# Lobelia Cardinalis dwarf, just an awesome plant



## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Hey guys,

About a week ago i received a package of an ROAK i won, and in that package there was a single stem of a plant i have never heard of, Lobelia Cardinalis dwarf. There were other plants in the ROAK that i was more interested in, when i got the package i saw this little unimpressive plant that i contemplated just not using in my tank. I decided since i have it, i might as well throw it in the tank. I am so glad i didnt throw it away. I just wanted to share my findings with this plant with you guys.

What an awesome little plant. I put it in my high-tech, high-light 29 gallon tank not expecting much from it, and in under a week its doubled its number leaves and i get to see new growth on it almost every day. I really like the color and the structure of the leaves, not to mention the shape and size of them. I dont have a large tank right now, and have only small fish, so to keep the scale of the tank i limit myself to small plants, this plant fit right into my wheelhouse. I just have to say again what a great plant this is and its a joy to have.

If you've never had this plant and you get an opportunity to grab a few stems, i highly recommend it.

I'd love to see this plant in your tank, so if you have any pictures please share!

here is my lone stem of Lobelia Cardinalis dwarf:


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## Fishumms (Apr 21, 2010)

I've never had this plant before, but it looks really good. Your whole tank looks like it is doing well actually. Do you mind going into more specifics on your tank? Lighting? CO2? Thanks for the report.


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## samee (Oct 14, 2011)

They will grow up to be monsters. Ive had several hit 12"+ in height and 9"+ leaf to leaf. I have a high tech as well. Over time, they dont stay dwarf at all, unless I was sold under that name but it was not dwarf.


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## UDGags (Sep 13, 2009)

I loved it in my 125g....great ground cover plant.

My dwarf stayed small in my 125g high tech. I'm guessing you got the normal version.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk


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## aquabruce (May 10, 2012)

One of my favorite plants.


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## peachii (Jun 1, 2013)

Got some of these from H4N and I also love it. Looks great in my 40B and grows fast with just nice light, ferts and excel.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

medium grower, and they LOVE to send out side shoots. I still have the very first one I received about 5 years ago, just well... in many places in the tank lol. Great plant.


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

oh thats cool i didnt know it sent out runners, i thoght it was a stem plant


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Sean W. said:


> oh thats cool i didnt know it sent out runners, i thoght it was a stem plant


nope, not runners, side shoots. essentially new steams that grow from the nodes along the plant. All stem plants do this, but some more than others


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## Bluebugs (May 1, 2013)

My 20 gallon is full of it, they have gotten quite tall in the past few months. My only complaint is that they send out so many side-shoots, but don't root very far. It could just be my tank, but even my minnows are knocking them loose - not to mention I did dsm for a few months. They've been more stable lately.


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Show a few pictures as it gets larger.
The plant behind the Lobelia is what ?
As I have no refernce points as to size cause there is nothing in that picture that I'm familiar/w the regular size it is, I am thinking that the plant behind the Lobelia looks exactly like a plant that I have in my tank. I went into a Petco I was passing just before closing time one night and they had this bunch type plant wrapped/w a rubber band at the bottom and floating in the tank without any name tag on it. Since it was near closing the only two employees didn't know what it was but I got it anyway because of how small the leaves were. I found that it will grow emersed as well.
If you have anything sticking out of the water and tie some on it, you will be happy/w it as it starts looking like Dwarf baby tears/w very small round leaves on that part out of the water. If it is the same plant that is.
All three are the same plant.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=14281&pictureid=47161
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=14281&pictureid=47153
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=14289&pictureid=50361
A glass cover was removed to take the picture of the one/w the penny for size comparison so that is why it look flat on top. But I have never matched the submerged leaf shap/w any picture before yours.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

Here's a mound of dwarf lobelia I had in my 75 a few years ago.








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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Raymond S. said:


> Show a few pictures as it gets larger.
> *The plant behind the Lobelia is what ?*
> As I have no refernce points as to size cause there is nothing in that picture that I'm familiar/w the regular size it is, I am thinking that the plant behind the Lobelia looks exactly like a plant that I have in my tank. I went into a Petco I was passing just before closing time one night and they had this bunch type plant wrapped/w a rubber band at the bottom and floating in the tank without any name tag on it. Since it was near closing the only two employees didn't know what it was but I got it anyway because of how small the leaves were. I found that it will grow emersed as well.
> If you have anything sticking out of the water and tie some on it, you will be happy/w it as it starts looking like Dwarf baby tears/w very small round leaves on that part out of the water. If it is the same plant that is.
> ...


Regular baby tears ( Hemianthus micranthemoides)


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Great, thanks...I have seen lots of pictures of baby tears and all of the pictures I've seen have had round leaves on them. There also is at least two kinds of the regular and I though it was the one you said but this matching picture locks that in.


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