A plant that arrives in the wrong shape, and two light figures that do not touch
Water wisteria is the fastest plant on this site and the one our sources most disagree about. Two of them publish light ranges with nothing between them: 10 to 35 PAR against 40 to 200, and the source with the lower figure is the one that grows the plant.
Wikipedia gives the accepted name as Hygrophila difformis Blume, with Ruellia difformis and Synnema triflorum as synonyms, and puts it in the acanthus family. It grows in marshy habitats on the Indian subcontinent, in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. The common name is a coincidence: it is called water wisteria though it is not closely related to true wisteria.
Every source we hold calls the growth fast, and that is the only row on this record where nobody disagrees with anybody. It is also the reason the rest of the record is contested. A plant that doubles quickly will look like it is thriving in almost any light for a while, so a care sheet can publish 10 PAR and a care sheet can publish 200 and both can point at a tank that grew.
The second thing worth knowing before the figures is that the plant you buy is usually not the plant you will keep. Aquarium Co-Op says plainly that it grows the plant out of the water at its farm, and three sources describe the leaf shape changing when it goes under. Station 07 has that in full, and it is the part most care sheets leave as a surprise.
Why this record was written now
- The gap
- Three thousand six hundred searches a month at position two in the map, and our own water sprite record names this plant twice without one behind it.
- What it changes
- The sixth plant record here, the first with a unanimous row, and the first whose pH does not reach down to 6.0.
- What it does not
- No hardness row, because the plant schema does not carry one, and no size, because no source publishes a stem length for the aquarium plant.
Wisteria water requirements, and the two figures that never meet
| Source | Light | Temperature | pH | Hardness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aquarium Co-Op | 10 to 35 PAR | none | none | none |
| Aquarium Store Depot | 40 to 200 PAR | 70 to 85 °F | 6.0 to 7.5 | none |
| Modest Fish | 50 to 80 PAR | 75 to 82 °F | 6.5 to 7.5 | 3 to 19 dGH |
| Aquarium Breeder | moderate | 68 to 82 °F | 6.0 to 8.0 | 2 to 8 dKH |
| aqua-fish | bright | 71.6 to 80.6 °F | 6.2 to 7.3 | 4 to 18 dGH |
| Splashy Fish | moderate to high | 70 to 82 °F | 6.5 to 7.5 | 3 to 8 dKH |
| Wikipedia | good light | none | none | none |
| This record | 50 to 80 PAR | 75 to 80 °F | 6.5 to 7.3 | not a row |
Read the light column down and the problem is arithmetic rather than judgment. Aquarium Co-Op stops at 35 and Aquarium Store Depot starts at 40, so there are five PAR between the two published ranges and nothing in them. Modest Fish sits inside Store Depot’s range at 50 to 80, which is where this record prints the row, and the four sources that publish a word rather than a number all point up: moderate, bright, moderate to high, good light.
The temperature column is the opposite case. Five sources publish a band, the bands are wide, and they all contain 75 to 80 °F, so the row is the overlap and no argument is needed. What is worth noticing is the floor: 75 is three degrees above the floor of every other plant record on this site, and it is the first plant here that sits inside the 75 to 76 band the rest of the site shares rather than around it.
The pH column meets in eight tenths, 6.5 to 7.3, and that is the figure this record prints. It is also a first: anubias, java fern, java moss and hornwort all print 6.0 to 7.5 and water sprite prints 6.0 to 6.5. This is the only plant record here that does not reach down to 6.0.
The hardness column is the one that cannot be added up. Two sources publish general hardness, Modest Fish 3 to 19 dGH and aqua-fish 4 to 18, which overlap at 4 to 18 dGH, about 71 to 321 ppm. Two publish carbonate hardness instead, 2 to 8 and 3 to 8 dKH, and carbonate hardness measures something else. It is the same trap our rabbit snail and redtail catfish records carry, and the reason the plant schema leaves the row out rather than filling it with a number that cannot be compared.
