# Review: Petsmart Brand Cultured Plants



## xJaypex (Jul 4, 2009)

Wow,PETsMART has these now? Did you happen to check what other plants they carried?


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## Ryan10517 (Jun 7, 2010)

sweet! glad someone is doing a review of them! i saw them a few weeks ago, and even started a thread on apc asking if anyone had tried them yet. Can't wait for feedback from ya!


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

Sure did. 

I saw: 

Bacopa carolinia 
Alternathera reinickii 'pink' 
Echinodorus horemanii 
Crytpocoryne sp. 'green red' 
Helanthinum tennellus (really good portion of it too) 
Eleocharis parvula (really really great deal 5"x1" portion for 8 bucks but I'm covered for foreground so I didn't get any) 


Edit: 

A few tips before you put these buggers in your tank. 

Rinse WELL there are copious amounts of dead leaves. 
The agar can be removed easier if you soak them in room temperature water.


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## h2oaggie (Feb 28, 2011)

Interesting, I have never seen these at our local Petsmart. I would expect them to be similar seeing that we pretty close to each other. Have these replaced the plants in plastic tubes? Where were they located in your store?


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## Ryan10517 (Jun 7, 2010)

are you sure it was helanthinum tenellus (dwarf chain sword)? i though it was lilaeopsis brasiliensis (microsword). i could be wrong. i only looked at them for a short while. Whatever it was, it was all melted though... The L. arcuata, crypts, A. reinekii, and DHG all looked really good though at the petsmart i went to. 

Question: what exactly is a tissue culture? i'm not sure of the specifics of it. Thanks, 

Ryan


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

Ryan10517 said:


> are you sure it was helanthinum tenellus (dwarf chain sword)? i though it was lilaeopsis brasiliensis (microsword). i could be wrong. i only looked at them for a short while. Whatever it was, it was all melted though... The L. arcuata, crypts, A. reinekii, and DHG all looked really good though at the petsmart i went to.
> 
> Question: what exactly is a tissue culture? i'm not sure of the specifics of it. Thanks,
> 
> Ryan



It's a really simple process. They make a medium in this case Agar and enrich it with some kind of nutrient broth. Most of time we use something called murashige and skoog and add some amino acids and sugar and whatever. Then you add a piece of a plant. Any piece will work but generally stem tips and root tips and seeds work the best. In this really nutrient rich environment any portion of the plant can quickly grow into a whole plant. This can even be done at home, you just need to keep your work space clean. The conditions of plant culture are actually really similar to those in plants. I've had broken leaves from plants spawn whole new plants. It's the same process.

And at the above post I think I saw both of the plants but I might have been hallucinating lol. 


edit: also these have not replaced the tubes. I don't think those monstrosities are ever going away. They were randomly placed next to some fish food.


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

*Wow!*

Plants that come with $20! But seriously what is that transparent gel?


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

AirstoND said:


> Plants that come with $20! But seriously what is that transparent gel?


The gel is agarose. It's derived from seaweed. It's used as a culture base for cell/tissue culture and as a food thickener.


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## h2oaggie (Feb 28, 2011)

Stopped by my local Petsmart today and couldn't find these plants anywhere.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

My petsmart's plant tank is filled with melted terrestrial plants and the occasional bacopa.


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## thewife (Jan 26, 2011)

I bought some of the parvula. Word of caution: the ones closest to the center that don't get exposed to any light were probably beyond recovery, but even so you get enough to start a decent little foreground, especially if you were to do it emersed.


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## h2oaggie (Feb 28, 2011)

Those that have found this at your Petsmart, do you mind telling me what the item number is on the receipt or UPC? What is the "brand" on the packaging? I would love to ask the manager at my local store if they carry them or can get some, but I would probably get a crazy look if I simply tried to describe it. Just looking for a better way to tell them what I am looking for.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

This is fantastic! I am glad to see the planted tank hobby is starting to become mainstream.


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

h2oaggie said:


> Those that have found this at your Petsmart, do you mind telling me what the item number is on the receipt or UPC? What is the "brand" on the packaging? I would love to ask the manager at my local store if they carry them or can get some, but I would probably get a crazy look if I simply tried to describe it. Just looking for a better way to tell them what I am looking for.


