LIMNOPHILA AQUATICA (indica)
| Here's a closer look at this beautiful plant, which I shouldn't call ambulia at all--the species generally referred to as ambulia is Limnophila sessiflora, another very useful stem plant that's not quite as demanding as this one, and is a great algae buster for tanks with moderate light. The whorls of L. aquatica get much bigger, as much as 4 to 5 inches in diameter, and the leaves are finer and much more closely placed around the stem. Once this plant is established, it will send runners all over your tank and may take it over if you don't keep after it; periodically you'll need to dig up the whole clump of it, prune off the rapidly growing tops (at least 8 inches, more if your tank is deeper than 18 inches), discard the bottoms and replant it; it will generally reward you with a burst of nice, healthy growth when you do. It loves CO2 and will not survive without it. If you can plant it on top of your reactor, so much the better; you can see why with all those thousands of fine, fine leaves. My Carbo-Plus quit a day after I took the top picture on the 45 gallon page, and it took me a week to get a replacement holder, which meant no CO2 in that tank. Nothing much cared except this plant, which immediately ceased to grow and just sat there; after a week a leaf here and there began to turn brown. Once the Carbo-Plus was fixed, it immediately perked up and began to grow again; two weeks later I took the lower picture on the 45 gallon page, and it had doubled in size in that time. Make sure it's in a spot where there's good water circulation, too, so you don't get fine stuff settling on the leaves. It needs light, but two power compact watts per gallon will suit it just fine. And it needs a good balanced fertilizer in the water column with lots of iron, which of course for me is Yamato Green. |
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Conditions in the 45 where it's growing: Light: 2 watts per gallon of power compact lighting PH: 6.8-7.0 Temperature: 79 degrees CO2 injection via Carbo-Plus unit Fertilized twice weekly with Yamato Green |
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The new growth looks like fuzzy pompoms, and is a beautiful, vibrant light green. |
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