# Plants that can survive with waterlogged roots



## BepopCola (Aug 12, 2019)

I saw a series of youtube videos that started with setting up a filterless betta tank by using a sweet potato.
There's probably a word for it, but I can't think of a better description than waterlogged roots.

Anyways, I want to try out an aquarium like this, but I'd like to try plants other than a sweet potato.
I know pothos can survive with their roots always being in water, but I'm not sure about any others.
I'll probably experiment a bit.

Do you guys think any plants stand out as potential candidates?
Has anyone had experience with any plants living with their roots always in water?

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## schmiggle (Aug 13, 2019)

Carnivorous plants, of course, but they're probably not what you're looking for since they'd be rather inefficient in most cases at sucking up nutrients.

Water hyacinth--very plentiful in the South, and naturally floats. Just don't introduce it outside, and trim the roots occasionally since they can get crazy.

Salvinia--similar. Believe it has less nice flowers, and instead of roots you'll just be trimming the entire plant. Pretty frequently, too--they have a doubling time of 2-10 days in ideal conditions.

I've seen Dracaena do ok in situations like this; probably any of those hardy jungle house plants would work ok, since they often come from seasonally inundated habitats.

Saggitaria could work, though you'd be making it permanently dwarfed. Make sure to get a tropical or subtropical species if you use it. Same goes for a whole host of those tall marsh plants--cattail, bullrush, Spartina, maybe even yellow iris. Make sure they're from relatively eutrophic habitats, not highly acidic, nutrient poor places like bogs.

Willow, but you'd need to bonsai it (which is basically what's going on with that sweet potato anyway). Again, you would want a tropical or subtropical species if such a thing exists.

I'll keep thinking about this. With any wetland plant you know you're ok, but with others it's hit or miss.

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## BepopCola (Aug 13, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> Willow, but you'd need to bonsai it


That sounds pretty cool actually. I'll have to look that up.

I do love Dracaena and the local petco seems to have them on sale all the time.

Thanks for the suggestions!


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## The Snark (Aug 13, 2019)

Water convolvulus, Ipomoea aquatica. Floats on water, edible, growth dependent upon available nitrogen. Staple diet around these parts.

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## schmiggle (Aug 13, 2019)

BepopCola said:


> That sounds pretty cool actually. I'll have to look that up.
> 
> I do love Dracaena and the local petco seems to have them on sale all the time.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions!


Once you're going the bonsai root you could also use bald cypress. I don't know how any of these trees respond to having wet feet while bonsaied, though.


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## Galapoheros (Aug 13, 2019)

I have a 10gal, unfiltered with only snails in it.  I bought a few plants at PetSmart and they've been growing for a few years.

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## The Seraph (Aug 13, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> Willow, but you'd need to bonsai it (which is basically what's going on with that sweet potato anyway). Again, you would want a tropical or subtropical species if such a thing exists.





schmiggle said:


> Once you're going the bonsai root you could also use bald cypress. I don't know how any of these trees respond to having wet feet while bonsaied, though.


I know that hydroponic bonsai do exist. The only problem might be fertilizers, as bonsai already require a lot of fertilizer and a hydroponic bonsai seems like it requires even more. You would either have to have a large billiard or use fertilizers that might be harmful to the fish/inverts.

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## BepopCola (Aug 13, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> I have a 10gal, unfiltered with only snails in it.  I bought a few plants at PetSmart and they've been growing for a few years.


Were they aquatic plants?
I have a 5.5gal with some nerite snails and a sponge filter but a plant would be nice too.


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## The Seraph (Aug 13, 2019)

BepopCola said:


> Were they aquatic plants?
> I have a 5.5gal with some nerite snails and a sponge filter but a plant would be nice too.


I used to have something similar. It was a ten gallon with vallisneria, java fern and dwarf hairgrass. I had some phantom shrimp in there with a nerite. It was very nice looking. It does need a constant light source. I prefer to use compact florescent bulbs but you can use LEDs, I just have had experiences with algae using LEDs.

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## Galapoheros (Aug 13, 2019)

BepopCola said:


> Were they aquatic plants?
> I have a 5.5gal with some nerite snails and a sponge filter but a plant would be nice too.


Yeah aquatic plants, they are usually at the end of an aisle close the fish section sold in a tube with high humidity, not full of water.  I've seen small tubers there too of some kind of aquatic plant for sale.  I don't use a filter and the water is crystal clear and no smell.  Somehow freshwater limpets showed up in that tank and those especially keep the algae off the glass.  I even bought a Beta about 3 years ago that was kind of weird for me to do, not into those, just an impulse thing, he died this month in that tank.  Guess the snails took care of the bod because I see no trace of it.

