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I've had hygrophila pinna in my tanks for awhile now, but a few months ago I got rid of most of them as I was dismantling some scapes. I got rid of several dozen bushes that grew to about 24" tall, boy do they grow tall and fast.
Well I saved one plant for myself, this was grown in a seperate tank and realized it looked different as it dosent get tall. I figured it will get tall sooner or later and the new runners would definitely be tall. So fast forward a few months and having moved it in and out of 3 tanks which finally landed in a emersed setup.
Every plant coming from this main plant doesn't exceed a inch tall! The plant sends runners and grows normally except the sizing, it also only seems to grow 3.5" diameter and that's it.
It's been in high tech, med tech, low tech, and emersed and it looks the same throughout.
Will try to test it out more to see if it holds on to this and how stable it will remain in the long run.
Will try to scape with it again soon, as the regular pinnatifida was great, this short foreground size would be something!
Pic attached from my emersed tank, they're in fluorite and in 4" pots.
Let me know what you guys think!

 

[samee]

Dwarf version would be really cool.

 

[fish jihad]

Sign me up for some cuttings once you get that point
Ive got a perfect spot for it. Also getting this plant in a few other peoples tank may confirm whether or not its a dwarf mutation.

Seriously, would love some of that

 

[Default]

Dwarf version would be really cool.

Sign me up for some cuttings once you get that point
Ive got a perfect spot for it. Also getting this plant in a few other peoples tank may confirm whether or not its a dwarf mutation.

Seriously, would love some of that

Definitely!
I've had this plant personally in tanks ranging from different conditions and yielded same results, only colour varied amongst lighting.
I will try to divide more for further emerse growth and for a nano.
It kinda reminds me of a weird downoi! Will keep this updated to see if I've managed to keep it short and stable.

 

[The Trigger]

Looks like normal sized Pinnatifida to me lol. High light keeps it compact, stopping it from growing tall and helps it promote more tiny side shoots and small plantlets.

 

[Default]

Looks like normal sized Pinnatifida to me lol. High light keeps it compact, stopping it from growing tall and helps it promote more tiny side shoots and small plantlets.

That's what my first thought was, but I had it in a low light setup for 2 months and that's where it developed all the side plants which are bigger than the main plant now by a cm or so, but the stem still stayed small with less distance between the leaves - looked like a rosette plant.
But will keep an eye on them to see if they try to grow back.
For reference, that plant in the pic is at least 1.5-2 years old. Side shoots been pruned a couple of times, but it is a old plant and so far has maintained that size.
Also the light in that tank is not that high as it's filtered through a dusty and fogged sheet of plastic.

 

[Default]

Looks like normal sized Pinnatifida to me lol. High light keeps it compact, stopping it from growing tall and helps it promote more tiny side shoots and small plantlets.

It's also extremely petite when compared to the other ones, most leaves in my tanks reached 3-5" and the stem had a diameter of 7" on average. This one tops at about 3.5" diameter!
This was a old tank of mine, it had high light, co2, ferts and all the pinnatifidas grew huge and tried choking every species beside it. One of these plants gave me that 'dwarf' one.

 

[lamiskool]

Beautiful tank! Also interesting about the dwarf h.pinnatifida

 

[wabisabi]

That is normal for H. pinnatifida. The plant grows many ways. Just plant it in a tank submersed and eventually when it gets settled in, it will put up a tall stem again.

 

[Default]

Beautiful tank! Also interesting about the dwarf h.pinnatifida

Thank you

That is normal for H. pinnatifida. The plant grows many ways. Just plant it in a tank submersed and eventually when it gets settled in, it will put up a tall stem again.

Like I said in the first post, it started submersed. This emerse state was just recent due to me taking apart tanks - it's been emersed for maybe 2 months, but was submerged and producing shoots for over a year. What's surprising is I had it under low light for a couple of months with the same results.
Hopefully it decides to stay small, would be a great foreground.

 

[wabisabi]

Some people have trouble growing them tall and big like you had them. It's not a 'new morph'.

If you think your plants are dwarf, let me get some pics of my friend's Mini M with H. pinnatifida in it. His plants are mini versions of yours and he has had them growing in the same tank for close to a year. He'll tell you the same thing, it's not a dwarf version or morph, just the regular ol H. pinnatifida. The plant grows many different ways. Tall, short, bushy, lanky. Very versatile plant.

 

[Default]

Some people have trouble growing them tall and big like you had them. It's not a 'new morph'.

If you think your plants are dwarf, let me get some pics of my friend's Mini M with H. pinnatifida in it. His plants are mini versions of yours and he has had them growing in the same tank for close to a year. He'll tell you the same thing, it's not a dwarf version or morph, just the regular ol H. pinnatifida. The plant grows many different ways. Tall, short, bushy, lanky. Very versatile plant.

From what I experienced new plantlets are always small until you trim the runner off, once you do so the new plant starts growing larger and becomes a 'mother' plant itself and starts runners. And just like any plant out there, the surroundings will make it look a particular way - like my rotala mini butterflies or some ammania species where the change in sizing and coloration would seem like a entirety different plant.

But this weird pinnatifida has been in different tanks, different surroundings, different lighting, no co2/yes co2, aquasoil, fluorite, floating - but it still looks like this. It's either the most stubborn plant I've ever encountered or it's changing it's growth patterns to stay small.
I agree though, it is a very versatile plant, but also very unpredictable, you would think high light suppresses the height, but in a nano I setup, the 'mother' plant grew 12" and small plantlets were everywhere.
This one the 'mother' plant is what you see, the tiny centralized plant. But I'd love to see your friends tank, especially if he's moved it around.
I'm hoping it stays stable in this size, it would be better for me that way, but that's what morphs are, they can change whenever they want. Ex. I've given R. Butterflies to friends, but they almost always look different, in my tanks they are blood red with 1cm leaves, in my emersed setup they grow tiny with 2mm leaves, and in my buddies tank it looks like rotundifolia and has returned to its normal pattern.
Ps. Never heard of anyone one that has trouble growing these monsters tall lol. I've sold them to well over 30 people and have given them to a few other and everyone complains how big and invasive they become, mine in 3 different tanks were the culprits of killing other plants by shading. You always have a big 'mother' plant.

 

[Default]

Also I'm sure all you fellow planters out there that have grown pinnatifida emersed can agree they get just as large if not meaner when emersed

 

[The Trigger]

From what you're describing, it sounds like all the plants that go in your tank look different(smaller) than they do in everyone else's. I would look into deficiencies as you may have stunted growth.

 

[Default]

From what you're describing, it sounds like all the plants that go in your tank look different(smaller) than they do in everyone else's. I would look into deficiencies as you may have stunted growth.

Lol if only they were stunted! I usually have issues with sizing that become way too large, it's just this plant that has turned small. The pic I attached was 16?" Tall and the stems grew right up and out of the tank.
The only reasons my plants usually stay smaller than my buddies tanks are mostly my higher lights, but usually not noticeable in sizing, but in coloration.