# eBay HC seeds are real!



## Progen

It's not that easy to find HC at the local shops and I was too lazy to buy them in pots, break them apart, remove the wool, replant and WAIT.

So when I saw these on eBay, at that price, what can one lose, right?










I have to say that I didn't really think too much of them but after just FOUR days, I'm seeing at least a 70% germination rate.

Will keep you folks updated on how they fare over the next few weeks.


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## geisterwald

People on here have been trying these for a while now, the problem seems to be not that they don't make a nice, lush carpet, but that they're not actually HC. It'll be interesting to see if yours are.


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## Progen

In that case, I really can't wait for them to grow up.


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## al4n

keep us updated!


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## BettaBettas

wow ive seen these on ebay to, always thought it as a scam though or something. Good luck on your HC journey!


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## John Wong

Actually those are not hc, it's a kind of plant they used as facial mask in China. It require high temperature to germinate and it does form nice carpet. However same as other terrestrial plant after 2/3 months they will die....in Chinese it's called 海藻面膜。 not sure where it originated and what is its scientific name.. 

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## Econde

I've been tempted to try this, but I'll subscribe to your post instead for updates!


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## John Wong

Some update.. It's also been used in China for aquascape. Any one who know Chinese can search for it. But of course as I said its only last for few months in water. It is considered by some in China as a scam as very easy "aquatic plant" , however if you not intent to keep your scape long term than its very easy plant that worth a try, it even don't need co2 injection. 

Their official website. (only Chinese) 









Different species of 海藻面膜










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## Progen

Damn our cousins!  Anyway, let's see what they become. If they can germinate so quickly, perhaps we can have a close look at them in a week or two.


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## John Wong

Progen said:


> Damn our cousins!  Anyway, let's see what they become. If they can germinate so quickly, perhaps we can have a close look at them in a week or two.


According to official website Temperature should be above 25. They will start to germinate in 2 to 4 days. After germination temperature can be lower than 25 after 2 weeks they will form nice carpet. I heard they are marine seaweed but cannot find any proper article regarding their origin and scientific name. Not sure how long it stay alive if grown emersed.

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## payluder

I have tried these in my ADA 60p and these are NOT real hc. They grow to tall stem plants and look nothing like the HC I get from aqua forest here in San Francisco. I wasted a lot of time and money with these and had to pull all the stems out of my tank and restart with real HC I bought from AFA. I still have two bottles of this stuff left.


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## John Wong

payluder said:


> I have tried these in my ADA 60p and these are NOT real hc. They grow to tall stem plants and look nothing like the HC I get from aqua forest here in San Francisco. I wasted a lot of time and money with these and had to pull all the stems out of my tank and restart with real HC I bought from AFA. I still have two bottles of this stuff left.


Yup, 
Although it's not hc, but I think maybe we can get some good use for it. Maybe terrarium or some sort. However I feel uncomfortable if someone sell it as something different than itself. 

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## Progen

John Wong said:


> ... Not sure how long it stay alive if grown emersed.


So that complicates matters even more then since we don't know whether they do better emersed or immersed.

Anyway, I've postponed giving the sender feedback until I see what they become.


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## payluder

Progen said:


> So that complicates matters even more then since we don't know whether they do better emersed or immersed.
> 
> Anyway, I've postponed giving the sender feedback until I see what they become.


Good idea I should have done the same. The outcome isn't even come close to HC. After like 6 months I'm still removing this stuff out of my tank. I still see like 3-4 in my 60p. My issue was trusting the seller and spreading this seed in my entire tank thinking I will get a nice carpet lol.


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## Opare

Progen said:


> So that complicates matters even more then since we don't know whether they do better emersed or immersed.
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, I've postponed giving the sender feedback until I see what they become.


They would grow better emersed I would think because they are terrestrial plants and would prefer to be above water.


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## burr740

suckers


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## Progen

The thing is we have no idea what they actually are.


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## Opare

Progen said:


> The thing is we have no idea what they actually are.


