What plants do you use in your cool aquatic set ups?

otolith

otolith

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I am curious as to what plants other hobbyists use in their tanks. I have found that very few plant species do well in coldwater (below 65° farenheit) set ups, and fewer still in these same tanks without lighting. The few plants i have had success with are java fern, java moss, cabomba and najas. I have found that whenever i buy elodea, a so called cold water plant, there is major foliage die off or the plant dies completely.

What do you have success with?
 
I am quite interested in that as well.

My set ups are in a well ventilated basement, and water temps in winter fall to about 5c (40F). From experience Elodea dies off, the only plant I had 100% success with is Hornwort, I like the look of Java fern and Java moss, which are being succesful in my warm set-up, but my cold tank has a temp range of 5-18c (40-65F) and I am not sure they will do well in there...
 
I have been using pothos in my 55gal aquatic tank..the temp is down to 50F...This plant grows anywere...I also use it in my gecko tank
 
Ghostsaw- do you use Pothos sp. in totally aquatic tanks or just rooted in cold water?
 
The problem is no light in your tanks for the elodea. I am very surprised that Cabomba does well for you in a low light setup as well. Something i would try out is Willow moss (Fontinalis) if you can find some. I know Tropica offers it and it grows well for me in cold, lower light, setups. light is the key however and even Pothos does much better with increased light.
 
otolith said:
Ghostsaw- do you use Pothos sp. in totally aquatic tanks or just rooted in cold water?
Click to expand...

I just cut some off and throw it in the water it will root. I have 2 ribbed newts and they always hang out in it. The leaves can be completely submergered or you can have them coming out of the water. I really think pothos can grow anywere and it is really easy to find. I bought a hanging plant pot of it and have just cut pieces off..
 
Pothos as everyone has mentioned is fantastic. Another good one is Anubia, and Amazon sword. A lot of shrimp guys use Star moss but its almost impossible to find. Java fern works in low light also.

I hope this helps you.
 
Hello,

In aquatic tanks with light : Egeria densa, Java moss and Java fern.
I had hornwort growing successfully in the same conditions, but it's difficult to keep it with E. densa.

In aquatic tanks without light : only Java moss and Java fern.

The tanks are in my garage, with temperatures between 5°C (cold winter) and 20°C (hot summer).

Hope this will help.
 
Hello people
try these: Hygrophila difformis (requires CO2) Hygrophila polysperma and Chadoflora aegagropila (moss balls)
Only keep the light of day and 5 hours of artificial light.
Excluding the balls of moss all give me around the neck, not to have mentioned the Elodea!
:bowl::bowl::bowl:

cheers
 
anubia are very hearty. mine thrived even when my amazon swords werent doing so well... i think my swords needed more iron.
 
I have a Vallisneria forest in all of my tanks currently. I also have great success with Fissidens tried to drift wood/rocks. It is more beautiful than java moss. I do not use hornwort that often in my tanks because it just grows too fast. I do feed it to my turtles when it gets out of control.

I used to keep a larger plant diversity

I also keep a maidenhair fern fastened to cork bark floating in one of my tanks.( I also have moss on that cork bark)
 
otolith said:
I am curious as to what plants other hobbyists use in their tanks. I have found that very few plant species do well in coldwater (below 65° farenheit) set ups, and fewer still in these same tanks without lighting. The few plants i have had success with are java fern, java moss, cabomba and najas. I have found that whenever i buy elodea, a so called cold water plant, there is major foliage die off or the plant dies completely.

What do you have success with?
Click to expand...

I use pretty much everything you do.

Elodea dies off for one of two reasons: not enough light (it needs bright light!) or rot caused by damage to the base of the bunch from the banding holding it together. To grow this easily, when you buy a bunch cut off the bottom inch of the bunch with scissors, and let it free float for a few days in bright light. You will see roots form and can then plant it in the substrate as you see fit, or let it float. If you use Elodea in your caudate tanks, be sure to provide lots of hides or plant it very, very heavily for your pets as they will not enjoy the amount of light required to get this plant to flourish.

In addition to your list I also use various aponogeton species with great success.
 
I use Elodea and Java Fern in my cool aquatic setups and I never had a problem with any of my plants not growing or rotting

André-Arthur
 

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I would like to point out that there tends to be a lot of confusion regarding plants that are sold under the names Elodea, Egeria, and Anacharis. There are several separate species, but they all look so much alike that nobody can tell them apart (including pet shops, of course). If it always dies on you, it's quite likely that you are getting a variety that needs a different temperature than what you have. Ironically, the tropical fish keepers have the same problem - they sometimes end up with the cold water variety, and it dies on them too!

Here is an article that gives further details on this problem. Unfortunately, even after reading this I still can't tell them apart or tell how to avoid buying the wrong kind. Oh well!
The Beginner Plant, "Anacharis", Elodea & Egeria

I did manage to buy the "right" kind once, and it has lived for years. But it's a slow-grower, and all the others that I've bought are long-dead.
 
Thanks for the link Jennewt. I have abandoned elodea/anachris for now as the other plants seem do be growing and doing well enough. I will it again when i set up a new tank (maybe for Pleurodeles waltl.)

The only aquarium store near me seems to know absolutely nothing about caudates or plants so they have been no help. When i asked if they had any newts or salamanders their reply was "No, but we do have mudskippers." I recently bought a bunch of hornwort which ended up dying almost immediately and gave me some serious ammonia spikes. I hope my noto eggs are okay!
 
I agree. Interesting article but they still all look the same to me. At least it explains why the last few clumps that I bought dissolved.
Chip
 
It is likely that some of you already know, but today it bought a plant for the collection! You do not need much light, requires temperature between 15 º c and 28 º c and the format of the leaves think it is good for spawning newts! :cool: Hedyotis salzmannii ;)
cheers
 
My tank is not that cold and has some artificial light (not enough for Elodea...it lives -for now- but does not thrive). The temperature is between 18 -21 Celsius but has been a lot cooler, too for some periods.

The plants that have grown well are:
Bacopa monnieri. It's a marsh plant that grows out of water. Looks really pretty and is quite strong.

Red Ludwigia. Very fast growing and very interesting.
I've just ordered other Ludwigias so I hope that will do well also.

Hygrophilia Polysperma seems to be doing well.
http://www.plantsalive.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=515
 
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