No brand. The pic you see is all the marketing there is. 

UPC code: 

7 37257 28225 4


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

I've gotten most of my plants from petsmart...haven't had to worry about bringing in algae or snails etc....although, I still have staghorn algae :angryfire. I thought the price was also a little high until I opened the bag. They definitely give you your money's worth. It looks less than it really is because they're so tightly packed together.

Plants in my tank from petsmart:
Alternathera reinickii 'pink' (takes about 2 weeks for it to adjust to being underwater)
Dwarf Hairgrass( 2 bags covered my substrate)(20L)
Wisteria (leaves change dramatically in about 1 month)
anubia 
amazon sword


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

Those look awesome!!! About what % of the reinickii converted? 


Also: Bad news...not detecting any tropism in ~40% of the culture plants. Meaning they are either A.) Not producing hormones because the hormones they need are still in the residual gel that's there or B.) Dead.


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

Jeffww said:


> Those look awesome!!! About what % of the reinickii converted?
> 
> 
> Also: Bad news...not detecting any tropism in ~40% of the culture plants. Meaning they are either A.) Not producing hormones because the hormones they need are still in the residual gel that's there or B.) Dead.


100% - haven't had any die at all. I have flourite substrate, use EI dosing, 30 ppm CO2, High light, and I used root tabs....so those all probably helped.

I also bought them the day they were received. I've seen them sit around the store for weeks until they're sold...almost dead looking. 

I planted a bunch more since then....hopefully it looks something like this in a few months


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

Ah. okay then. I have similar conditions. Hopefully they'll grow out well.


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## Cardoc (May 21, 2011)

I got the hairgrass from Petsmart just to see if it would grow. I have not had any die on me but I also got it when they were only at the store for about a day, fresh grass, haha.

I was wondering about the larger plants they had I guess I'll give it a try.

Also I got some bulbs from there about 3 weeks ago and I am not getting any growth yet, any Ideas.


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## ncharlie (May 20, 2011)

The Petsmart in Fort Lauderdale has them.

They are on the shelf next to the AquaFin tube plants. 

I have bought 3 of these and they are doing well. I thought pricey at first, but similar plants at a good LFS were about the same (and a bit of a trip).

They do not have many and the guy at Petsmart says they run out quickly.

I bought them and kept them in the package for 1 week before adding them to my EBI tank.

I sorta think the complaints on the AquaFin plants are a little whinny. I bought plants clearly marked semi-aquatic. I got the impression these were for amphibian tanks. I bought a nana plant and it is doing well.

I bought the dwaft hairgrass and telanthera from this manufacturer.

Not sure who makes it but the bottom says "made in Singapore"









The plant on the left is one of the AquaFin tube plants (took a piece from the one I planted in my EDGE). The dwarft hair grass is in the front, weighted down with rock! Stupid thing kept floating! I split the telanthera into two and planted one in the back and one in the middle. If they are anything like the one I bough for my Edge, it will grow nicely (I could have split that one but I did not want to mess up my Edge).

I rammed the nana into the driftwood (there was a slit) and it holds.

I saw someone bought the hairgrass on another post and split it into two rows.


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

Good news , all! I have growth I'd say out of the hundreds and hundreds of stems 60-70% are showing new growth. Most of it is emersed buddings so no converted leaves but a large percentage of the plants are alive which is a good thing. 

The grow out tank they're in









New growth. Really tiny new buds, slightly orangy yellow comapred to the jade green leaves of before. Next to it is rotala mexicanas 'goias' which is no bigger than 1-1.5cm across for scale.


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

This plant looks amazing from some of the google searches I've done...I have a 4 x 4 inch area I want to plant these(like dutch style). Should I put the whole pack in there or separate them into groups?


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Just a little issue with semantics here, but, "budding" means flowering, and "buds" means flowers. I don't see anything flowering.


