# IRL Aquariums - Aquatic Plants in Nature



## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

I thought it might be nice to have a place on the forums to post pictures of real freshwater ecosystems to use for reference and inspiration. If available, please post geographical information about the photo.









[Bonito, Brasil]









[_Zizania texana_ ("Texas Wild Rice"), an endangered aquatic grass growing in its only known habitat: the San Marcos River in Texas, United States]


Ivan Mikolji's website is a great resource. Unfortunately (and perhaps also understandably), he uses very large watermarks. Location information is often not available.









[_Eleocharis_ sp. red]


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Was hoping for a little participation. Oh well! Here are some good videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzzJU810AIk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpabwL_Ko5E&t=374s


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Some photos of the Amazon River taken by Takashi Amano:



























































And some more South American photos from Ivan Mikolji:








































[Schizodon scotorhabdotus in Apure, Venezuela.]








[Amazonas, Venezuela]








[Anzoategui, Venezuela]


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

its funny how the beautiful places are in areas where it would cost more than my own life for me to get to them.

Bump: also its to bad this thread doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. beautiful pictures!


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## vidopulos (Sep 10, 2015)

Nice thread!


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## Butterfly Bettas (Aug 19, 2016)

That was so cool to see. Thanks for sharing!


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

From FloridaLakeFront.com, some North American natives:









[Tape Grass (_Vallisneria americana_) in Conway Chain, Florida]









[Sago Pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus), Florida]









[Florida Bladderwort (Utricularia floridana)]









[hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum)]


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Recently learned that Myrio Heterophyllum (from which Myrio red was cultivated) is native to many parts of North America. How cool is that? It is known to naturalists as "Variable watermilfoil". Here are some pics of it in the wild:










































Please note that while Myriophyllum heterophyllum is native to some parts of North America, it is fiercely invasive to others, in particular New Hampshire and Maine. Always be careful to prevent contamination!


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

artesub.com has some really lovely photos of submerged growth in Brasil, but they do not permit external use of their photos. I could take screen caps and post those, but that seems disrespectful. Instead, click here and visit the website yourself.


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## d33pVI (Oct 28, 2015)

Found a YouTuber with quite a few videos of the Amazon Pantanal region. Also some really nice planted tank videos on the channel, too!

https://youtu.be/woAIM7DvFmc


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

d33pVI said:


> Found a YouTuber with quite a few videos of the Amazon Pantanal region. Also some really nice planted tank videos on the channel, too!
> 
> https://youtu.be/woAIM7DvFmc


These are great! I think one of the photos I posted above is actually a screen shot from this video.


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## d33pVI (Oct 28, 2015)

Cryptocoryne�@DiscoveryPlanet�@ƒNƒŠƒvƒgƒRƒŠƒl
There is a link to their YouTube channel on the website above. An absolutely amazing collection of videos of cryptocoryne species natural habitat. Plenty of SE Asian fishes as well. Biotope lovers dream channel! There are tons of Amazonia videos out there, But SE Asia info isn't easy to find. Audio sucks but it is video gold!


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

d33pVI said:


> Cryptocoryne�@DiscoveryPlanet�@ƒNƒŠƒvƒgƒRƒŠƒl
> There is a link to their YouTube channel on the website above. An absolutely amazing collection of videos of cryptocoryne species natural habitat. Plenty of SE Asian fishes as well. Biotope lovers dream channel! There are tons of Amazonia videos out there, But SE Asia info isn't easy to find. Audio sucks but it is video gold!


Woah. This is great! Thank you so much for remembering this thread. I mean, it's kind of embarrassing that your posts on here are routinely better than mine, but I suppose it's all for the best.


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Was hoping to keep the pics of submerged growth, but here are a couple of shots I took of ludwigia repens growing in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY. I saw some really lovely ludwigia repens and hairgrass growing submerged upstate this past summer, but I couldn't get a good picture.





























EDIT: I'm actually not so sure that this is ludwigia repens anymore. I have been growing some of this stuff in submerged conditions, and it looks more like a bronze ludwigia ovalis. Will post pictures soon. Wish I had a close up of the flowers so I could have someone who actually knows something identify this plant.


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## F1sheye (Sep 22, 2017)

Hi Bananableps,

I just joined tonight, so have been snooping around. This is a great thread that you've started-I'm always looking up biotopes so it's great to have so many in one spot!

Amazing idea!

Jackie


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Limnophila sessiliflora (aka ambulia), growing invasively in a reservoir in southern Georgia. The red coloring is interesting. It makes sense for the red to show closest to the water, where the plant needs "sun screen" the most, but I've never seen anything but green ambulia in aquariums. Perhaps this is a bad ID? The stray stem floating on the right side of the last picture does look a lot like ambulia to me.


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