True but they definitely are terrestrial plants, as they cannot survive underwater for very long.


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## user12345pk

i bought them and like them, here's mine


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## Progen

user12345pk said:


> i bought them and like them, here's mine


How long have you had yours?


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## user12345pk

about 2 months


Progen said:


> How long have you had yours?


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## Progen

user12345pk said:


> about 2 months


Keep us updated please because they are said to be a terrestrial plant which will die after a few months immersed.

Bump: These are mine on the 6th day.


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## summicron

Here's a youtube video (not mine) on carpet seeds after 133 days. No Co2 was used I was told.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_mwDt0rsTk

There is another type of seed that grows hair grass but I can't find photos or videos of it. I did get some feedback from a few sellers. One said it grows to about 5cm. Another said it grows so fast, it reaches the surface in about 2 weeks.

But I'm only curious to see how long they can survive under water.


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## Progen

Those look like what user12455pk has in his tank. I don't mind those since I can use them as a mid ground in a nano or a foreground carpet in my 50g.


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## Progen

Here's an update.


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## John Wong

Perhaps some one should try it out and let us know how it fares under different conditions 

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## Progen

It germinates very quickly and then slows down.


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## John Wong

Progen said:


> It germinates very quickly and then slows down.


Germinate very quick indicate good energy reserve in seeds for germination. Slow down after exhausted all reserve and forced to capture energy through photosynthesis. 

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## Sucram Nosiren

summicron said:


> Here's a youtube video (not mine) on carpet seeds after 133 days. No Co2 was used I was told.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_mwDt0rsTk
> 
> There is another type of seed that grows hair grass but I can't find photos or videos of it. I did get some feedback from a few sellers. One said it grows to about 5cm. Another said it grows so fast, it reaches the surface in about 2 weeks.
> 
> But I'm only curious to see how long they can survive under water.


there is a bubble counter and co2 tank behind the tank

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## Progen

John Wong said:


> Germinate very quick indicate good energy reserve in seeds for germination. Slow down after exhausted all reserve and forced to capture energy through photosynthesis.
> 
> Sent from my MX4 using Tapatalk


The immersed ones are doing good.


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## Progen

16 days now. The emersed ones are 50 - 50. One group is still doing fine. The other has died. They're just an inch away from each other.


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## H2O Life

Finally, I found the thread I've been searching for. I joined the forum and asked what these seeds are in another forum on this site. I'll try to link that thread to this one. 

I really like the look and just wanted to know what the plants are and its life span along with care. Here's my setup:


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## Progen

H2O Life said:


> Finally, I found the thread I've been searching for. I joined the forum and asked what these seeds are in another forum on this site. I'll try to link that thread to this one.
> 
> I really like the look and just wanted to know what the plants are and its life span along with care. Here's my setup:


How long have you had yours underwater?


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## MrFishTank5372

I had one friend that got some for free. I did after several days submerged


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## Progen

These are my immersed ones after 24 days from seeding. I'm going that they are marsilea quadrifolia which can live in an immersed environment.


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## Opare

Progen said:


> These are my immersed ones after 24 days from seeding. I'm going that they are marsilea quadrifolia which can live in an immersed environment.


Marsilea quadrifolia is a fern if I'm not mistaken, so these plants are probably not that, as ferns reproduce via spores and not seeds.


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## Progen

Damn, what the the hell are these then???


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## Opare

One of the hobby's greatest mysteries...


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## Progen

If they can survive indefinitely being immersed, they'll bring about a new era in carpeting. Forget all that dry start nonsense. Just sprinkle the seeds into the water and voila!!!! A thick carpet within a month.


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## H2O Life

Progen said:


> How long have you had yours underwater?[/QUOTE
> It's been exactly 4 weeks since I filled the tank from a dry start. Looks good but not sure what will become of them after a trim. Pulled a few out and they appear to be individual plants...no runners.
> 
> Bump:
> 
> 
> Progen said:
> 
> 
> 
> If they can survive indefinitely being immersed, they'll bring about a new era in carpeting. Forget all that dry start nonsense. Just sprinkle the seeds into the water and voila!!!! A thick carpet within a month.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't think it's that simple. They float. I tried holding a few seeds in the water...some did sink to the bottom. The best method would be a dry start.
Click to expand...