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## lbacha (Apr 13, 2011)

I bought one of the small tubes of broad leaf Hygro "hygro corymbosa" and I was quite impressed with what I got there were 7 nice stems and it was healthy. I post some picks of it in my tank when I get a chance

Len


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## PRSRocker3390 (Apr 20, 2009)

I work for Petsmart and have for 4 years now and I can let you guys know, the plants are good stuff. The plant hobby is definitely getting bigger. I check them out every week from our new order being the plant geek I am. I've used some myself and have had nothing but results you would expect from any quality plants. The most common new plants you will see in those packages will be assorted swords, bacopa caroliniana, l. Arcuata, alternanthera, DHG, various crypt wendtii for now, micro swords (lilaeopsis brasiliensis) and a few others depending on your store. Now also don't forget about the plants in the tubes. Petsmart has also added new plants there too. You will now be seeing narrow leaf java, windelov java, standard java, Brazilian pennywort, anubias afzelli, anubias congensis, echinodorus bleheri as well as echinoderms amazonicus we already carried, el niño fern (type of bolbitis), onion plant (crinium), plus a few more making ways in addition to what is also in the tubes like anubias nana and wisteria too. 

Now also because of employees like me suggesting it to the company, you now will start seeing those plants be in the same packaging but the terrestrial stuff will all start having a green sticker on top stating it is semi aquatic. They are trying to spread the knowledge that it won't work for submersed use, only terrarium. 

The company isn't bad guys, it's a few bad typical employees that give it a bad name because because they simply have no passion to care, just make money while in school or what not. I'm in college myself but I get regulars everyday that only talk to me and are constantly telling my managers how knowledgeable I am. My job is never in jeopardy there because of this fact and I love it. I love my job simply because of how much I've now seen Ive spread the hobby just doing my part as a hardcore planted and aquarium hobbyist. I love seeing new hobbyist learn from me and bring me pictures of their tanks, its a great feeling. I've helped many customers successfully keep aquariums now and have helped get many into the planted hobby too. There are employees out there like me and I hoping any of you guys out there who need retail work consider Petsmart so we can get more knowledgeable people in there. These stores will never get better if it isn't for employees like me and others similar to me that suggest these changes to the higher end of the company.

Ok after the boring part there... (I know, I know...), I'll give some more news on things at the stores now. You will now see more bettas coming in such the two new ones we will have which are halfmoon and dragonscale bettas. You should also see Marimo balls available in store in the tanks or now "to go" as its called. Those will be a Marimo ball in a betta cup ready to just be bought. This way people can buy those without employees having to bag it up for them unless the want one in the tank. Also omega one food are on the rise with us. Not only do we feed exclusively omega one in our stores (it includes Goldfish flake, Tropical Super Color, Cichlid Super Color Pellets, Algae Rounds, and Shrimp pellets all by Omega One), but we sell these products too now. We also carry more omega one products besides what we use, the newest being the omega one betta pellets. We also should be hopefully seeing in stores soon the Omega one brand frozen foods. 

Last news for all that I feel is just as great! Petsmart now every month has fish on sale and this month is one of our typical $1 fish sale on tetras. But this includes things like $1 Long Fin Serpaes right now and your favorite..... Cardinals! I just picked up 17 Cardinal Tetras from my job myself so go check it out if you need some new fish especially if you need some cardinals!

I love being able to share with you guys the new exciting stuff coming to the stores for us planted geeks!!

Oh and if your petsmart has terrestial plants or rotting things in its plant tank, the petcare manager who sometimes isn't an expert always in aquariums but maybe an expert with small animals, is the one ordering those plants, not the store or company. There are some fish, plant and reef geeks working as managers out there too though so look out lol. My store now has in our plant tanks: (I'm such a plant geek and thats why they love me at work making suggestions lol.) Various crypts like parva, wendtii, and some other uncommon crypts actually, hygrophila corymbosa, bacopa, anacharis, wisteria, and a few others. 

I hope I helped you all with this long post and I'm always happy to try to help out our community!


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

I think you should probably just split them into 1" or 1cm chunks. The smaller pieces you get the more light will get to all the stems. 



BlueJack said:


> This plant looks amazing from some of the google searches I've done...I have a 4 x 4 inch area I want to plant these(like dutch style). Should I put the whole pack in there or separate them into groups?


