Caring for water wisteria

D

Dan06

AC Members
Jan 22, 2006
482
0
0
I have a decent amount of wisteria growing in one tank of mine. I don't know what they are called but most of the stems starting about 1/4 from the bottom all the way up to 1/2 are roots shooting out trying to make their way to the substrate.

Most pics of Wisteria that I see don't have this. Is it normal? I don't really care for the look, it looks a little messy to me. Is it okay to trim or will it be detrimental to their health?

I would like to start clipping and trimming, but I'm so new to plants that I don't know what is okay & what isn't. Do I just clip the stem and replant? Is there any specific place where I have to clip? This Wisteria was only a couple inches about 2 weeks ago and has completely taken off in my tank. The tank has been set up for almost a year but the gravel was taken from a 2 year old tank of mine. It also has a 1 gallon bucket of AquariumPlants.com own substrate mixed in with it. It has a Nova Extreme 2x24 light fixture.
 
Here is a picture, it's from a cell phone so the clarity isn't good.

Also, that 'shark' was a rescue from a really nasty tank a few months ago. I haven't been able to identify it anywhere. It's friendly and not aggressive, but I would still like to identify it and provide the proper tank for it. Does anyone know what it is?

plants.jpg
 
nice....good phone pic....is that maybe a roseline shark??? know for eating algae i believe so keep him...better pic might help with id..

im not sure on the trimmings all know is i have heard this stuff grows like weeds...im new and just got some wisteria a week ago...
 
when trimming look for the sections that have the roots spreading out under then and trim under the roots. you can replant these sections as new plants. if you run into larger sections without roots coming out, you can still trim them to look nice in the tank. Wisteria is pretty forgiving
 
It's not a roseline, there is no red stripe on him. Good guess with the crappy pic...haha!

I just got a better picture of him. The smaller one is in the picture too. They appear fine in my tank and haven't bothered any fish at all. The only thing is they seem to be growing quickly.
 
I hijacked my own thread...lol but maybe someone can chime in about the Wisteria still.

shark.jpg
 
captaincaveman9 said:
when trimming look for the sections that have the roots spreading out under then and trim under the roots. you can replant these sections as new plants. if you run into larger sections without roots coming out, you can still trim them to look nice in the tank. Wisteria is pretty forgiving
Click to expand...


Thanks for that.

Is pennywort the same way? My pennywort has roots shooting out everywhere and I'd like to trim and plant more.
 
The roots growing in the middle of stem plants are what people usually call "air roots". I can't think of a stem plant I've ever that that does not grown them. Some people spent time trimming them because they think it looks "messy". I kind of like the natural look, and since I am not trying to win some Amano design contest, I really like the natural look as the plants grow out.

As someone else said, if you are replanting stem plants, you can cut off sections just below where they have "air roots" and the new stem will have a little bit of a head start on a root system.
 
By the way, I had wisteria for a while and then decided to take it out of my tank. It got so big and bushy so fast that I replaced it with some other plant varieties. It was also a very messy plant in terms of pieces going all over the aquarium and in the filters.
 
That fish looks like a Rasbora trilineata with dye injection. (Just a guess)

As for the Hygrophila difformis AKA; Wisteria - This plant can actually be trained to grow straight up by trimming sideshoots, made into a bush by topping only one or two nodes, or made to crawl horizontally by excessive topping and sideshoot trimming.
When trimming any stem plant simply pinch off directly above a node. Generally two more nodes will grow in its' place. As for the water roots, I pinch them off. They are actually a sign that there is a lack of nutrients in the soil.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom