Yesterday was a good day. (Plant ID please? plus pic heavy)

[justahannah]

Yesterday I hopped on Craigslist and saw an ad for a free, huge Amazon Sword. An hour away. Two if I hit Seattle during rush hour. I did the math and figured $12 in gas for a healthy sword without me having to wait for it to grow out was a pretty good deal, if it was still available. So I sent an email, got a call back from a really nice guy who wanted to know my tank stats since he'd raised the plant from a baby and didn't want it dying, but had too many taking over his tank. So I made the drive and had a great time. Good conversation, good tea, admired his discus and puffers (I'd never seen dwarf puffers in person before...so cute!), and came out with a gorgeous sword and two other types of plant that I don't know what they are, but they look good in my tank (pics below for ID help please). Also got a copy of Reader's Digest The Perfect Aquarium (his brother bought it for him, but he's a little past needing it), and about half a 5 gallon bucket of Soilmaster Select in charcoal...perfect for mixing in with my eco-complete/sand mix to help darken things up a bit more. He also recommended I check out this site for info :D. All in all, a very good time and I'm extremely pleased with what I ended up with..It's like having a whole new tank. Now all I have left to do is figure out an affordable CO2 system :P.

Top pic, sword is on the right (obviously) and the unknown grass is on the left. There's little runners connecting some of the clumps of grass.

Second and third pic, top and bottom views of the other unknown, a floaty plant that Kuma (the betta) has already claimed as his territoy.

Fourth and fifth pics are before and after shots...sorry about the reflection in fifth, I get a lot of morning glare even with the blinds closed. Tank's cloudy from the Soilmaster...even after 2 hours of vigerous rinsing, that stuff would not come completely clean. Read elsewhere it won't bother the fish, so I put my carbon back in to help clear it. I was too anxious to show off to wait any longer for the pic.

Last one is one of my chubby little otos, he's digging on the new plants as well.

[jackiomy]

Second picture is water lettuce. I have tons in my ponds. The fish love them and my crab eats them. I have never been able to grow them in a tank though. They need lots of light and what is interesting is that they close up at night. Love the Oto! I just got three yesterday and they are so sweet.

[bushwhacker]

wow.. great deal and a very nice tank

[jackiomy]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/plantedtkssubwebindex/pistia.htm

[justahannah]

Thank you! The guy I got it from had appx 3 wpg and was doing diy CO2 on a...I think it was a 75 gallon tank. He said he was throwing handfuls of it (the water lettuce) away every couple of weeks so the rooted plants could get some light too. He also had bunch more swords the size of this one, enough they were getting too dense for his discus, and he started them all at an inch tall. His tank was beautifully stocked and planted.

[Riiz]

That is a very healthy swordplant, and on the left is dwarf sag (Sagittaria subulata. Good idea of planting it in the middle, but even it will eventually shade that entire tank.

The second is indeed water lettuce, a very good floating plant and nutrient vacuum.

[justahannah]

Awesome link, thanks! I'd like to keep it alive and thriving, my betta is already in love with it. I'd hate to deprive him in the future :P

[CaitxSith]

You're spoiling your betta :grinyes:

[justahannah]

It's true. 46 gallons, floaty plants, the occasional bloodworm...I don't know what this world is coming to :P

[Fordtrannyman]

I believe the plants on the cutting board to the left of the tape measure to be Vallisneria sp. 'Nana'. The others further to the left in the bunch may also be a Vallisneria sp.
They look a little tall to be Sag. It's a little hard to tell laying on a table.:)

[justahannah]

Stretched out, the tallest one was appx. 15" long, whe widest blades are less than 1/4", and both sets of grass are the same, I just pulled out the tallest one and a set with runners to hopefully help with the ID. Here's a couple of in tank pics (also, the oto in the earlier pic was hanging on this, for a close-up). Thanks!

[Fordtrannyman]

These pics and the Oto. pic. look like Italian Vals.

[gmh]

Look like Italian vals to me as well. All those plants are in great shape. Nice find!

[justahannah]

Just did the google research and you're dead on with the val ID. Thanks! No Excel is going into this tank, I''ll set up a diy CO2 until I have the money for something better, if it turns out I need more.