# Why Hydrocotyle sp Japan is awesome...



## pirayaman

Crazy but I was just looking mine and thinking hum this grows a little like glosso in that it grows straight strings everywhere so if trimed a lot and given time it could deff be a vicious carpet. I've also found planting clumps. Gives you Bush's that you can trim real tight

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## KatherineL

I like your bridge of hydrocotyle. Mine doesn't grow fast enough to carpet (excel only). I got it in the mail with mush leaves but it all grew back quickly when emersed at my windowsill. When I submersed it in my tank, it didn't undergo conversion melt. I was impressed. 

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## ufimych

This is beautiful. May be I should take a piece out of my pond and plant it in one of 10 g tanks. You made me envious, so beautiful your plants are.


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## AGUILAR3

Love how it carpets.


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## Art by Stef*

ufimych said:


> This is beautiful. May be I should take a piece out of my pond and plant it in one of 10 g tanks. You made me envious, so beautiful your plants are.


Aw, thank you. I like spreading ideas and things. Some of the credit of the plants goes to DarkCobra because he's the fert/chemical/lighting guy in the household. 
This is a pretty hardy plant, though. The shrimp tank is kept in extremely low light (a candle throws more, I think) and not much ferts other than what is added for the shrimp, like calcium and minerals. I have it growing well in plain old bowls of water, too, with snails. So, the rest of the credit goes to mulm 

-Stef*


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## Art by Stef*

GORGEOUS, AGUILAR3!
That's what I'm talking!

I hope to do that some day 

Is it easy care?
-Stef*


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## flowerfishs

this thing grows very fast in high light tank and take over in no time.


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## Rush3737

I'm new to the plant, but it currently seems to be growing vertical and I'd like to use it more as a carpet. Do I simply cut the taller bits and re-plant them, or is there some other trick to getting them to stay lower and spread?


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## Art by Stef*

Flowerfishs, yes it does grow fast under the right conditions, but easy to remove/prune because it stays contained. Doesn't really "shed" plantlets -kinda remains together in the tank. If you remove it, chances are you won't find much more of it down the road, like duckweed or something.

Rush3737: Maybe AQUILAR3 can give some insight on how that beautiful carpet was created.

On my arch, the longest tendrils that were growing out, I weighed down with a small stone piece. Only took a day, and it stuck to the micro sword and bottom like saran wrap. Then I trimmed like topiary. Anything I didn't want on the existing "greens", I gently lifted and cut off. It releases pretty easy without uprooting or disturbing the existing "greens"-another thing I like about it, although I don't know what the root system would be like long term.

-Stef*


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## jrh

I think the topiary is pretty, but of the rest of the applications look at little "loose" for me.


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## pirayaman

It looks like how the people want it to look. If u line up a bunch of this hj and plant as a clump. And trim trim trim it will eventually get more of topiary and less stringy or loose. Sorry haven't trimmed mine yet. But this is what I meen clumps
















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## Art by Stef*

"It looks like how the people want it to look." 
Bingo, pirayaman!

In my first pic, I just threw a handful in for the fish as a floater. And when I go to remove it, I don't have to worry about distributing it all through the tank.

Pic 5, if you look close you will see the "dead ends" where I cut. I even used my curved scissors to cut out the hole that was covered in the arch. The runners coming off of it were half as high as the arch. I should of took "before" pictures, but you can see how it overlaps itself in layers. Just carefully lift a layer, cut it, and gently pull away until you get desired height. The underneath layer pops up, so it hardly looks like it was severely cut. Like pulling away layers of a Kit Kat Bar-if any one else eats them the dorky way I do 

I've also seen this plant used in scapes applied with control, gently "rolling" off mountains.

Not everyone likes the same look, but it has great appeal to me, mainly because it has so many looks and it's pretty darn easy, and not as messy as some plants that you have to fight to stay put until it roots. Pretty immediate gratification, too.

-Stef*


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## Raymond S.

And that virtical log looks as if it would be cover for fry, yet you can still see through it.
Since I have only two ten g tanks and very small fish(least Killi's and Banded Pigmy sunfish) I like thin plants like guppy grass which you can see the fish through.
A sword leaf could hide one or more of my fish from me.
This stuff will get a try from me if any shop around here ever gets some.


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## OVT

I love this plant and, apperently, so do my snails for lunch. All around awesome plant.

v3


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## jbrady33

Also grows well in HOBs, the emerged part will make s nice draping mound until you can't see the filter (with good light). You'll have to give it a haircut now and then!


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## pirayaman

Hahah a leaf from this has floated to the surface and has 2 inch long roots over night. Scary high light would make this stuff a carpet. Surely also push down on it a lot and trim short 

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## Monster Fish

I grew mine emersed on a windowsill with just regular room humidity and some sunlight.


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## anfield

I want to use this as a background plant. Does it naturally grow upright or does it need to be trained on something like a vine?


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## OVT

Go for it. It naturally grows upright, towards the light. It has no problems reaching the top of my 24" tall tank. I would personally be concerned about how it will look. This plant is behaves like a terrestrial ivy: it likes to wrap itself around sturdier plants or hardscape. It is also a very lightweight plant with puny bottom roots, a smaller brother to pennywort. It will bend in the gentliest of currents and that can be a + or a -, depending on your overall layout.

Personally, I would use a stainless steel mesh to against the back wall. It might not be easy to do, but I would expect the end result to be spectacular. Just visualise a wall covered well tended, old ivy...

v3


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## TekWarren

Hrm...a Hydrocotyle "wall" might look pretty awesome, gives me ideas! I love how this grows it is spreading in my tank pretty fast just have to keep it off other plants like OVT said.


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## anfield

I might place some twigs upright and see if I can't wind it around them


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## Art by Stef*

anfield said:


> I might place some twigs upright and see if I can't wind it around them


The twigs don't have to be upright. I placed manz. twigs upside down against the back of my tank so that it looked like tree roots, held in place with suction cups, weaved and wrapped the hydrocotyle j. 

The only problem is if you are making a wall, I would line my twigs up and remove any branches sticking out towards the front of the tank, keeping it as flat as I could. More like fence rails, because the hydro. j tends to "bush out" and will crowd your mid and foreground plants and will be a betch to trim. You are going to want to just "shave" it with your scissors, from top to bottom.
Hard to do when it's bumpy and sticking out halfway into the tank. 

The mesh idea, or a more of a two dimensional (as opposed to 3) base would work best and be easier to upkeep-like a carpet, only vertical instead of horizontal.

 Stef*


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