Water hyacinth in Newt Tank - Kindly guide me

[nagukush]

Hi Friends,

I have a few Water hyacinths in my Newt tank that I so badly want to keep. Just wanted to know a little more about this plant - is it easy to keep, how large can it get etc.

Will be a great help if you can kindly guide me on this plant.
Thanks and Regards
Kush

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Here in the states, water Hyacinth flourishes is slow moving waters of warm temperature and high humidity. In fact it grows so well in the Southern US it is an invasive species that has chocked up many waterways, crowding out native plants!

It does very well in aquaria with bright lighting. One advantage to using it in aquaria for newts is that it shades the water and does not grow very quickly since newts like their water on the cool side of the scale.

 

[nagukush]

Hi Sir,

Thanks a lot for kindly guiding me. My only concern is bright lighting and if the plant will grow too big for tank.

The plant is almost just a few inches from the lights - so will the light be enough for the plant ?

Also will it be ok if I keep it small by occasionally removing a few leaves that have grown too big ?

Kindly advice...

 

[jclee]

I know that they need very strong lighting. There is a basic profile for this plant: http://www.plantgeek.net/plant-228.htm

I've never successfully kept this plant, though if I can sort out the lighting, I might try one in with my axolotls. The one time that I had one, I also had apple snails, and the snails literally ate the entire thing within 24 hours. I don't think that trimming leaves would help with the growth. It might just hurt the plant's bouyancy, and generally, when plants are trimmed at the sides, they grow upward. When trimmed at their top, they grow outward.

Let us know how the plant works out. Like I said, I would be curious to try it, myself.

 

[nagukush]

Hi there !

Thanks for the reply - will surely let you know how the plant progresses. I hope it does well because my tank will look so bare without them...