Nymphoides Hydrophylla 'Taiwan'

No worries H... 

Parameters:  0-0-10  with ph 7.5 - gh 7.5 - kh 6

I don't use CO2 but do use liquid ferts, having started with TNC Complete, switching to Lite but then switching back to Complete... 

Substrate is "Walstad Method" style:  John Innes #3 capped with pea gravel (aside from an area of sand only)

In my experience, it's much slower growing than the Elodia pond weed and the Sessiflora and I personally would say that it's nearer medium speed, or has been in my set up...  Those Amano shrimp have nibbled fairly significantly on the younger leaves, usually victimising one leaf at a time until it has completely gone...  Obviously not damaging the plant to the point of killing it though, plus they tend to leave it more alone since I switched to full size algae wafers (from the micro sized ones)...

The only trimming I've done so far is of a few stalks where the leaves were completely eaten...  So again, in my experience I would definitely describe it as an easy plant - however there is one caveat which you may have picked up on in the Tropica link...  It is a plant that needs a lot of nutrition for the most vigorous growth and my TNC dosing is a fraction of the recommended amount and probably why, combined with the Amano shrimp, it appears to grow at a fairly modest rate... 

On a more personal note, there's something about that plant that I really like...  It has a delicate character, even though the leaves look so large - if you look at the stem thickness you'll see they're quite thin really...  If you were to ask my opinion, I'd say "go for it"...     

Last point that may or may not be significant, but mine was from a tissue culture pot...

You shouldn't have any problems with planting Helen, but by all means feel free to come back and ask for help, any time... 

And yes, by the way, the Tropica 1-2 Grow range are tissue culture plants, guaranteed to be free of pest snails, algae and pesticides etc...

How's the Taiwan going now Helen...?

My Amano shrimp left it alone for a while, then they slowly started picking on it, building up to an all out assault...!!!!  I would guess that if there's enough favourable food, they'd leave the "Taiwan" alone, but I'm too unreliable for my lot, and they just attacked it all out in the end....  That could easily be tank dependant though... 

I got a tissue culture, whick had very few roots, I think. I broke it into pieces and kind of stuffed the stems into my substrate, pretty much as far as i could. I used planting tweezers and have a very fine gravel / Eco complete substrate, which is easier to plant in than sand.

Here's a view of my tank that i don't often show, but you can see the different bits of nymphoid and how they have grown different amounts. All the nymphoid is from the same tissue culture pot.

Hope that helps give you some ideas about planting it.

The instructions on mine said to break in into 6-9 pieces, which i thought was a lot. But I think I ended up with maybe 10 or 11 little clumps that seemed ok sizes. Once it was broken up, I thought it looked like a stem plant, so I treated it like one when planting it.

It said it'd grow about 30cm in 30 days, which I was a little worried about. It hasn't gone quite that mad, fortunately. But that's probably because I've got a pretty low tech tank.

The penguin?  Ha ha ha. The only concession to my 'natural' tank. It was a gift from my daughter when she was pretty little, for mother's day. I couldn't not put him in the tank. So he got a spot in the back corner where the kids can see him easily (eye level), but he doesn't otherwise impose on the look of my tank.  I think he is a character from the film Happy Feet.

I had to fend of Anna and Elsa at the weekend when I was sorting out my hospital tank. And a neon pink 'fluffy' plastic cactus! 

The plant with big green leaves is anubias bateri. It is planted on the substrate with the rhizome above the substrate and the roots making a good cave. That is the original rhizome that I bought. I had about 5cm and put it down the as that was a sort of 'dead' zone where i couldn't get any plants to grow. I had hoped that it would grow taller, but it has gone a bit mad in my tank. I've cut off 4 large bits. I've been able to make use of a couple, but the other two, both bigger than the original piece, are now in my hospital tank.

The plant with big green leaves is anubias bateri.

Great looking plant Helen...  whole tank is looking nicely vibrant in fact... 

Pingu looks like a happy camper too...   

Hope they get settled in nicely...