pennywort

This is one of my favorite plants. If you dont already know the real nam is Hydrocotyle leucophalia. It has beautifully shaped leaves a slightly messy appearance and nodule rootgrowth that I find very atractive. It is very well suited as a floating plant. I believe your problem is probably light related. I have had them growing in a variety of conditions but never did they look that bad. How Much light do you have? You might try letting it float for a couple of weeks until it adjusts to your tank parameters and begins to grow really well. I find it grows 3-4 inches a week in the surface but only 1-2 inches when in the substrate. Both using 3 wpg in a 10 gal tank. Check out a pic of mine. I keep it trimed a little lower than it is right now.


Dennis Dietz

It should. I had it in my 10 gal at 1.5 watts. It grew but very very slowly, color was not as rich and it never grew roots. I upped teh light to 3 wpg and it grew like mad. I would let it float for a few weeks or move it to your other tank until it starts to grow really good. Stick with it, like I said, its one of my personal favorites.



Dennis Dietz

Dennis very nice tank you have there! Welcome to the AC forums.

I had heard that this is an easy plant to grow with few requirements. I nearly bought it for my 20 gallon with 2 wpg but it was a last minute scratch. Anyways, looks really in your tank Dennis, a nice bright green.

Dennis Dietz, that is a gorgeous tank and plants! I’ve just recently found hydrocotyle (it was on my wants list for a long time!). I love the roots, mine are so bushy!



Since you have experience with this plant… On my taller pennywort, if I keep pinching the ends, will they branch out at the nodes? On shorter ones, if I keep pinching, will this make them grow closer together? (i.e. The taller plants are too leggy, maybe 3-4 inches between leaves, I would like to reduce that.) I usually treat my plants like the ones in the garden, and that is how pinching ends would work on them.

Pennywort has never branched in my tanks. Instead, it sends what looks like a 'step ladder' of leaves to the surface when planted in the substrate. I've experimented with growing it as a ground cover and in one of my tanks it has stayed low and appears to be hugging the substrate.
It grows like a weed whether I use it planted or as a floater. Uses a lot of nutrients so it's great for 'cycling' a new tank.
I originally brought back a few pieces from my brother-in-law's goldfish tank which was unheated and in the basement with like .25 watts/gal. It's been a nice addition to my tanks as it's not only different looking and different in nature than all my other plants, but the color is a lighter green which accents them well for me.

Len

I curently also have some in a 10 gal I just set up I might turn it into a india biotope dank since I already have the danios. Anyway, the hood on it has 2 25 watt incandescent bulbs. YUCK!!!!!! I stuck a couple branches of H.l. to jsut "temporarily" and they grow almost as fast as in my other 10 gall running 3-4 watts (depending n my mood and the mood of the algae). Only difference is the distance between leef nodes is longer and sadly the roots dont really grow much. The nodal lenght I have found is based entirely in the amount of light it gets. High light as a floating plant and the nodes are 3/8 inch apart wiht small leaves. Low light and they are 1-2 inches apart wiht huge leaves I can get it to stay low but it requires a lot of trimming, topping and replanting. If conditions are correct, and i believe this pertains to nutrients and high light/CO2 it will branch for me. It throws out 3-4 new leaves/stems at the node below the cut but one new growth is always a runner not just a single leaf. What you see in the front corner of my tank is 4-5 stems (tops for established plants) the I have trimmed a few times and they have been in that spot for close to a month, probably. They don't seem to be getting much taller now but they are getting bushier.
BTW the light green color is the part I love about the plant

Dennis DIetz

Penywort branching

This stuff branches for me a fair amount, but certainly not at every node. It can be hard to tell what it's doing because every node has a little nub that looks like it should grow into a new shoot but doesn't always.

Algae really likes to grow on the tops of the leaves, and hair algae will also tangle in the root clusters. The pennywort seemed to be low on the SAEs list of priorities. They seem to like plants with long leaves like crypts and swords more because they can relax while they nibble. Hydrocotyle forces them to hover like little sea harriers.