Need recommendation for lab plant

Most aquarium plants cannot be divided or separated, but there are some that may fit what you are looking for here. Most aquatic plants used in aquaria will initially decline when moved to different conditions; conditions here means water parameters (being GH, pH and temperature), nutrients, and/or lighting. This period can last from a few days to a few weeks depending upon the conditions.

One obvious choice would be those that vegetatively reproduce rapidly such as Ceratopteris cornuta (commonly called Water Sprite). This is a floating plant that grows very fast once it is settled in the environment and adventitious plants form on alternate fronds (it is a true fern), The plantlets could easily be removed and placed in the individual containers. Some slowdown will likely occur if the conditions are different.

Stem plants may work. These plants grow in stems that simply continue to grow permanently. The stems can be cut and portions moved to another environment; these will then sprout new stems from the node(s). Growth is usually rapid, and again some species usually take time to adjust to differing conditions.

The benefit of these is that you do not have to bother with substrates. Light and nutrient requirements are relatively high since these are fast growing plants.

Hope this is of some help.

Byron.

I don't know if it would meet your needs or not.. but have you considered plants that will float on top of the water (Salvinia, duckweed, azolla etc)

They will generally grow and multiply much faster than submerged plants, and growth could be measured by weight or number of plants.


just be wary of your local laws regarding which plants are legal.. and stress the importance of not disposing of them in local bodies of water.

I think it should cover the top quicker than anything else might.

I would suggest guppy grass najas guadalupensis. It grows like crazy, doesn't need a substrate and is easy to come by.

ROYWS3 said:

I would suggest guppy grass najas guadalupensis. It grows like crazy, doesn't need a substrate and is easy to come by.

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+1

Mark

mrjohnston said:

Guppy grass seems very interesting. Does it largely grow in relatively straight shoots where it would be ok to measure length, or does it spread out more so it would be better to just remove it periodically and mass it?

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It branches often with multiple shoots...leaves remind me somewhat of terrestrial bamboo.

Mark

try any of the mosses, i had some christmas moss and in two weeks it took over my tank, i took out all the drift wood that i had it on, scraped it off with a wire brush, let it dry out, dipped it in bleach water , left it out of the tank for 2 week it still came back. Any piece you cut off no matter how small will continue to grow, and java moss will grow in an empty tank no substrate required. It should be super easy to find, mostly used for shrimp tanks