# True Aquatic Plants?



## abcemorse (May 28, 2008)

I've read several threads about Petco selling plants that are not true aquatics. How do you tell the difference? BTW, I have stopped buying stuff there, last time I did got ick. I buy all my stuff from my LFS now, no probs since.......


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## ericpop27 (May 13, 2008)

*At my local Petco, only the swords turned out to be true aquatics. At some PetCos they label them...I guess mine is just sleazy like that.

Best to stick to supplies at PetCo, order your livestock online or from LFS if you're lucky enough to have any.*


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

The best way to tell true aqautics from "non" is to study. Check out the Plant Finder here (top of the screen in a gold colored menubar, far left).


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

abcemorse said:


> ... I buy all my stuff from my LFS now, no probs since.......


I've been to many lfs's and seen mondo grass, little palms, etc in their plant tanks for sale. Don't assume, learn the plants you're loooking at. Your lfs may be different, I hope so.


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

the purple waffle is probably the most commonly sold non aquatic plant. everyone that doesn't know about aquatic plants see that in petco and go "ooh that purple plant will look great in my goldfish bowl" usually the only true aquatic plants I see at petco are swords and java fern


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## xspy (Mar 29, 2008)

The Aqua fern is another one that petco sells that is not an aquatic plant.


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## customdrumfinishes (Apr 1, 2008)

alot of pet stores just buy stuff and dont know what is and sometimes labeled wrong to!
best to find the plants you want and will work for your tank good then buy them.
buying form memebers is the easy way to get true aquatics and cheaper


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

abcemorse said:


> I've read several threads about Petco selling plants that are not true aquatics. How do you tell the difference?


As a *general* rule for stem plants, if the LFS employee pulls them from the tank and they remain erect, it is probably not a good idea to buy it. The plant is either not a true aquatic plant or it is something that has been grown emmersed. Emmersed plants will usually convert back to a submersed state but you can expect to see a lot of the stems die and not make the conversion. While the price may seem good at the time, it will probably be cheaper to buy a submersed plant from a hobbyist, even after the cost of shipping.

The same is *generally* true for rosette/rhizome plants with the exception of Anubias species. It is a little harder to tell on these types of plants but with submersed growth sword plants the majority of leaves will drop to more of a horizontal position when they are pulled from the tank. The same thing with emmersed grown Hairgrass...the leaves will tend to drop to a horizontal position out of the water. If the leaves remain erect, it is either not a true aquatic or it has been grown emmersed.

As with all rules, there are exceptions such as Anubias species mentioned above but most of the other "exceptions" I have not seen for sale in a LFS.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Another thing to look for is multicolored leaves on a sword plant look-alike. Those that are cream color plus green are almost always terrestrial plants. There aren't may multicolored leaf aquatic plants of any kind.


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