Anacharis, (egeria, elodea) is NOT a low light plant. It has been used in the aquarium for a hundred years, long before anyone knew how to grow plants. It is often sold as a floating plant, but it is actually not a floating plant.
It needs lots and lots of light. When you provide enough light, it grows massive, and grows like a thick matt. Over time the roots get deeper and stretch out. In the wild it covers the BOTTOMS of lakes, often chocking out other plants. Even a small peice can sprout roots when planted in the gravel with lots of light. It is also sold as a pond plant and called an "oxygenator". This is because under direct summer sun it grows very quickly and releases oxygen under photosynthesis.
In the aquarium, if it does not root it is because you do not have bright enough light. If the stems rot away from the bottom up even while the tops of the stems appear to be growing, it is because your light is not bright enough. If you have 3 watts of light per gallon of water, feed them the right ferts, and inject C02, the stems can grow as much as 12" per week. Within two months the roots will be all over your tank underneath the gravel, and new off shoots will be popping up. If you have the light, it grows very quickly. If not it melts quickly. Makes good goldfish food.
You can have it as a floating plant....but technically all that is is a bunch of broken peices of stem sprouting some roots because it is so close to the light. Stick those peices in the gravel and they will turn to mush. Increase your light and plant them in the gravel and it will begin to grow like a plant is supposed to. Increase the light even more, and feed it properly, and it will flourish and multiply.
It needs lots and lots of light. When you provide enough light, it grows massive, and grows like a thick matt. Over time the roots get deeper and stretch out. In the wild it covers the BOTTOMS of lakes, often chocking out other plants. Even a small peice can sprout roots when planted in the gravel with lots of light. It is also sold as a pond plant and called an "oxygenator". This is because under direct summer sun it grows very quickly and releases oxygen under photosynthesis.
In the aquarium, if it does not root it is because you do not have bright enough light. If the stems rot away from the bottom up even while the tops of the stems appear to be growing, it is because your light is not bright enough. If you have 3 watts of light per gallon of water, feed them the right ferts, and inject C02, the stems can grow as much as 12" per week. Within two months the roots will be all over your tank underneath the gravel, and new off shoots will be popping up. If you have the light, it grows very quickly. If not it melts quickly. Makes good goldfish food.
You can have it as a floating plant....but technically all that is is a bunch of broken peices of stem sprouting some roots because it is so close to the light. Stick those peices in the gravel and they will turn to mush. Increase your light and plant them in the gravel and it will begin to grow like a plant is supposed to. Increase the light even more, and feed it properly, and it will flourish and multiply.
Last edited:
