ITS-A-FISHY-BUZINESS Java Fern ‘Windelov’ Growing on Bogwood Live Plants Microsorum pterous

While this plant is very beautiful, it is actually not a prime choice for aquariums because it is very hard to grow. The main reason it is so hard to grow is because it required a very high level of light, that being more light than most aquariums can provide without killing everything else inside of it including fish and plants. If there is not enough light, at least 3 watts per gallon, then the plant becomes very fragile, the shoots begin to become thinner and weak, and eventually the whole plant will die.

This aquatic plant also requires a lot of attention in terms of nutrients. It needs a very rich substrate that is full of various nutrients and it will also require supplements to thrive as well. The most common supplemental need of this plant is nitrate as well as phosphate.

The Red Camboba also needs to be regularly fertilized with micronutrients in order to live up to its full potential. It also requires a fairly high amount of CO2 to be present in the water which means that regular CO2 injections are needed. Without any and all of these nutrients the Red Camboba is not likely to grow very big or very well, and if left for too long without any of these nutrients it will die.

Supplier of plants:
oxygenators, reeds, iris, water lilies, bog gardens,
wildlife ponds, natural ponds, lakes, floating plants,
deep water plants, marginals, native british and tropical.

Hygrophila polysperma is a wetland plant that can occur as a submerged or an emersed plant. It inhabits lakes, streams, marshy areas, ditches, and rice-fields (de Thabrew 2014). This species can grow in water at depths up to 3 m and on stream banks as an emersed plant (Nault and Mikulyuk 2009). Hygrophila polysperma can inhabit habitats with a variety of environmental conditions. It favors warmer waters of 18-30°C but can tolerate water temperatures as low as 4°C (Kasselmann 1995, Ramey 2001, Rixon et al. 2005, US EPA 2008). It grows in waters with pH of 6.5-7.8 (Spencer and Bowes 1985, Doyle et al. 2003) and water hardness of 30-140 ppm (Nault and Mikulyuk 2009). This species has low light saturation and compensation points, so it is capable of photosynthesizing in low light levels (Doyle et al. 2003). Hygrophila polysperma exhibits low seasonality and can maintain shoot biomass year round (Spencer and Bowes 1985). Growth rate is dependent on water temperature and daylight (Nault and Mikulyuk 2009), and can increase dramatically in the presence of nutrient inputs (Sutton and Dingler 2000). This species can draw CO2 from both the water and atmosphere (Doyle et al. 2003).

Supplier of plants:
oxygenators, reeds, iris, water lilies, bog gardens,
wildlife ponds, natural ponds, lakes, floating plants,
deep water plants, marginals, native british and tropical.