Specific Aquarium Plant Variety Questions

Q: I received my order today, one question is I am getting ready to plant Egeria Densa and can I "tie" it to rocks/wood as well or must it be planted in the substrate?

The anacharis is a plant, which can both be planted into a substrate and left floating. It does not have very developed root system and absorbs most of the nutrients directly from the water. I am not sure I ever heard of anybody tiying it to a rock/drifwood but I think if you can manage to do so that you do not hurt the stem then it should be fine.

Q: I recently bought some water sprite (ceratopteris thalictroides) from you. Is this the variety that can grow on the top of the tank without being planted?

The water sprite plant can exist in two forms: both planted into a substrate and free floating. So the answer to your question is yes, this plant will grow if left floating on the top of the surface.

With time young plantlets will develop on the leaves of the adult plant. After some time they will detach from the mother plant and will assume their floating form unless planted.

Q: I've been on the lookout for some Anubias barteri var. nana 'petite'. Do you think you will be able to offer these plants in the future?

The answer is not easy

There is a conflict in information: such, Karen Randall, one of the leading aquatic plant specialists in the country, thinks that anubias nana "pygmy" is simply a stunted variety of a regular nana. On the other hand, Pablo Tepoot, creator of the most recognized aquarium plant identification book, specifies "pygmy" nana in his atlas of aquatic plants as a separate variety. We can't really say who of them is right

The anubias nana we receive from time to time are pretty small (maybe, 2-3 inches) and they indeed look like the reported "pygmy" variety but we do not want to confuse people even more by saying that they would stay this way

Q: Are there any underwater flowering plants?

Anubias species are an example of underwater flowering plants. Also, some aponogetons flower underwater. Specific conditions should be met however to achieve underwater flowering.

CO2 injection and special substrates are recommended but not required. You may want to check this set of articles on the subject:

http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-qa.html

Q: I have a plant in my fish tank that I bought on a set of 5 bulbs from Wal-Mart. I never thought they would actually grow, but my 7 year old wanted to try. Well 3 of the 5 have grown very well, & I can't seem to figure out what they are.

The bulbs you bought from Wal-Mart were aponogeton varieties (they are the only bulbs being sold).

We do not sell bulbs: as you saw, some of them do not grow at all and it will be very disappointing for our customers to pay for something and not have the desired result afterwards.

We do sell adult aponogeton plants:

http://www.aquariumgarden.com/index.php?doc_base=listings/aponogetons.php

These plants already have leaves and therefore guaranteed to be alive.

One thing you should know about aponogetons is that these plants require dormant period once a year. If you see a plant seemingly dying - take it out of the tank, wrap into a wet newspaper, place into a ziplock plastic bag, and put into a dark cool place for 3-4 weeks. After that period the plant can be placed back into the tank, it will start growing again.

Q: Well, I received my plants on Wednesday. I planted the plants yesterday & the bigger one (Anubias, I think?) looks ok, the other one (crypt?) looks pretty bad. I went ahead & planted it, so we'll see how it does. You can go ahead & charge my card, I guess, but if this plant doesn't make it in the next few days, can I have it replaced? Please let me know what you think.

If it's only the leaves that look bad while the roots on the crypt are white and firm then it should come around. Cryptocorynes have specific condition, called "melting", or "cryptocoryne decease": their leaves "dissolve" when their surrounding changes suddenly. They are hardy plants and recover in majority of cases. Please let us know if yours does not - we will be happy to send a replacement

Q: I bought some plants from you a couple months ago or so and I have a question about the Java fern. There were many brown spots on the backs of the leaves and now there are feathery brown roots growing from these spots and new green plants starting to grow from these roots. What is this that I have growing off the backs of the Java fern? Is it something I should get rid of? Something I can let grow and plant when it gets bigger? Will it kill the plant? The Java fern was supposed to be so easy to grow, but it is doing poorly in my tank and everything else I purchased from you is going fine.

The dark brown spots on the leaves are sexual cells, required for propagation. The feathery things you see are young java fern plantlets, being developed from the mother plant. They will eventually exhaust mother leaf and will grow to be new plants. There is no need to take it out or clean it, you will have several ferns soon, which will develop into adult plants and will separate from the mother leaf under it's own weight.

Congratulations on the babies