Why can't plants look like this in the tank?

[Mebbid]

This is some Ludwigia repens I got from Peabody's paradise. It's large enough that the tops were sticking out of the water of my 20g and I kind of liked it.

Then I thought it would be great to plant in a HOB filter. What do you guys think?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

If you like it, try it. Anyways, it'll grow more tops from clipping it like any other stem plant.