[Shadow]

I just ordered a few more plants off of a ebay seller. I bought the following:

Hygro Compact
Micranthemum umbrosum
Ophiopoton pusillus
Echinodorus ozelot
Alternanthera Roseafolia
Java Fern 'Narrow'
JAVA FERN
Hygrophila angustifolia

They will look great in my tank and even greater when I move everything to the 125g

 

[confuted]

If you ordered from Aquadise and it's not too late, I'd cancel that order for your "Ophiopoton pusillus". I bought some from him recently, thinking it was a blue aquatic plant, like in the picture. Instead, it's green mondo grass, or Ophiopogon japonica, which is not a true aquatic.

PlantGeek.net - Ophiopogon japonica

Here's a picture of the one I received (and have since discarded). It started rotting and growing algae within days.

 

[spypet]

nice catch confuted. those leaves actually feel stiff, almost like evergreen leave spikes.
I got them from an Asian fish store that were also passing them off as aquatic.
I didn't get algae from them, but they did rot away after a few weeks immersed.

 

[Shadow]

It is from Aquadise. But it was a buy now and I have paid.
It is still a cute plant so I will just try it potted XD. The upside I have a new potted plant and second it was cheap

 

[dhavoc]

i hate when stores try to pass off terrestrial plants as aquatic to the unaware. mondo grass is a pretty common garden ground cover here and likes indirect sunlight. it tends to burn on the edges and turn yellow if in direct sunlight. it also likes to have its roots moist but not wet. it can tolerate wet conditions for a while, probably why stores peddle the stuff as an aquarium plant. by the time is rots (a week or two after being submerged) the buyer just thinks they are the one that killed it, when in reality, it had zero chance of surviving under water.

 

[ringram]

Yeah. I unknowingly bought mondo grass once from a LFS and it lasted for a few weeks, or even a month, but it never grew and it just started to turn yellowish on the tips and collect debris and algae.

Million $$ question -- Biologically speaking, why is it that terrestrial plants can't survive underwater? Is it that they lack the specific ability to extract O2 from water, but they can get it from the atmosphere? What if we injected O2 into an aquarium full of terristrial plants? Still no? Just a wild idea I was having.

 

[hc_martin]

Million $$ question -- Biologically speaking, why is it that terrestrial plants can't survive underwater?

Good question indeed. How about this one, why can't an aquatic plant live well outside of water?

I would guess that the leaf structures are not adaptable to the opposite environments (just a wild guess).

Harry
Casper, WY

 

[cjyhc4]

I took my mondo grass out and potted it. It's doing nicely on my coffee table in curtain filtered sunlight.

 

[Sammie7]

Yeah. I unknowingly bought mondo grass once from a LFS and it lasted for a few weeks, or even a month, but it never grew and it just started to turn yellowish on the tips and collect debris and algae.

Million $$ question -- Biologically speaking, why is it that terrestrial plants can't survive underwater? Is it that they lack the specific ability to extract O2 from water, but they can get it from the atmosphere? What if we injected O2 into an aquarium full of terristrial plants? Still no? Just a wild idea I was having.

Do you mean CO2? The terrestrial plants also have thicker protective coverings on their leaves. This keeps moisture in an helps support the plant. In contrast aquatic do not have this covering, because they need to absorb nutrients from their leaves, not through their roots like terrestrial plants. That's not to say they don't use their roots, it's just not as much. If you leave an aquatic plant out of water you will see that it wilts because it cannot regulate the fluid without thicker leave membranes. This is why anubias and swords, commonly emmersed plants, are able to survive for periods out of water better than say rotala or moss type plants. The anubias have a thicker membrane, which is why it can also stand upright on its own. At least that is what I have observed.

 

[Johnny Relentless]

Wow, thanks for the warning. I was about to order that plant, but decided first to do a search of the scientific name to learn how to care for it, and Google returned your post first.
I already got duped by my lfs with a terrestrial plant, which I have since repotted. It looks better on the coffee table than it did in the tank.

 

[Sammie7]

Always nice to have a new house plant.:fish: I think I might try to pick up some bamboo from Petco next time I go and put it in the windowsill.:icon_roll