Rooted, floating, or a water wisteria carpet nobody will sell you
All seven sources allow this plant rooted in the substrate and all seven allow it floating, which makes it the second record here whose placement row has two answers that are both right. Splashy Fish goes further and picks one: floating water wisteria grows faster and is easier for beginners. Aquarium Co-Op gives background or floating, Modest Fish says a cutting can be buried in the substrate or allowed to grow as a floating plant, and aqua-fish puts it in the background or, trimmed regularly, the midground for bushy dense growth.
What none of them offers is the front of the tank, and that is worth saying plainly because it is what people search for. A water wisteria carpet is not a thing any source we hold recommends. Aquarium Store Depot is blunt: it becomes a large background plant quickly, and it is not suitable for the foreground.
One source appears to disagree, and it disagrees with itself. Aquarium Breeder’s quick notes box lists the placement as mid to background or carpet. Its own text, on the same page, says the plant is not a good ground cover plant because the spacing between the nodes is too large.
Both statements cannot be a recommendation, and the text is the one with a reason attached, so this record follows the text. It is the second time the same publisher’s box has contradicted its own page on a plant record here: our water sprite record found the scientific name of a different plant in the same kind of box, and station 06 has that.
The practical shape is a stem plant that fills the back of a tank and then keeps going. Trimming is what keeps it mid-height, and trimming is also how it is propagated, so the two are the same job.
If the tank needs a foreground, the answer on this site is a different species. Our java moss record is the one whose placement row reads foreground or midground, and it carpets; it also runs on low light, which none of the figures on this page do. Two aquatic plants, two jobs, and the roots are the giveaway: this one puts its roots into the substrate and grows up, java moss attaches and spreads.
The full record
| Field | Recorded | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Light | 50 to 80 PAR, and one source stops at 35 | This is the row the record exists for. Three sources publish PAR and no figure sits inside all three. Aquarium Co-Op gives low to medium light, 10 to 35 PAR. Aquarium Store Depot gives low to high, 40 to 200 PAR. Modest Fish gives medium to high, PAR 50 to 80. Co-Op’s ceiling is five PAR below Store Depot’s floor, so the row prints the 50 to 80 that the two overlapping figures both allow and names the third rather than averaging it away. The other four sources are words rather than numbers and all four point up: Aquarium Breeder asks for moderate light for at least ten hours a day and warns that low light or very high light might cause it to shed its leaves, aqua-fish asks for bright lighting, Splashy Fish for moderate to high over eight to ten hours, and Wikipedia says it grows best in good light. Co-Op is alone, and Co-Op is the source that grows the plant. Station 02 has the arithmetic, and the comparison worth making is inside this site: our anubias record prints low, 10 to 40 PAR, so Co-Op’s bracket for this plant sits inside the bracket we print for a plant every source calls a low light plant. |
| CO2 | Not needed, and one source calls it beneficial | Four sources say no and one says optional. Aquarium Co-Op: none. Aquarium Store Depot: no. Modest Fish: water wisteria can easily be grown without adding compressed CO2 to your tank. Aquarium Breeder: not needed, and its own ideal figure is 10 to 40 mg/l. Splashy Fish is the one that leans the other way: optional but beneficial for explosive growth and enhanced coloration. aqua-fish publishes nothing on it. The row prints the four, and the disagreement is worth keeping because our water sprite record carries the mirror image: there Modest Fish argues against adding CO2 because the plant already grows too fast. Two plants, the same growth rate, and two sources drawing the opposite conclusion from it. |
| Placement | Mid to background, or floating | All seven allow both, and one prefers the float. Aquarium Co-Op gives background or floating. Aquarium Store Depot gives midground and background, and says it becomes a large background plant quickly. Modest Fish gives background. aqua-fish gives background, and midground for bushy dense growth if it is trimmed regularly. Splashy Fish says floating water wisteria grows faster and is easier for beginners, and rooted it serves as a background or midground plant. What no source offers is the front of the tank. Aquarium Breeder’s quick notes box lists mid to background or carpet, and its own text on the same page says it is not a good ground cover plant because the spacing between the nodes is too large. Station 05 prints both halves of that sentence. |
