# Anyone try Hydrolea sp?



## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Just wondering if anyone has ever tried Hydrolea ovata (blue waterleaf) or other Hydrolea species. I see it very often along the margins of water bodies in the field and can't help but wonder if anyone has ever tried it out in an aquarium. Emmersed it's a thorny invasive but looks nice.


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## snail_chen (Dec 4, 2009)

No idea what it is. Do you have a pic?


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Here's a pic of H.ovata. I have several stems of what I guess is H.spinosa since this post in a non-CO2 tank (npt picotope). All of the leaves fell off so I threw the stems away, but accidentally left one in there. It has since put on about a dozen new leaves and looks like it will do fine. I imagine that with CO2 it would do much better and the leaves would be a little larger. I will probably give this stem to a friend who has CO2 and see what happens. If it maintains its current form and grows a little faster I think it will make a nice addition to the hobby, as it is quite appealing.

I will try to get a picture of it soon and post so you can see it. In the meantime, here is a picture from USDA Plant Database of the emmersed form and a link to more information on the Hydrolea genus.









http://plants.usda.gov/java/nameSearch?keywordquery=hydrolea&mode=sciname&submit.x=12&submit.y=11


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Here are a couple pics of the specimen that is in the picotope I am borrowing (getting ready to grow some Cypt. x willisii 'lucens' bronze emmersed). Beneath the surface the stem has retained the thorns; you can see where the emmersed leaves have fallen off; everything else is new submergent growth. Since it's just one stem and it's relatively young and without CO2 there's no way to tell if it's going to be a good plant for the hobby, but it's certainly worth experimenting with.


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