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## The Seraph (Aug 13, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> I've seen small tubers there too of some kind of aquatic plant for sale


Those are probably Aponogeton, water onions or water lilies. I would not recommend them for a nano tank as they get kinda big.

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## Galapoheros (Aug 13, 2019)

I do have Aponogeton ulvaceus and yeah it got pretty big and bloomed, it smelled bad to me.  Still doing well but died back some after being spent a little which was a good thing.  I think I've had it for 3 years.

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## AzJohn (Aug 18, 2019)

Anubias

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## BepopCola (Aug 19, 2019)

I love Anubias. I didn't realize they weren't strictly aqautic. Thank you!


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## AzJohn (Aug 19, 2019)

BepopCola said:


> I love Anubias. I didn't realize they weren't strictly aqautic. Thank you!


A lot of plants are like that. I grow Anubias and aquatic ferns in all my dart frog tanks. Any of the bare root plants in the plastic cups, not under water at petco and pets smart would probably fit the bill.

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## toan (Aug 20, 2019)

I'm more of a fish guy than a T guy. Almost all "non-stem" plants sold for aquariums can be grown emerged, and many of the stem plants can also be grown emerged in a bog setup. the list of possible plants is probably in the thousands. and many are interesting and really attractive. the list of aquarium plants that cannot be grown emerged is probably very short: guppy grass, hornwort, algae, and anacharis are the only ones I can think of.

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## toan (Aug 20, 2019)

Here I have sword plants, L. rugosa, mosaic plant, monte carlo, maybe some others i'm forgetting.

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## The Seraph (Aug 20, 2019)

I believe most aquarium plants at the chain pet stores are already grown emersed. Hence why they tend to melt when introduced into an aquarium, alongside the usual rehoming stress and/or being Cryptocoryne.


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## BepopCola (Aug 20, 2019)

I'm learning so much from this thread.


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## BepopCola (Sep 1, 2019)

I took my anubias out of my aquarium and planted it. In a little humid 5gal. But the leaves appear to be wilting.
Is this a normal process?
Would it be safer to just transfer it back into the aquarium?


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## toan (Sep 2, 2019)

yes, and yes. anubias has a hard time transitioning from wet to dry, but not so much the other way. I've heard of ppl complaining about their anubias "melted" when they put them into their tank but I've never actually experienced that. I think it's mostly exaggerated, and they just wanted to blame something. you can put it back and it should pick back up quickly. to move them to emerged conditions, you want to do it slowly.

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## KevinLovett86 (Sep 19, 2019)

I’m gonna try this, it’s very popular in any school or office space in China. Not sure what it’s called, but it will root in soil, water and air. It also handles low light pretty well.
Still early days for me though, that vile has been laying there all day waiting for my 1st pokie to emerge into his/her new home


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## schmiggle (Sep 19, 2019)

KevinLovett86 said:


> I’m gonna try this, it’s very popular in any school or office space in China. Not sure what it’s called, but it will root in soil, water and air. It also handles low light pretty well.
> Still early days for me though, that vile has been laying there all day waiting for my 1st pokie to emerge into his/her new home
> View attachment 321040


Looks like a philodendron or pothos to me.

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## Abdulkarim Elnaas (Nov 29, 2019)

There are a lot of mint-like plants growing wild in the stream near my house. I didn't know mints could grow fully or half-submerged, but they seem to be doing well.

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## BepopCola (Nov 29, 2019)

Abdulkarim Elnaas said:


> There are a lot of mint-like plants growing wild in the stream near my house. I didn't know mints could grow fully or half-submerged, but they seem to be doing well.


I actually just sprouted some spearmint over an aquarium. I'm hoping they grow nicely!

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## The Snark (Nov 30, 2019)

DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

How about grabbing the hydroponic plant catalogues?

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## BepopCola (Nov 30, 2019)

The Snark said:


> DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
> 
> How about grabbing the hydroponic plant catalogues?


It took me way too long to realize that.


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## The Snark (Nov 30, 2019)

BepopCola said:


> It took me way too long to realize that.


Me too. Was reviewing this thread again then PING! Wait a freaking second! Your mentioning sprouting over an aquarium then recalling a the 50 foot 'raceways' at a friend's hydroponic operation. face palm
The better catalogues give the low down info on the characteristics of every plant.