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## John Wong

Just confirm, one of the species they use is Nicandra Physalodes. Since all the info are in Chinese so I can't show it here. 

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## Progen

H2O Life said:


> Bump:
> Don't think it's that simple. They float. I tried holding a few seeds in the water...some did sink to the bottom. The best method would be a dry start.


Not if you soak them first.


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## Progen

Getting even more mysterious now because the immersed ones are still doing fine and have about 6 - 8 leaves now but the emersed ones have almost completely died.

By the way, here's what the Chinese are said to use them for.


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## John Wong

Ya, as I said before, one of the species they use is nicandra physalodes. Chinese use them as masque due to its moisturising properties. In China they market them as masque if sea weed made by seeds if sea weed (which obviously wrong). 

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## Progen

Here's one of the little buggers. No idea why but my angelfish keeps uprooting them.


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## Bananableps

I recently purchased some _Plant Seed Aquarium Fish Tank Plants Prospects Grass Seed Grass Landscaping Decoration_ on Amazon. Was hoping they'd be glosso, but it's looking more like HC. Just immersed them the other day. They were pretty cheap, and I still have a ton more, so I won't be too disappointed if they melt.

I filled this tank up with old aquarium water, hoping the dissolved organic carbon might help the newly submerged seedlings along


















I've got a pump that will pour water over the stump (filled with gravel sitting in netting), just need some elbows to plumb it.


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## Progen

Buddy, they start off with little round leaves so they can be mistaken for HC but they're definitely not. These are mine after 2 months. I didn't replant them because I don't want them but I'm leaving some around to find out what they grow into and how long can they survive immersed.


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## H2O Life

Here are the ones I replanted in another tank after 3 months.


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## Progen

Someone suggested Hygrophila Polysperma. The trouble with all these plants is that they look different when immersed and emersed and even the immersed ones can look different from tank to tank due to varying parameters.


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## CrispycleanJB

I also bought some random seeds from a eBay seller in China. Mine look similar to some of your pictures in the earlier thread. So far so good it has been about a week immersed. For my case, the seeds came in after I filled my tank.. I had to use a syringe to place the seeds under the gravel. Still worked! Hoping these last longer than the 2 months everyone has been stating.


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## CrispycleanJB

Pics


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## PEdwards

Those seedling look a lot like ones I grew from seeds and they're definitely not HC. Give them some time to grow and see what happens.


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## Stevie Irawan

This stuff is pretty phenomenal in my country for about a year but now the trend kind of died off by itself. We call it instant carpet seed. Grew tall and died in a few months time.

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## zenche

been inactive on these boards for a long time. just not as enthusiastic about the hobby these guys i guess...kinda like having my tank run on minimal maintenance and just enjoying my discus. but anyway, i do live in china now and i've actually tried these. i carpeted my 75G with these months ago...it grew quickly and filled things up. they grew to be 5" or so (above substrate) and got really dense after 3-4 months. their roots are quite shallow, my SAE's would root them up all the time...it got to be too annoying and i ended up removing all of them from the tank and starting over.


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## hassan.nabeel

@Progen

Can you confirm the status of your plants from seeds. Last month, I was looking on AliExpress to buy a good light to restart my 10 Gallon. I saw some cheap seeds and ordered them as well.

I had to pay 25 dollars luxury Tax on Chichiros LED but seeds were not taxed at all . 

No one on this forum has confirmed the status of their seeds after 3-4 months. I am in dry start stage in this bowl. My plan is to keep it planted bowl only. No fish. I can't get separate N P K in my country. Going to use GrowMore 20,20,20 formula with DIY CO2. Hope this turns into something.

First Pics is Day 0
Second is Day 2
Third is Day 4

Thanks for reading.


