter. Plant goes in, then a small rock on top to hold it down. I like to bury most of the pot in the substrate so there's just a circular border around the plant roots. Works ok for shallow-rooting plants and holding down anubias and java fern.

You could also put root weights around a bundle of pearl weed. I'd probably put a weight on each end, then shove it as a strip into the substrate.

Edited May 4, 2022 by sumplkrum