Bought some nice plants from a local guy yesterday. I finally got some frogbit and a large anubias barteri. I also talked him into selling some vallisnaris that I have not seen at all around here. He wasn't sure what it was either but he kindly let me buy some, at a high price though...
Looks like my leopard val... likely the same plant IDed in my thread requesting an ID on this too. You just want yours to be Tiger instead of Leopard because it's bigger and badder right?
That is a variety of Vallisneria. Common name seems to be Snakeskin Vallisneria or Tiger Vallisneria [edit, I see Dave posted simultaneously, and another name is Leopard Vallisneria]. I have also seen it as Vallisneria nana "Little Yabba Creek." This creek is in Australia, and several Vallisneria species do naturally occur there, so this may be a natural species.
Assuming it is like the regular Vallisneria species, moderately hard to hard water (none of these will last well in soft water) with decent light should keep it healthy. Avoid any liquid carbon supplement which usually kill this plant. It prefers carbon from carbonates, which is why it is so good in harder water.
I found one comment on a plant forum from an Australian membedr, that this variety tends to grow more compact under higher/optimum lighting conditions and will produce shorter reddish leaves.
yes this looks like V. nana. I had it growing with lower light conditions and it really took off, also kept a nice green color; filling in the tank well. I transplanted it to my outdoor 55 gallon and it began to grow very low to the substrate and produce reddish leaves but it continues to propogate and spread through the tank. ill try and post a pic. IMO it looks better in lower light setting.
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Thanks guys. Leopard sounds great too. I have Lake Michigan water piped in so It's moderately hard. My corkscrew val grows well. Hope this does too. The mature ones were about a foot tall, so that would be perfect.
I like the looks of these with much thinner leaves than other vals.
We have pretty hard water here in NW Florida too... Lotsa limestone up in here! That Val should do well with your lake water. Do you ever find old tires coming out of the tap? J/K
It's a pretty cool val. Mine stays around 6-8 inches max and spreads pretty quickly when it gets established. It's not so wavy like other vals. Seems more rigid which gives it a distinct look in addition to its unique coloration. Enjoy!
