Aquarium plant ID

Hi guys,

Converted my tank to planted around a month ago and it looks so much better. I noticed that when I put them in the tank and got the lights on they didn’t seem to look in the best of shape.

I currently have flourish root tabs beneath the planted ones in a sand substrate. I am dosing with flourish twice a week for the Java Fern which is banded to rocks. I also have no idea (except the fern) what kind of plants these are and if I could do anything to make them any healthier. My Java fern has also not connected to the rock yet after 1 month, is this normal?

Also my Gouramis seem to have made a habbit of dragging some of the plants to the top to make a sort of nest. Will these plants die and cause issues with the water or am I okay to leave them floating?

Pics of all plants and nest attached

Often new plants will do that. They will die but will grow back soon.

Most aquatic plants can live happily floating on the surface and don't need to be planted in the substrate. Sword plants, Cryptocorynes and Aponogetons are exceptions to this and need to remain in the substrate. You don't appear to have any of these 3 types of plants.

Male gouramis build a bubblenest on the surface> They try to build it around floating plants so the plants help hold the nest together. That is completely normal if they are making foam bubbles around some of the floating plants. Just let them do it.

Java Fern is a slow growing plant that doesn't need lots of fertiliser.

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Plants, top row from left to right.
1st pic. looks like Ludwigia repens
2nd pic. unknown
3rd pic. bit hard to tell but maybe baby tears, no idea about scientific name

Plants, bottom row from left to right.
1st pic. Java fern
2nd pic. Giant/ jungle Vallis. (Narrow Vallis normally does better in aquariums).
3rd pic. maybe Micranthemum

From left to right, probable identifications;
Ludwigia repens, concur with @Colin_T - Fast growth rate.
Looks like two bunches of a Vallisneria species, possibly V. americana, or Dwarf Valisneria. - Medium to fast growth rate.
Bacopa monnieri, Dwarf Bacopa, or Baby tears. Concur with @Colin_T - Slow to medium growth rate.
Microsorium pteropus, Java fern. - Slow growth rate.
Either Vallisneria gigantea, Giant Vallisneria, or possibly Sagittaria platyphylla, Giant Sagittaria. - Both slow to medium growth rate.
Too indistinct to be sure, but, as @Colin_T suggests, Micrathemum umbrosum, or Helzine looks to be a good candidate. - Medium growth rate.

Hi guys, thanks for the replies! Can anybody give an opinion on the state of the plants. Especially the Java fern and the purple one (Ludwigia Repens?) The Java fern looks patchy and shredded to pieces (although admittedly wasn’t in the best shape when I got it. It is also not clinging to the rocks. The Purple ones leaves look withered and small compared to when I first got it. Hopefully I’m wrong? I’ve attached more pics of the above…

Oli said:

Hi guys, thanks for the replies! Can anybody give an opinion on the state of the plants. Especially the Java fern and the purple one (Ludwigia Repens?) The Java fern looks patchy and shredded to pieces (although admittedly wasn’t in the best shape when I got it. It is also not clinging to the rocks. The Purple ones leaves look withered and small compared to when I first got it. Hopefully I’m wrong? I’ve attached more pics of the above…

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Leave them as is.
It'll sound obvious, when you've had more experience with live plants, but they don't move quite as quickly as fish, or even snails.
The ludwegia is fine. If it starts to get a little too tall and thin, use sharp scissors to trim it just above a leaf node and leave the cutting floating in the water. It'll grow some rootlets and you can re-plant it. (You could re-plant it straight away, but by leaving it floating, you'll get to see some root growth ).

Leave the Java ferns as they are.
You'll notice baby ferns starting to grow either on the tips of the leaves, or from the edges of the leaves. These are slow growers.
Depending on the wood, the ferns may never physically attach themselves to it and will rely on your cotton or superglue gel to hold them in place. When I got mine, they came already attached to wood, having spent months and months at a Dutch aquatic plant nursery, being tended to by those who know what they're doing.

When you've got lots of established plants, there's a strong argument for removing all damaged leaves. Plants will normally put their energies and resources into repairing damaged foliage, but if the damaged leaf is removed, then they'll put those resources into growing new ones.

JennySolano said:

Thanks, Bruce. Took a SS for later

Click to expand...

Check this out.

Hi guys, little update, the plants are looking absolutley awful and I’m not sure what to do. There is some kind of algae growing over most of them as well as this strange black stuff coming from the Java ferns roots which have still not attached to anything. The purple plant is shrivelled up and turning green/dead in some parts and I don’t know what to do. Thinking about taking them all out and starting again as the plants weren’t in the best of shape when I got them. I have plenty of root tabs and dose twice a week with flourish but they get worse everyday.

The second plant looks like Blyxa Japonica, the gourami looks interesting what type are they?

The stuff on the plants is algae caused by too much light and too many nutrients, and not enough live plants to use the light and nutrients. Reduce the fertiliser.

I would be more concerned over the spectrum of the light. Do you know the Kelvin or CRI?

Intensity is another issue, you have plants needing strong light (stem especially, and the substrate rooted plants) and le4ss light (Java Fern). If intensity is too great, floating plants would likely help solve this.

Duration is easily adjusted, but it cannot compensate for too much or too little intensity, nor spectrum.

Liquid fertilizer is likely going to be needed, but twice a week can mean algae not plant growth, depending upon the light balance.

In a sort of summary, I am only going from the photos but I would suspect the spectrum is not ideal, and with that intensity comes into play. I can explain more when the above information is known.

We do need to know more about your light, including the duration that it's on.

You're adding way too much by way of artificial fertilisers and your algae is taking advantage.

Cut the red stem plant, above the leaf nodes. (You can see there's some side shoots already developing). Plant the cuttings around the base of the mother plants.
Remove the blackened leaves of the Java Fern with scissors ad leave them to float around the tank. These should develop baby ferns and the mother plant isn't going to be wasting resources, trying to repair them. (I see your fern has nice and healthy leaves already growing).

Regardless of whatever light you're using, floating plants are a must. These will help out-compete the algae, provide security and nesting sites for your gourami and contribute in a positive fashion to your tank's nitrogen cycle.