# Native Plants for Planted Tank?



## Albtraum (Dec 27, 2009)

I don't see why not. Just don't take more than you're going to use/need. Especially if the lake is public/poplulated/fished often. I was tempted to take these bacopa-looking things at a stream up in the mountains, but realized they were in direct sunlight all day, and right below the waters surface.


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## scags (Sep 22, 2003)

Yeah I too have pondered taking specimens from ponds ,rivers, and streams. There are some great native plants out there that do really good in home aquaria. However be aware of environmental laws where you live, sometimes taking native plants is illegal. Also watch out for parasites and bacterias you could be introducing to your fish and other plants. Nothing worse than some strange bug taking over your tank and killing your favorite little friends.


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## Buster67 (Dec 18, 2009)

These plants are not protected here. In fact, I think the cabomba and vallisneria are not native and have been introduced here, so there's no problem in taking a few stems. There's millions of them.

I wonder how I could make sure not to bring any wild critters along with them. Does anyone know if there is a way to 'sterilise' wild plants? The weather here is crap this week so might be going home early.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

I would carefully take a look at the local wildlife laws before taking any plants. Even though the plants may be considered weeds/pests/non-native invasive species, there may be some law that prevents you from taking them, etc.

There are often laws preventing people from taking wood, even if it has fallen on to the ground.

As for the sterilization question, there are various methods that are often employed for eliminating unwanted pests. These include a bleach dip (1/20 dilution, time dependent on plants), or even potassium permanganate dips (1 ounce (3% w/v solution) into 1 gallon of water, treat for 15-20 minutes).


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## Jester206 (Feb 17, 2010)

I've done it before. I have some small lily pads in my tank and I used to have a few other unknown species of stem plants. I agree with the above posts be careful of environmental laws and parasites. Also be aware that some lake/pond plants grow extremely fast and extremely large so just keep an eye on them so they don't choke out your other plants.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

You might be able to find many different species of aquatic plants in your area, especially if you can check out a few different lakes. We have a remarkable diversity of aquatic plants here in the Great Lakes that is probably greater than most of the tropical areas where a lot of aquarium plants come from. However, many of the native plants might be a bit too spindly and with long internodes for aquascaping.

You should check your local regulations and then go out and get some of those plants if it is legal.


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## kingfisherfleshy (Jun 4, 2010)

I have tried this with many different kinds of our wisconsin plants. I dont know whether it was because there was no "winter" cycle, or because the water in my tank was too warm, but none of them have ever done well, most just melted away. I have many other plants that are flourishing...so I see no other reasons why. The best success I had was with water lillies (which are illegal to harvest in WI, luckily there is a 1acre pond on my property) and this is what happened. I picked the bulbs, trimmed the roots, trimmed the stems (because they would have been too big for my tank) and then washed them gently...added them to my tank. After doing so, growth was ridiculous. I didnt notice new root formation, but the stems were growing inches in a day! After doing this several times, the stems stopped growing, the pads stunted at about 1cm across and they never grew stems away from the bulbs ever again. I dont know the reasons behind any of this, but thats just my experience with native plants.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I wonder if a lot of those native plants might require a cold winter dormancy. This seems especially likely for plants that have large root storage organs, such as lily pads. 

However, I know an aquarist here who has been maintaining a collection of native _Potamogeton_ for some time and he has had some of those growing healthy non-stop for several years.


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## kingfisherfleshy (Jun 4, 2010)

hydrophyte said:


> I wonder if a lot of those native plants might require a cold winter dormancy. This seems especially likely for plants that have large root storage organs, such as lily pads.


Thats what I was talking about in my post when I said "winter" cycle... I have heard that it is needed somewhere...dont remember where it might have just been someone saying it to me. Of course all plants are different. So maybe...who knows. Whats the temperature in his tank like? Tropical? Mine runs pretty high.


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## |GTO| (Oct 9, 2006)

from my understanding, temperate climate water lilies require a winter dormancy, just as cat-tails and other water plants found in the higher latitudes.


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## kingfisherfleshy (Jun 4, 2010)

There you go...I would love some lillies as a background plant. I think the fish would love it too.


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## hbosman (Oct 5, 2006)

As tempting as it must be, it may not be worth it in the long run. You just might introduce organisms or disease from your locale that your tropical fish might not have a natural resistance to. As cheaply as plants can be had from local club auctions, it probably wouldn't be worth the risk. My two cents.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I would not hesitate to try some of the local free plants but with some caution. Do you have a tank for quarantine? I use a ten gallon for fish and if I bring plants home I will use it for them as well. I find there is a pretty steady use for my QT tank and it has saved me a number of times. Snails that I don't recognise would be more the worry for me. If it's a small tank with nothing else to risk one can try a number of things. Once all the obvious bad guys are sorted out, I feel better with moving things into the larger tanks. In the case of free plants, it makes sense to me to risk them rather than risk a whole tank. If I lose something I got for free, I sweat it less than if I pay for the same.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

I was gonna say; cobamba ain't native to Canada, and I'm sure your (and my) government would be happy if you took as much as you can!

I've used self-collected plants a lot. Just wash well is all I've done.


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## iwantgreengarden (Mar 29, 2020)

This is an old thread but it helped me today! 

I was out on a run and came across a ton of emergent/submerged plants in a little creek by my house. I pulled a very small underwater one with tons of root runners and thought, "this is going to be great for my new planted tank; it's growing so fast!" When I got home I cleaned it off in a bowel in my sink and was about to put it in my aquarium, but thought i'de see what others thought about adding native plants. I found this thread and thought twice, when I went to inspect the small plant – probably about 2-4cm long – I found 3 snails and about 4 planaria. 

I went back and filled a jar; the plants were absolutely swarming with snails and planaria. I don't know how bad this stuff would be for my aquarium, but as I'm just getting started I figured I'd not risk it. 

Anyway, thanks for the foresight!!


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