Info on native aquatic plants

[ALLEY~KAT]

does any one know a good site with info on native aquatic plants? ty in advance for any replies

[Mzungu]

What exactly are you looking for about them? IDs? Or just info on how to keep them?

[Mzungu]

You could start here:

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/showthread.php?18899-Fish-and-aquatic-plants-native-to-Texas-any-info

[ALLEY~KAT]

ty i guess i am thinking about doing a native planted tank and wanted to see if anyone has tried it or if any one has found a site that may deal with that kinda thing

[Mzungu]

I have one. Our native plants are actually pretty easy to take care of, and don't require much in the way of high-tech stuff if you don't want to or don't have the funds. If you want to do high light, CO2, ferts, etc. they'll be happy, but they're also happy with medium light and little care. :)

[ALLEY~KAT]

cool ty

[riofrio]

I like Hornwort also called coon tail, it is normally found free floating but can be anchored or planted. Since I have small native killifish/livebearers the fry can hide easily. You can thin it out as desired, and it is readily available. Plus I just like how it looks.

[Sea-agg09]

I have a lily in my native tank. They are really pretty, grow well, and don't require any attention other than pruning dead pads. The produce a ton of allelochemicals, so I would avoid putting multiple in lilies in 1 tank. Most of our plants here are really hardy, mostly because they have to put up with terrible water conditions.

[decal]

Hi there, I recently set up a native planted tank using the Walstad method and collected the majority of the plants I used. If you are a novice like me you might find this website useful for figuring out what type of plants you are looking at: http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/database/. I originally focused on submerged plants and found pretty slim pickings in the bayou, ditches and local ponds. Just hornwort, Hydrophila, various pondweeds and occasionally Cabomba. It turns out that a lot of the emergent plants that I previously ignored are some of the nicer aquarium plants here. Lots of Ludwigia, Eleocharis, Bacopa and Sagittaria spp. I still haven't found a good source of Vals, but I'm working on it.

Just watch out for the aquatic earthworms and planarians. I don't mind the earthworms personally, but seeing the planarians writhe and swim about gives the creeps.

[riofrio]

Another native plant is Riccia which is free floating and somewhat moss-like. It is a pretty good refuge for very small fry and juveniles. I don't know if it is sold, at any stores around here. I've never seen it for sale. I found some in a wet-land ditch near Wharton, and took it to Fish Gallery for ID . It is doing OK in a tank I have but would be better in a tank with with less robust circulation.