Parrots Feather (I think Myriophyllurn Brasiliense) question

[Skyrmir]

So I've been in the process of getting my 75 gallon planted. I knew it was a mistake to get Parrots Feather, but I figured I'd take a stab at it and see how it goes.

Right now I have 46 watts of NO and 60 watts of NO plant lights on my tank (pretty low light by most standards) My goal was and still is to have SLOW plant growth, without things dying on me. So I'm not using CO2 or even at the moment dosing ferts. Nitrates are hanging around the 10-20 mark just from the fish, and I re-used the sand from my 30 gallon, plus adding some root tabs. My general theory was to have just enough nutrients available and just enough light to keep the plants from wilting.

What i'm running in to with the Parrots feather is that the bottom leaves are browning, falling off and forming root threads. Not un-expected with the low light, and I think my lily's are throwing a shadow (working on fixing that) The odd part is that I'm getting really long and browning leaves at the top as well. It's almost like the tops are getting burnt from being so close to the lights (slightly breaking the water surface about 6 inches away from the light) Now I know it's not a heat burn (I can grab the lights with my hand after they've been on for hours) What's throwing me off is that the top growth is almost double the diameter of the lower growth, and that the middle of the plant seems to be just fine.

This thing is considered a weed in most of the world, is it really so picky that the top of the tank is too bright and the bottom is too dark?

 

[malkore]

Yes. its only finding adequate intensity at the top of the tank, so it is forming larger leaves to create as large a surface area as possible so it can get enough light energy to survive.

I've not kept parrots feather, but I've not heard of it turning brown either, so I suspect the new growth isn't particularly healthy, probably due to a combination of needing some nutrients, and light.

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=168
Myriophyllum aquaticum - needs high light, at least 2wpg of PC, if not 2.5wpg.

Best of luck, but don't feel bad if it can't make it. Its just not suited to your lighting.

 

[Skyrmir]

Yeah, I figured it was going to be chancey at best that it would survive. It's just the top and bottom thing that's wierd. I've moved some of it to different area's of the tank for better light exposure too. I'm just waiting to see what kind of difference it makes.

I'm kind of amazed that the two types of corkscrew Val that I've got in there are sprouting. That's kinda why I figured I'd give the Parrot's Feather a shot. Well that and they didn't have the Hornwort that I figured I might have a chance with.

 

[sherry]

AZGARDENS says Parrots feather is a much nicer Terrarium plant than aquatic.. they say it gets ugly. I wonder if they are just right?

 

[Skyrmir]

I dunno, it's definately odd. I'll try and get some pics tomorrow. The tops of the plants that have gotten 'fluffy' are turning back to a green shade now. I trimmed the bottom to make them shorter and move the tops further away from the light. It'd actually be cool if they kept growing out in a more fluffy type of leaf. Gives them more of a Hornwort type look and they're a lot fuller.

The bright side of them so far is that the leaves are super tiny so they're not clogging up my filter intake the way Anacharis does. I was just hoping someone had worked with this plant before, it has roots, but all in all it seems to be a more finicky version of Anacharis in that the roots shoot out from anywhere and are really just anchors. Also it appears to branch like mad the same way Anacharis does.

 

[Skyrmir]

Update on the Parrots Feathers: I officially don't like this stuff...

The way this plant grows it really wants to be emergant. Below the water line growth is just a temporary stop, in this plants attempts to hop above the water line. And once it does get up there, every leaf under water starts to decay. I'm going to try to attach a pic of it in my tank right now. Not sure how long I'm going to leave it there. The picture now actually looks very little like the plant did when I bought it. The leaves are double the original size and I've had to trim about a foot off the stem of each plant.

Wish I had a better camera though, the Parrots Feathers are the plants furthest to the back, behind the dwarf lilly's.