# Easy and small plants - roots in water and leaves mostly out of water



## The Red-Tailed Shark (26 Feb 2019)

I have one of those mini complete tanks. I want to have a central price of driftwood, with a plant on the top and the leaves growing out the tank. I’m *thinking* of 4 Thai microcrabs in the tank and don’t want to dose ferts or Co2. I also don’t want to have to most them or keep them in a humid environment. Can anubias grow in these conditions and emesrsed? Or some fern plants? Basically any suggestion appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## dw1305 (27 Feb 2019)

Hi all, 





The Red-Tailed Shark said:


> Can anubias grow in these conditions and emesrsed?


It can, although usually they do best if they naturally grow up and out of the water, rather than being plant above the water line. 

You can use a small "house plant" , have a look at some <"Wabi Kusa"> threads, something like a _Pilea_ sp. or <"_Ficus pumila">_ might suit you better. 

cheers Darrel


----------



## The Red-Tailed Shark (27 Feb 2019)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, It can, although usually they do best if they naturally grow up and out of the water, rather than being plant above the water line.
> 
> You can use a small "house plant" , have a look at some <"Wabi Kusa"> threads, something like a _Pilea_ sp. or <"_Ficus pumila">_ might suit you better.
> 
> cheers Darrel



Thanks Darrel.
If I went with anubias the rhizomes and roots would be underwater, but the majority of the plants leaves out of the water. For an experiment I got some anubias from my planted tank and set it up like that and the leaves turned crispy and dry in about 10 hours. This means my rooms is too dry or is t just adjusting?
I really like the look of the palm aswell but not sure how it would do with the lower stem fully submerged and without soil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## akwarium (27 Feb 2019)

I've kept anubias graciles growing emersed from a tank, but that where imported plants. Anubias from nurseries can dry out real quick sometimes, so they may need some slow acclimatization.

Bolbitis heteroclita difformis should work, Hedera helix cuttings also  do great.


----------



## dw1305 (27 Feb 2019)

Hi all, 





The Red-Tailed Shark said:


> For an experiment I got some anubias from my planted tank and set it up like that and the leaves turned crispy and dry in about 10 hours. This means my rooms is too dry or is t just adjusting?


I'm prettty sure if you take a submerged one and place it out of the water it will just crisp whatever you do. 

Have a look at <"Something dense for the back"> for some ordinary _Aubias barteri, _that have grown emersed under their own steam. 





akwarium said:


> Hedera helix cuttings also do great.


Is a good suggestion.

cheers Darrel


----------



## dw1305 (27 Feb 2019)

Hi all,





The Red-Tailed Shark said:


> I really like the look of the palm aswell but not sure how it would do with the lower stem fully submerged and without soil.


I've never tried a Palm, but _Ficus benjamina_ grows well and you can easily root the cutting in the tank water.

I've almost certainly got some spare rooted cutting in one of the tanks. There is a plant growing in the stair-well in the building I work in and if it is encroaching too far onto the stairs I give it a trim and put a couple of cuttings in one of the tanks .

Have a look at <"True bonsai...."> and <"Round indoor pond project queries">.

cheers Darrel


----------



## tam (27 Feb 2019)

How big do you want it to be? A lot of the carpet style plants grow well emersed and stay small e.g. hydrocotyle verticillata, Staurogyne repens is also tough emersed and has flowered for me. Growing moss on it as well would help with the moisture around the roots and be enough for little plants that don't generally grow on wood to hold on.


----------



## zozo (3 Mar 2019)

hemianthus callitrichoides one of the smalles available does actualy quit good emersed with their roots in the water. But it still needs ample light and ferts and likes a stable invironment it's sensitive to sudden changes. A beter option would be Soleirolia soleirolii, a HC look a like that is available in any garden centre. It doesn't mind wet feet. 

Bog pimpernel, tho also a high light loving plant if grown indoors. 

hydrocotyle tripartita is very easy to grow also in relative low light condition, tho this one is extremely atractive and sensitive to greenfly and spider mite. They will kill it in no time.

Hydrocotyle novae-zelandiae is even smaller and less susceptible.

Bacopa caroliniana  als flowers easily with beatifull little purple flowers.

lilaeopsis brasiliensis, very easy to grow small grassy plant.
Eleocharis sp. also.

Exceppt the tripatita and HC all above also can seasonaly be found early summer in well arranged pond shops available as marginal pond plants. And this is particularly handy, because these plants are nursed to a degree of maturity on dirted pots for outdoor conditions. Thus are already transitioned to lower humidity from the shelf. If you buy these same plants from aqaurium plant nurseries than they are nursed in high humidity and you need to slowly transition them to low humidity which can be a pain in the bud.


----------



## The Red-Tailed Shark (23 Mar 2019)

Just realised I forgot to reply - thanks everyone for the suggestions have ha d a look at them and have found a couple that are exactly what I’m after. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------