| Substrate | Anything, or nutrient-rich: the sources split | The one row where the sources divide evenly rather than three to one. Modest Fish is unambiguous: it does not matter which type of substrate you use, because the plant feeds from the water column rather than the roots, and Aquarium Store Depot calls it a water column feeder for the same reason. Against that, aqua-fish asks for fine gravel, Aquarium Breeder asks for nutrient-rich and names soil as the best choice with fine gravel next, Splashy Fish says nutrient-rich substrates like aquarium soil can greatly enhance growth and asks for root tabs in an inert one, and Wikipedia says it grows best in nutrient rich water and substrate. Two sources say the substrate is irrelevant and four say to feed it, and both halves can be true at once: a water column feeder does not need the substrate, and a plant this fast will take nutrients from wherever they are. This row now has four answers across the silo rather than three: split here, irrelevant on our java fern and anubias records because both are tied to hardscape, and a flat requirement on our amazon sword record, where every source calls the plant a root feeder. |
| Growth rate | Fast, on every source we hold | The only row on this record where nobody disagrees with anybody. Aquarium Co-Op: fast-growing. Aquarium Store Depot: very fast. Modest Fish: fast. Aquarium Breeder: fast. aqua-fish: fast. Splashy Fish: fast-growing, and it adds the consequence, that the plant rapidly absorbs excess nutrients and can deplete them quickly. Wikipedia calls it easy to grow. Six sources, one word, no dissent, which is the first time a row on any plant record here has been unanimous. Our water sprite record also prints fast, and there one source publishes fast in its text and low to moderate in its own box; our anubias and java fern records print slow, in leaves per week. |
| Propagation | Cuttings, and they root in days | Every source says cuttings and three add a detail worth having. Aquarium Store Depot takes the cutting between the leaf nodes. Splashy Fish asks for a stem of at least four inches cut below a leaf node, the lower leaves stripped, and says new roots will form within days. aqua-fish gives the same method and the same instruction to remove the bottom leaves. Modest Fish adds the choice that follows from the placement row: a cutting can be buried in the substrate or allowed to grow as a floating plant. Aquarium Co-Op trims stems or side shoots and replants. So there is nothing to buy and nothing to wait for, which is a different answer from the one our water sprite record gives, where the plant makes its own plantlets and detaches them without being asked. |
| Temperature | 75 to 80 °F | Five published bands, meeting in five degrees. Aquarium Store Depot gives 70 to 85 F, Modest Fish 75 to 82 F, 24 to 28 C, Aquarium Breeder 20 to 27 C, 68 to 82 F, aqua-fish 22 to 27 C, 71.6 to 80.6 F, and Splashy Fish 70 to 82 F, 21 to 28 C. Aquarium Co-Op and Wikipedia publish no temperature at all. The row prints the 75 to 80 all five contain. That floor is three degrees above the floor of every other plant record here, and it puts this plant inside the 75 to 76 band the rest of the site shares rather than around it. It ties our water sprite record for the narrowest plant band on this site, five degrees each, against ten on anubias and twenty seven on java moss. |
| pH | 6.5 to 7.3 | Five bands and they meet in eight tenths. Aquarium Store Depot 6.0 to 7.5, Modest Fish 6.5 to 7.5, Aquarium Breeder 6.0 to 8.0, aqua-fish 6.2 to 7.3, Splashy Fish 6.5 to 7.5 with the note that it tolerates slightly wider ranges if the changes are gradual. The row prints the 6.5 to 7.3 all five contain. It is the first plant record on this site whose pH row does not start at 6.0: anubias, java fern, java moss and hornwort all print 6.0 to 7.5 and water sprite prints 6.0 to 6.5, so this is the only plant here that asks for water on the neutral side of the five. Hardness is not one of the nine fields a plant record carries, and station 06 has the figures anyway, because two sources publish general hardness and two publish carbonate hardness and only one pair of those can be compared. |
| Eaten by | Goldfish and oscars, on one source | Two sources name animals and they do not agree about how much it matters. Aquarium Breeder is the specific one: goldfish, oscars, rainbow fish, crayfish and crabs consume the leaves and uproot the stems. Aquarium Store Depot names goldfish and then takes it back: goldfish can uproot or graze it, though water wisteria will persevere, and there are not many tank mates that cannot be kept with water wisteria. aqua-fish splits the difference, saying the delicate leaves may be easily damaged by boisterous fish and that it regenerates quickly. Modest Fish names no fish at all and points at algae on the older growth instead, with nerite snails or otocinclus to keep it down. Of the five animals named, two have records here, and they land differently: our oscar record runs 75 to 80 °F, the identical band to this plant, so that pairing is arithmetically possible and is refused on the reason; our goldfish record stops at 74, one degree below this plant’s floor, so the two cannot share water whatever either of them eats. |
The same nine fields for every animal on this site are in the A to Z index.