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## dbl_dbl17

hassan.nabeel said:


> @Progen
> 
> Can you confirm the status of your plants from seeds. Last month, I was looking on AliExpress to buy a good light to restart my 10 Gallon. I saw some cheap seeds and ordered them as well.
> 
> I had to pay 25 dollars luxury Tax on Chichiros LED but seeds were not taxed at all .
> 
> No one on this forum has confirmed the status of their seeds after 3-4 months. I am in dry start stage in this bowl. My plan is to keep it planted bowl only. No fish. I can't get separate N P K in my country. Going to use GrowMore 20,20,20 formula with DIY CO2. Hope this turns into something.
> 
> First Pics is Day 0
> Second is Day 2
> Third is Day 4
> 
> Thanks for reading.



I am just going to be real with you - that rock looks like feces.


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## puriance

dbl_dbl17 said:


> I am just going to be real with you - that rock looks like feces.


After a night of whiskey


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## dbl_dbl17

puriance said:


> After a night of whiskey




The ol whiskey [censored][censored][censored][censored] bowl. Been growing those for years.


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## puriance

dbl_dbl17 said:


> The ol whiskey [censored][censored][censored][censored] bowl. Been growing those for years.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I'm in the process of growing my own right now actually. Also, I posted about your avatar and name in a Canadian thread. You're my spirit animal and you should know that.


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## hassan.nabeel

Update on my bowl 05/05/17

Plants appear to have carpeted well. I filled it with water 4 days ago. Doing DIY CO2 and daily water changes with growmore 20:20:20 water soluble fertilization. Only the seeds that appear like HairGrass are pearling. Seems like the other seeds might not be aquatic. Will find out in couple of weeks.


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## summicron

hassan,

Could you post regular updates on those hairgrass-like seeds? I am curious to see how it looks after some time and if it survives.


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## evultrole

These threads always seem to die before anyone really grows these things out well. For those who are curious, I've bothered to do that because I was hoping they'd be something interesting, and they sort of were.

The "large" variety is definitely a land plant, but the "small" seems to be a mix of hygrophila polysperma and hygrophila araguaia. The polysperma is a lot easier to dig up, so my fish killed almost all of it within the first 40 days.

I grew them by raking the seeds into my substrate and filling my tank, no dry grow time was given.

With heavy light and good nutrients they get huge, here's a photo of the mess they turned into after 90 days in my tank. They're averaging about 15 inches tall right now but one is breaching the surface at 30+ inches. They had really rapid growth from about 50 days to 75 days as the roots really took hold, then growth slowed down a lot.










The wisteria in the back wasn't part of it, although I think it looks like a pretty natural fit with the rest of the hygrophila mess.


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## moseschi1

Sorry to dig up an old post, but I am on a quest to find the genus and species of this exact plant. I have used these for my very first planted tank and it was a success. Mine was germinated from seed like the rest of you on July 2017 and they are thriving as you can see in the picture below. 

20180126_162934 by moseschi, on Flickr


Someone asked me what it was and wanted to purchase/trade some of the plant; but I could not give them a name other than "Magic Seeds from China." Here are some close up shots.

2018-01-30_05-33-40 by moseschi, on Flickr

2018-01-30_05-33-55 by moseschi, on Flickr

2018-01-30_05-34-08 by moseschi, on Flickr


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## RSS

John Wong said:


> Some update.. It's also been used in China for aquascape. Any one who know Chinese can search for it. But of course as I said its only last for few months in water. It is considered by some in China as a scam as very easy "aquatic plant" , however if you not intent to keep your scape long term than its very easy plant that worth a try, it even don't need co2 injection.
> 
> Their official website. (only Chinese)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Different species of 海藻面膜
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my MX4 using Tapatalk


In the US this is what we use them for..


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## moseschi1

*Aquatic plant for sure*



RSS said:


> In the US this is what we use them for..


