Water wisteria is another amazing aquatic plant which you should consider due to ease of maintenance. Having plants in your aquarium provides various benefits like providing oxygen to all the marine creatures inside the fish tank. Plants also provide a place for the fishes to hide and having plants also provide the aesthetic look which required for your aquarium. Plants also becomes a food source to few creatures. Water wisteria is no exception
In this article I will discuss about Water wisteria. How to create Water wisteria carpet and maintaining them.
Water Wisteria Overview
| Care Required: | Easy |
| Family: | Acanthaceae |
| Scientific Name: | Hygrophila difformis |
| Growth Rate: | Fast |
| Propagation: | Cutting |
| Minimum Tank Size: | 10 Gallons |
| pH: | 6.5 – 7.5 |
| Water Hardness: | 2 – 8 dKH |
| Water Temperature: | 70 – 82°F |
| Placement in Tank: | As a Background plant or Carpet |
| Tank Mates: | Small fishes like guppies, neon tetras, ember tetras, small shrimps and snails |
In the wild in and around the India region, this plant can be seen in the marshy environments either floating or planted in the water.
Habitat and Appearance
This plant originates from India and in the Indian subcontinent such as Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. They can be seen during the rainy season. They grow in shallow marshland water. This plant is not at all related the wisteria plant which a genus of flowering plants in the legume family.
They like to grow in the tropical conditions and grow quickly and can grow up to 50 cm or about 20 inches in length and around 25cm or about 10 inches in width.
This means they occupy a lot of space due to its enormous width and this plant will block the light for other plants or creatures. So, you need to choose carefully based on the condition of your tank. Hence it is required to trim the leaves whenever required. It also provides shelter or as a hiding place for small fishes in the tank.
This plant has a very strong stem in order to support those big protruding leaves. It can be planted on to the substrate. If you want to create a water wisteria carpet, you can easily do it by spreading the plant throughout the bottom layer and trimming a little or if you want it to grow, you can leave it, so that the plant can grow and reach the top water surface.
Another thing to about this plant is, they are heterophylly in nature. According to biology, heterophylly is a process where the shape of the leaves change based on the environmental conditions. Due to its size, they provide fullness to your aquarium.
Tank Size and Tank Parameters
Due to the size of this plant, it is recommended to have a minimum of 10-gallon tank. This plant likes to be under tropical condition with good light. In the wild they are exposed to more sunlight. Hence it is required for the plant to have more light in the tank.
We suggest to provide a minimum exposure of around 10-12 hours per day for the plant in order for it to grow properly. If you have a bunch of plants ensure that all the plants get equal amount of light.
Few aquarists believe that providing more light for pro-longed period of time encourages blue-green algae which is not a good sign in the aquarium. However due to heavy nutrients requirement for Water wisteria and it also feed on the same food required for blue-green algae, thereby by cutting the food supply for the algae. Hence the growth of the blue-green algae will be very minimal. Hence exposing for 10-12 hours should be not cause any problems.
If you have a filter in the tank or planning to buy one, ensure that the filter doesn’t cause any problems to the plant. This plant like to be in calm and low current water. The filter shouldn’t be too powerful to damage the plant.
Adding filter actually decreases the burden on the plant itself as both plant and filter does the same job of filtering the harmful chemicals from the water.
When it comes to gravel, we advise to have a fine sand soft gravel, as planting the plant would be easy and the roots can also easily start propagating within the soft substrate. Having a hard substrate is not a good idea for the plant as there is little space for the roots to move around the hard surface and the plant might not grow properly.
Adding some substrate nutrients helps in overall growth of the plant. Adding CO2 is not required as the fishes in the tank produces CO2, however supplementing CO2 will not cause any harm. You can even add some liquid fertilizers to water.
Coming to the Water conditions in the tank, this plant need a neutral pH of around 6.5-7.5. The water temperature should be around 70-82°F (23-27° C) and water hardness of around 2-8 KH. We also suggest to invest in a water monitoring kit as it helps in monitoring all the above parameters
We always advice not to change the water completely as it gives a shock to the plants and marine creatures due to sudden change in the water composition. Hence it is recommended to change only about 25% of the water in the tank every week. This provides the needed benefit for the plants and creatures.
Propagation, Growth
Water wisteria grows quickly. It is both an advantage and disadvantage. The advantage is within no time your aquarium will be filled with Water wisteria when you replant the cut plants and this provides fullness to the tank. However, the disadvantage is, you need frequent trimming or else it will start blocking the light for other plants and creatures in the tank.
You need to trim them when it grows big, if you don’t want to plant the cut plant again, you can easily dispose them. Never leave the cut plant in the tank, as it may starting growing as a new plant or sometimes it starts rotting and this not a good sign in the aquarium. Even dead and plants with brown color should be removed for the tank.
When the plant as grown to a height of around say 30cm, you can cut the plant to around 12cm from top and plant the new plant. The roots will be formed after some time and the new plant starts its journey.
