Vals that wont grow upwards?

[fishfanatic]

I have had some vals for about a year, they have done a good job of carpeting the 20 gallon long tank but are failing to grow upwards.
Tank specs:
20 gallon long
Sand substrate
Duel t5 ho glo light fixture
Currently using no ferts or root tabs

Is it the lack of nutrients or do I just have a strange sub species of this stuff?

 

[Rivercats]

Those aren't Vals. I have to study the picture a bit to see if I can figure out what they are. They don't look quite right for dwarf sag soooo hopefully someone else will recognize them.

 

[fishfanatic]

Here is a little guy that is standing alone. The tallest one I have is about 3 inches tall. Their leafs are fairly brittle, they will snap if you bend them very far.

 

[Rivercats]

I am really wondering if that isn't Blyxa Japonica. But it could be Sagittaria subulata (dwarf sag). I'm just not sure.

 

[fishfanatic]

I think you are right! It looks very similar to some of the pictures I got when I googled "blyxa Japonica". That helps explain a lot. Thank you!

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

Blyxa doesn't send out runners. Is say dwarf chain sword.

 

[fishfanatic]

That is a good point, these things definitely send out runners. The only think that makes me think it isn't dwarf chain sword is that the leafs remain a constant width bottom to top. Don't chain swords have a wider top part of the leaf?

 

[Rivercats]

I have dwarf chain sword in three tanks and this doesn't quite look like that either.

 

[MC1973]

Maybe the above are right, I don't know plants very well, I just buy what looks pretty.
But, I can tell you I had Italian Vals for a while and they did the exact same thing.

I hated them because it looked very..."incomplete" because they didn't grow tall like I wanted them to lol. If you want something tall try doing a lower lighting or lifting the lights higher above the tank. Or try Jungle Val.

 

[Smcoyle87]

I think it looks like some type of Sag. Maybe not subulata though..?

 

[aqua_chem]

Do the leaves randomly melt a lot? My sag. platyphylla did that when I had it.

 

[Billbug68]

It definitely looks like dwarf sag, to me. If it was the dwarf species of Val, it would have twisted leaves.

 

[fishfanatic]

Do the leaves randomly melt a lot? My sag. platyphylla did that when I had it.

I have not noticed any melting.