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

PRSRocker3390 said:


> I work for Petsmart and


So... what town are you in? Maybe we should all start driving out to YOUR store!


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## PRSRocker3390 (Apr 20, 2009)

Port St. Lucie is where I'm from, and I'm always helping out hobbyists. I mean we still get some bad choice of plants here and there because we have to carry them but for the most part, I like what we get. I've gotten tons from work. The windelov java is something I got the other fish geeks at work to love and use in their tanks as a cool but easy plant. Now the others are all getting hooked on plants. It's great to spread the knowledge.


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## h2oaggie (Feb 28, 2011)

PRSRocker3390, are these packaged plants new to stores? I have already mentioned that my local Petsmart does not currently carry them but I would to see them in the new future. Is it possible to request from a manager?


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## PRSRocker3390 (Apr 20, 2009)

The tube packaging plants have always been there for a couple years now but some new species in the tubes have just came out not too long ago, maybe a couple months ago max. The other new packaged plants as seen in the OP's pic are new as well in stores. I don't know why they don't have them. Well you can always ask the store manager or petcare manager if they know if they are getting them. You can just say you've seen things online about new plants at petsmarts and see if they know anything. Petsmarts do vary by districts in the US and such( Northeast,SE, Central, SE,SW, etc.) but I'm pretty sure this was a new thing for all stores. That's the most I can say for your store at the moment, wish I could tell you why.


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

Jeffww said:


> I think you should probably just split them into 1" or 1cm chunks. The smaller pieces you get the more light will get to all the stems.


This needle leaf ludwigia is sooo small. I feel like it will take months to grow out. I'm probably wrong, and it'll be all over my tank in a few weeks. How long did it take for your plant to start showing the characteristic thin leaves and orange reddish colors?


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

why is my petsmart near me doesnt have these plants?


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## Coursair (Apr 16, 2011)

I work part time at the Concord store and I just heard the Albany CA store has new/more plants. I'm going to ask if we are getting new stuff. I think it partly depends on what seems to sell at each store.


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

BlueJack said:


> This needle leaf ludwigia is sooo small. I feel like it will take months to grow out. I'm probably wrong, and it'll be all over my tank in a few weeks. How long did it take for your plant to start showing the characteristic thin leaves and orange reddish colors?



It's been about 4 days since I got mine. The new leaves I have are all orange. They are also about 4-5 times as long as the old leaves and slightly pointed. I say in about 3 weeks I'll have maybe 50-60 stems of converted arcuata. So not very long. I am growing this under heavy ferts, co2 and light though.


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

I present to you: A crap ton of arcuata. Remember it has only been 5 days since I put these in my tank.


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

Nothing new at the one in Towson.


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## thatbettaglo (Jun 7, 2011)

I got some dwarf hair grass from my Petsmart of this brand and it has been doing just fine in my 10 gal tanks with 26 W. Slow growth but no death and the fish love it! (Knocks on wood. =P)


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## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

So I work at Petsmart in Dallas and we still have those tube plants that suck and melt in people's tank since they are all pretty much semi aquatic. If you guys want your store to get them ask the pet care manager about them. This manager puts in orders for things that the company supplies like fish and reptile orders. They might just be testing them in certain stores right now or you will have to wait for your store to reset the "planner" (new products on shelves and things being moved around).


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## jaafaman (Jun 4, 2011)

Jeffww said:


> ..._I present to you: A crap ton of arcuata. Remember it has only been 5 days since I put these in my tank_.


And for the really curious, the cultured _arcuata_ was broken into six clumps and set in the corner three weeks ago. The red is already coming out at about 5 in. (12-13 cm.).

The fish love this little thicket. I'll most likely 'scape it as clumps in a couple-three spots...


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## Svham (May 2, 2011)

I live/work in the vicinty of four Petsmarts and only one of them carries these. I have gotten the Crypt wendtii, dwarf hairgrass, and the microsword. They have all done very well and I was super excited to see them - it was the first time I have ever seen these plants locally.


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## lbacha (Apr 13, 2011)

Here is one of the small tubes of Hygro. Corymbosa stricta that has been in my tank for 4 weeks it's doing very well.










Len


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