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## Feral (Jan 26, 2020)

Or any bog-type plants. Or plants that have seasonally dropping water levels. Depends on if you're trying to float them bare-rooted or providing a pot with rooting medium that hangs at surface level. So yeah. Besides what's been mentioned, acorus, water onion, pickerel, pennywort, sensitive vine, dwarf lotus, dwarf papyrus, peace lily, creeping Jenny/moneywort, corkscrew grass, dracaena/"lucky bamboo", pitcher plants et. al., mint family, Cryptocoryne sp. and Anubias sp., various sword sp., Java fern sp., also various pothos/Epipremnum  sp. and common (heart-leafed) philodendron can be kept with feet in water long term (I bet Scindapsis sp. and Tradescantia sp. like zebrina might be worth a shot to see if they'll work long term, since they also root well in water). I'll add more if my lightbulb flickers.

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## Feral (Jan 26, 2020)

Oh, and I love Foo The Flowerhorn, too! <3

Also, the only times I've ever been successful at transitioning plants like Anubias sp. from submerged to emerged is within a Mason jar with a clear glass (to let light in) lid. I put them in and establish them submerged. Then I lowered the water level to just cover the rhizome and roots. I haven't needed to drop the water slowly, using closed Mason jars I can drop it in one go. Since the lid kept in so much humdity, they didn't seem to mind this part at all. Sometimes I just keep them this way long term. But if I'm trying for more then if they're cool I replaced the lid with clear Saran Wrap and gradually poked more and more holes to gradually increase ventilation/decrease humidity. They'll always need a waaay lot more humdity than other normal houseplants, though. So unless your house humdity is pretty darn high, I don't think they could survive being grown openly emerged even with the marginal increase in humidity supplied by being directly over open water. But as mentioned, some aquatic plants have a more dramatic acclimation phase/submersion or emersion transition, like Crypts, who have two different types of leaves, one for underwater and one type for air. But many aquatic plants are sold in their emerged forms already.


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## BepopCola (Jan 26, 2020)

Feral said:


> Oh, and I love Foo The Flowerhorn, too! <3
> 
> Also, the only times I've ever been successful at transitioning plants like Anubias sp. from submerged to emerged is within a Mason jar with a clear glass (to let light in) lid. I put them in and establish them submerged. Then I lowered the water level to just cover the rhizome and roots. I haven't needed to drop the water slowly, using closed Mason jars I can drop it in one go. Since the lid kept in so much humdity, they didn't seem to mind this part at all. Sometimes I just keep them this way long term. But if I'm trying for more then if they're cool I replaced the lid with clear Saran Wrap and gradually poked more and more holes to gradually increase ventilation/decrease humidity. They'll always need a waaay lot more humdity than other normal houseplants, though. So unless your house humdity is pretty darn high, I don't think they could survive being grown openly emerged even with the marginal increase in humidity supplied by being directly over open water. But as mentioned, some aquatic plants have a more dramatic acclimation phase/submersion or emersion transition, like Crypts, who have two different types of leaves, one for underwater and one type for air. But many aquatic plants are sold in their emerged forms already.


Yeah, I failed on transitioning my Anubias. All the leaves died. But the trunk(?) looks like it trying to re-grow some. I have 3 tiny Anubias nana petite in the same jar vivarium, and those guys seem to be doing very good.

Also, thanks for the plant suggestions. I have an extra peace lily that I might try this with.

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## Feral (Jan 26, 2020)

Fingers crossed. And I really hope you post pix, I'd love to see it! 

BTW, what animals would you have? I'm just thinking about if any of these plants might be toxic to little nibblers...


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## BepopCola (Jan 26, 2020)

With the Anunbias sp., I only have some velvet worms, but they won't bother with the plants. I also have 2 mystery "aquarium" plants in there that I got from petco.

For the aquarium, I made a little basket with some eggcrate, and I only have nerite snails in the tank. They can't through the squares in the egg crate. They don't seem too interested in the plants' roots either.

As for growing them rooted in the aquarium water I've had success with a few species of pothos, strawberries, dracaena sp., a philodendron sp., and a spider plant. All my mints withered away, maybe it was too dry for them  .
I've since transplanted most of these plants into vivariums, except a few pothos. So I have room for a peace lily .

I keep mostly millipedes! I've found a handful of plants that seem to work with them (and not get eaten; except by A. gigas... little gluttons, they only get a bromeliad, at least I think it's a bromeliad).
I have a cutting of neon pothos, Boston fern, and spider plant in with my death feigning beetles, and then just I have a dedicated plant tank.
Oh, and Vonones ornata in every tank.

