Unknown plant

[Tom C]

This plant (The light green stem plant with hundreds of narrow leaves) has a history.

A few small pieces of it was brought back from a fish trip in Guyana, in 1999, by Alf Stahlsberg (1948 - 2022).
A friend of him was given a piece of it, and successfully cared for this plant all the time since then.
Early this year he told me about it, and gave me two small stems of this beautiful plant.
They seem to love my acid water full of humic substances, and grow very well.

I have not been able to find out what it is. Does anyone here know what species it is?

 

[MacZ]

Looks like a species of Egeria, but that's the closest I get. Reminds a bit of E. najas, but those occur further south and their leaves are more curled.

 

[Ben Rhau]

I’m not a plant expert, but I think it’s Mayaca fluviatilis, which grows very well for me in blackwater.

 

[Tom C]

I’m not a plant expert, but I think it’s Mayaca fluviatilis, which grows very well for me in blackwater.

That seems to be spot on, Ben! Thank you very much!

 

[Sardines]

Pogostemon erectus?

 

[Aquaticloch]

Pogostemon erectus?

That's native to India, looks similar though!

There seems to be lots of slender leafed stem plants in the hobby.

Speaking of which, i'm curious, does anyone (maybe @dw1305) know if this trait is because of ease of transport/ propagation from waterbirds, (staying on the legs of birds,) maybe a smaller surface area for high current areas? Or is there another explanation entirely?

Thanks, (sorry for hijacking the thread)

 

[Sardines]

That's native to India, looks similar though!

There seems to be lots of slender leafed stem plants in the hobby.

Speaking of which, i'm curious, does anyone (maybe @dw1305) know if this trait is because of ease of transport/ propagation from waterbirds, (staying on the legs of birds,) maybe a smaller surface area for high current areas? Or is there another explanation entirely?

Thanks, (sorry for hijacking the thread)

Ah sorry didn't read your first post carefully enough to catch the origin.

 

[Tom C]

Ah sorry didn't read your first post carefully enough to catch the origin.

Don't be sorry. I appreciate your willingness to help!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Mayaca fluviatilis, which grows very well for me in blackwater.

I think it might be Macaya fluviatilis as well.

There seems to be lots of slender leafed stem plants in the hobby..........
maybe a smaller surface area for high current areas? Or is there another explanation entirely?

I'm going to guess that there are just a lot of diffuse leaved plants in the rheophilic aquatic flora and that is largely current related.

In terms of Aquariums I'd suspect that people like the contrast between different leaf shapes and also that fine leaved stems are "scalable" and don't look out of proportion in smaller aquariums.

With a broad-leaved plant (like Anubias barteri) people have selected smaller leaved cultivars for nano-tanks etc., but with a fine leaved plant you don't have that issue in quite the same way.

cheers Darrel

 

[rasmusW]

I got macaya fluviatilis aswell. Mine don’t get this bushy. Leafs isn’t as long either. That could certainly mean that i don’t care as well for them as you do and probally does so.
So i guess what i’m saying is they look similare but not spot on.
How about tonina? Or does that one develop shorter and more lancet leafs?
I have kept it a couple of times but they sadly melt quickly.

-r

 

[Tom C]

I got macaya fluviatilis aswell. Mine don’t get this bushy. Leafs isn’t as long either.

Yes, your plant definitely looks different from mine (I saw yours in the 'Breeding splash tetras'-thread).
But if I, for example, look at the photo presented here (LINK), it looks much more like my plant than yours. So until you dig up something more, I'll believe that I got the Macaya fluviatilis, and you've got something else

 

[Ben Rhau]

For me, it grows bushier and longer in some tanks and skinny/sparse in others. Grown from the same set of cuttings. So it seems to depend a lot on context.

 

[rasmusW]

For me, it grows bushier and longer in some tanks and skinny/sparse in others. Grown from the same set of cuttings. So it seems to depend a lot on context.

Yeah! My thoughts aswell. Mine is most likely lacking good lighting conditions and general care.

-r