If you want your aquarium to have a Water wisteria Carpet, then you will need to plant the stem on to their sides and cover it with substrate. So, the leaves which are now facing upwards gives a carpet feel.
Care
Since it consumes lot of nutrients, it is better to trim them regularly or else having too many water wisterias in the tank will make other plant to starve due to non-availability of nutrients.
You can keep the Water wisteria plant as either planted or as a floating plant. However, you need to consider few things as the width of the plant is big and it blocks the light.
If you are planning to plant them, then make sure you attach the root firmly to the soft substrate so that they can grow upwards the light.
You can add liquid fertilizers which has good iron content in it. Having good iron content along with phosphates and nitrate is a good thing for the plant’s growth. If your plant is turning pale yellow then it is a sign of iron deficiency.
Never pack the plants very densely as each plant requires its own space both for nutrients and light. They need light for photosynthesis. We don’t want a fight for resources between plants.
This plant can also be used as a background plant, plant them between the driftwoods and rocks and along the edges of the tank to give a lush green background.
Disease and problems
This plant is hardy is nature and doesn’t require too much care and is healthy most of the time, however, if there is some lack of nutrients, they tend to stop growing. For e.g., lack of iron content in the water makes this plant pale yellow. Ensure nitrates, phosphates are under required level.
Regularly changing around 25% of water every week and providing enough light for the plants should keep all the diseases away.
Benefits
Like every plant, this plant also provides some benefits. Here are the benefits of Water wisteria:
- They provide the aesthetic look in your aquarium. Since the growth rate is quick, within no time, your tank will be filled with lots of Water wisteria and provide the fullness to your tank.
- They absorb lots of excess metals and excess chemicals such as ammonia present in the tank and absorb harsh chemicals such as nitrates which are formed due to the waste from fishes and other marine animals in the tank. Thereby providing a good environment for the creatures.
- Slows algae growth. Since this plant absorbs more nutrients, it doesn’t leave much nutrients for the algae to grow at all.
- Like every plant they do provide a hiding place for small fishes and fry and even small shrimps. This plant acts as a source of initial food for the newly hatched fry. Even fishes lay eggs on this plant and provides a kind of shelter to eggs.
- They provide oxygen inside the tank which is very much required for all marine creatures.
Tank Mates for Water wisteria
Another common question people always ask is the water wisteria compatibility with other fishes. Not all fishes are compatible. Here we will discuss the fishes which are compatible with this plant.
You can have fishes like:
- Rasboras
- Cherry barb
- Ember Tetras
- Neon Tetras
- Pygmy Cory Catfish
- Corydoras catfish
- Zebra Danio
- Endlers
- Guppies
- Mollies
- Otocinclus Catfish
- Danios
Shrimps like:
- Snowball shrimp
- Amano shrimp
- Cherry shrimp
- Blue tiger shrimp
- Bamboo shrimp
- Vampire shrimp
- Blue Velvet Shrimp
- Cardinal Shrimp
- Red Nose shrimp
- Ghost shrimp
Snails like:
- Black Devil Snails
- Rabbit Snails
- Nerite snails
- Ramshorn snails
- Japanese trapdoor snails
- Malaysian Trumpet snails
Fishes to Avoid
Big fishes tend to uproot the Water wisteria and destroy them. Hence fishes like:
- Oscars Fish
- Rainbow Shark
- African Cichlid
- Jack Dempsey
- Silver Dollars
Water wisteria FAQ’s
It can grow at around 2 to 3 inches per week.
It is very easy to care. It doesn’t need any kind of care apart from 25% regular water change every week.
You will need to plant the stem on to their sides and cover it with substrate. So, the leaves which are now facing upwards gives a carpet feel.
Planting them to a depth of around 1 to 2 inches helps the root firmly attached.
There are various reasons. Not getting enough light and not enough nutrients. Try providing some liquid nutrients and expose them to light and see for some days
Just leave the plant to float for some days and observe the plant, if everything is normal, then you can plant it or leave it as a floating plant.
Under favorable conditions, this plant can grow at a rate of around 2 to 3 inches per week.
Just allow the pant to float on the surface, just ensure that it doesn’t block the light for other plants and creatures in the tank.
It requires around 10 hours of light per day.
It can be planted as a background plant, in the middle of the tank rooting firmly to the substrate or you can also leave it as a floating plant.
This plant needs fine grained soft gravel sand.
When the plant has out grown to a height of say 30cm, then this is the time to cut and replant it.
You need to ensure the substrate is soft, dig a 1-to-2-inch hole, place the roots inside the hole and cover it. This ensures the plant is rooted firmly.
Conclusion
Water wisteria is one of the best hardy plant and easy to maintain and provides many benefits. They grow quickly and hence regular trimming is required. Apart from this, they don’t cause any other problems. Hence having them in your tank is a definitely a good idea.
If proper care is taken and having this plant with only suitable tank mates is employed, then this plant can live for long without causing any problems.