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## Feral (Jan 26, 2020)

BepopCola said:


> With the Anunbias sp., I only have some velvet worms, but they won't bother with the plants. I also have 2 mystery "aquarium" plants in there that I got from petco.
> 
> For the aquarium, I made a little basket with some eggcrate, and I only have nerite snails in the tank. They can't through the squares in the egg crate. They don't seem too interested in the plants' roots either.
> 
> ...


That sounds lovely, like a happy, jungle-y wonderland... Magical.  Love it!
And I love nerites, too. Yup! Right now I have Gadusi, and she's a beautiful beast- slayer of algae, layer of scores of eggs, destroyer of aqua scaping. Love her to bits. It's cool you like 'em, too! Awesome.

Mints do like a ton of light... I personally haven't found a window spot or artificial light that lets me grow them indoors, whether in soil or water. I've only been able to do various mints outside, either as a bog plant in summer fish tubs or in regular containers with soil. So I wonder if that was your experience, too. But outside, they're total weeds. Literally.

Oops, I also forgot Callisia repens as one of the ones that roots beautifully in water so might be a candidate for keeping long term in water.

I always used to have a strawberry plant because of the legend, but I haven't had on in a while and I've never tried keeping one directly in water... I sense a summer project brewing for me, thanks for the inspiration!

Hey, how long were you able to keep spider plant/chlorophytum sp. going in water? I've done experiments with them in plain tap water, distilled water, water with liquid ferts (aquarium), etc. and obviously the root well in water but I haven't been able to keep them in water long term no matter what I do. Have you?


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## BepopCola (Jan 26, 2020)

Snails are great.
I had some land snails, but they've died. There are some good-sized snails and slugs outside, but I'm scared of rat lungworm so I leave them be. 



Feral said:


> Mints do like a ton of light... I personally haven't found a window spot or artificial light that lets me grow them indoors, whether in soil or water.


That... that's probably what happened. Thanks for the info!



Feral said:


> Callisia repens


I need this plant in my life. The "pink lady" one is beautiful.



Feral said:


> I always used to have a strawberry plant because of the legend, but I haven't had on in a while and I've never tried keeping one directly in water... I sense a summer project brewing for me, thanks for the inspiration!


The strawberries grew wonderfully. They flowered a lot, but they haven't fruited. I only moved them into my plant tank because it had a stronger light. I'll attach my plant tank.



Feral said:


> Hey, how long were you able to keep spider plant/chlorophytum sp. going in water? I've done experiments with them in plain tap water, distilled water, water with liquid ferts (aquarium), etc. and obviously the root well in water but I haven't been able to keep them in water long term no matter what I do. Have you?


Oh, I'm not sure about the long term,
I only kept it in there for about four months. I originally had it in with my A. gigas with a deep, deep layer of substrate, but then I relocated and I moved it into another tank with shallow substrate, and it began to rot, it couldn't drain well enough I suppose, and it rotted away all its leaves. 
Some roots were still alive though! 
So I put them in my aquarium basket and it sprouted back up and grew pretty quickly.
I will try water again, for a permanent aquarium plant, but I'm waiting for some offshoots. I think it would great beside a Callisia repens. If it can survive long term.

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## Feral (Jan 26, 2020)

BepopCola said:


> So I put them in my aquarium basket and it sprouted back up and grew pretty quickly.
> I will try water again, for a permanent aquarium plant, but I'm waiting for some offshoots. I think it would great beside a Callisia repens. If it can survive long term.


I'd be interest rates to see how it does, yes.
Oh, and the _Chlorophytum_ sp./spider and the _Callisia repens_ I have together in my current favorite enclosure, and I agree that it looks good! Mine is just the green leaves (with purple-ish leaf undersides and stems in bright light) variety, but I still like it. Still waiting for the _repens_ to fill in, but happy so far. I think that pink lady variety would look good for you, I agree!

And that pic is loooovely! Wow, thanks for sharing!
And what is that small, short plant in the foreground on both left and right sides? It short and low and looks like a cluster of long stalks/shoots with just a couple of leaves at the very top? It's adorable. And might be good for a couple of juvenile enclosures I have. I just gotta know the name!


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## BepopCola (Jan 26, 2020)

Feral said:


> And what is that small, short plant in the foreground on both left and right sides? It short and low and looks like a cluster of long stalks/shoots with just a couple of leaves at the very top? It's adorable. And might be good for a couple of juvenile enclosures I have. I just gotta know the name!


On the left are days old chia, lol. I was trying to get them to grow on the wood. I think they do eventually grow larger though. 
On the right are clovers (and a few chia). 
Those are actually the only two plants I'm growing as food for my millis/roaches/isopods, if they'll take them.

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