Ha ha :grin2: 

I understand that there are people who will use something for any other reason except for what they were "original" meant to be used for. These plant seeds are for growing not to put it on a face or grow a beard. :smile2: 

These seeds are definitely aquatic. I just want to know the genus and species of this mysterious Ebay HG seeds. So I am guessing you don't know either? There must be some plant expert who knows what these are.


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## RSS

moseschi1 said:


> Ha ha :grin2:
> 
> I understand that there are people who will use something for any other reason except for what they were "original" meant to be used for. These plant seeds are for growing not to put it on a face or grow a beard. :smile2:
> 
> These seeds are definitely aquatic. I just want to know the genus and species of this mysterious Ebay HG seeds. So I am guessing you don't know either? There must be some plant expert who knows what these are.


It is encouraging that you are having success with yours and I am of no help identifying what you have. Have you noticed if they are reproducing?


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## moseschi1

RSS said:


> It is encouraging that you are having success with yours and I am of no help identifying what you have. Have you noticed if they are reproducing?


I cut them (mow them down) every other week, so I don't give them enough time to reproduce. I received them as a seed, so they probably reproduce as seeds. However, I have noticed that these have creeping roots and propagate sideways. They have filled all the substrate except under places with heavy shadow. They dare not creep under a rock or under driftwood.


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## MissCris

Aww, now I need to try my "magic seeds".

I ordered them out of sheer morbid curiosity off ebay a few months back, but haven't tried them yet. If some are true aquatic plants, that could be fun.


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## moseschi1

MissCris said:


> Aww, now I need to try my "magic seeds".
> 
> I ordered them out of sheer morbid curiosity off ebay a few months back, but haven't tried them yet. If some are true aquatic plants, that could be fun.



I have had these in my aquarium for 6 months now. Make sure you trim them. Out of curiosity, I did not trim them for 4 weeks and it grew as tall as half my tank. If I have left it... it would have reached the top. So technically it is not a low carpet plant. I trim them every 2 weeks and it looks like a beautifully manicured front yard.

But if you think of regular grass on your front or back yard, during rainy summer days, if you don't mow them down for 2 or 3 months, it will grow as tall as your waist (easily 4 feet). 

But when you keep these "magic seeds from china" short, it looks real good (and I think there are at least 3 different kind of plant species that I can tell apart)


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## vanish

moseschi1 said:


> 2018-01-30_05-34-08 by moseschi, on Flickr


This is definitely hygro polysperma.

For whoever was saying they want to figure out the exact species ... what's to say all theses ARE one species? There could be all different kinds of seeds in these things.


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## moseschi1

*Hygrophila*



vanish said:


> This is definitely hygro polysperma.
> 
> For whoever was saying they want to figure out the exact species ... what's to say all theses ARE one species? There could be all different kinds of seeds in these things.


Yup. They do look like Hygrophila Polysperma. And some even looks like Hygrophila Araguaia.

I think "most" of the species in my batch of seeds are from the genus of Hygrophila. 

Thanks for the identification.


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## Stefs

Can someone update this?
Will this survive more than 6 months?
Is this worth it?


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## moseschi1

Stefs said:


> Can someone update this?
> Will this survive more than 6 months?
> Is this worth it?


Mine has been fully submerged in my tank for 2 consecutive years. Ever since it sprouted, it hasn't had a single contact with air. And it is alive and the plants are very healthy.


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## somewhatshocked

If this is H. polysperma, you're illegally importing an invasive species and transporting it across state lines. Depending upon your location, you could be subject to arrest or even steep fines. If you _*think*_ it's H. polysperma? Best to avoid it.

From our Acceptable Use Policy, to which you all agreed upon establishing an account with the forum, is our policy re: illegal activity:



> 2. Do not discuss how to perform, elude capture, or profit from illegal activities.


Yes, simply buying seeds or plants from fleabay can be illegal. If you're bringing plant matter into the US or Canada (regardless of species), phytosanitary certification is a requirement - it's on the seller and the buyer to have documentation in place.

Note that APHIS and Canadian CBP regularly monitor the forum.


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