My Mystery Plant

[JessieVB]

Plant ID?

Hey all,

I added an aquatic plant bulb to my betta fish's tank about a month and a half ago and to my pleasant surprise it grew!

I am curious about what kind of plant it is and what I will need to do to ensure that it keeps growing, an any ID that you guys can give me is really appreciated.

I've attached photos--sorry about how blurry they are, they were taken with my camera phone... The two brown blobs are the bulbs (I tried another one with no luck, I am going to remove it if nothing happens in the next couple days). Do I need to bury the bulb of the one that has started to grow??

Also, I've noticed a brown spec in my gravel (its in one of the photos), it looks like it has some brown bubbles in the spec... should I be worried about this? Since adding the plant, the gravel has started too look a bit green/brownish. Could this be algae? The tanks been going for 6 or 7 months with no algae. . .

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Zezmo]

The plant looks like it might be a Barclaya. (especially if you bought it as a Betta bulb).

If not, it is some type of Aponogeton.

 

[JessieVB]

I feel kind of silly now... I just read the box the bulb came in and its an Aponogeton like you said...

Do I need to do anything special for it? I couldn't really find anything helpful on the web .

 

[JessieVB]

Ok. I just did a search and found some info--not a lot but some.

Am I in trouble having an Aponogeton in my tank?? Its only a one gallon, and I think low light--it has the light it came with.

The Aponogeton also looks like its higher maintenance than I can handle... I'm only home in the mornings and in the evenings.... So, I guess what I'm asking is am I freaking out over nothing?

 

[neilanh]

It's already in there and growing. I'd leave it be and see what it does.

If it starts looking unhealthy, remove it, as it can nasty up your water. In such a small tank you don't want leaves to start rotting.

If it keeps growing (kinda unlikely IMO) it'd be interesting to see what it does.

 

[Purrbox]

Most likely it will end up way too large for your little aquarium. It was probably inexpensive and will give you some experiance with live plants. In the mean time you can research some more appropriate plants for your aquarium. I'd suggest looking at Anubias Nana and Anubias Nana 'Petite'. You might be able to do Crypt x willisi as well.