Where our sources disagree
Every record here names a disagreement. On this one it is the light row, and the two figures do not overlap by a single PAR.
Aquarium Co-Op, which grows the plant at its own farm
Low to Medium Light 10-35 PAR
Aquarium Store Depot, on the same plant
Low-high, 40-200PAR (Umols)
Aquarium Breeder, which publishes the consequence rather than a figure
Low light or very high light conditions might cause it to shed its beautiful leaves
What we record: we print the overlap of the two figures that overlap, 50 to 80 PAR, and we print the third. The two ranges cannot both be a recommendation: 35 and 40 are five PAR apart with nothing between them, so one of these sources is describing what the plant survives and the other what it wants.
Four of the seven sources point away from low light and the fifth is Wikipedia saying it grows best in good light, so the row leans up. What decides it in practice is on Co-Op’s own page and not in its figure: it grows the plant out of the water at the farm, and a plant arriving in its emersed form has to build submersed leaves before it does anything else, which is the same event Store Depot and aqua-fish describe as a change of leaf shape.
Our anubias record prints low, 10 to 40 PAR, and if Co-Op is right about this plant then it belongs in that bracket rather than in the one our water sprite record prints.
Fast on every source, and the only row on this record nobody argues about
| Plant | Lighting | CO2 | Temperature | Growth | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water wisteria | 50 to 80 PAR | Not needed | 75 to 80 °F | Fast | Mid to background, or floating |
| Water sprite | 50 to 80 PAR | Not needed | 72 to 77 °F | Fast, or low to moderate | Mid to background, or floating |
| Hornwort | Low to high | Beneficial, never required | 59 to 86 °F | 1 to 4 in a week | Floating, or background if anchored |
| Java moss | Low | Not required | 59 to 86 °F | Medium | Foreground or midground, and it carpets |
| Java fern | Low to moderate | Not required | 72 to 82 °F | Slow | Attached to hardscape |
| Anubias | Low, 10 to 40 PAR | Not needed | 72 to 82 °F | 1 to 2 leaves in 3 weeks | Attached to wood or rock |
Aquarium Co-Op: fast-growing. Aquarium Store Depot: very fast. Modest Fish: fast. Aquarium Breeder: fast. aqua-fish: fast. Splashy Fish: fast-growing, and it adds the consequence, that the plant rapidly absorbs excess nutrients and can deplete them quickly. Wikipedia calls it easy to grow. Six sources, one word, and no dissent, which has not happened on a row of any plant record here before.
The comparison is inside this site. Our anubias record prints slow, one to two leaves in about three weeks, and our java fern record prints a new leaf in two to four weeks. Our water sprite record also prints fast, and there one source publishes fast in its text and low to moderate in its own stats box. This is the first plant here whose speed nobody publishes twice.
Propagation follows from it, and every source describes the same operation. Aquarium Store Depot takes the cutting between the leaf nodes. Splashy Fish asks for a stem of at least four inches, cut below a leaf node, with the lower leaves stripped, and says new roots will form within days. aqua-fish gives the same method. Aquarium Co-Op trims stems or side shoots and replants. Modest Fish adds the choice the placement row already made available: bury the cutting or float it.
So the honest version of the care instruction is that there is nothing to buy and nothing to wait for. That is a different answer from the one our water sprite record gives, where the plant makes its own plantlets on the leaf edges and detaches them without being asked. Here the gardener is the propagation method.
The cost of the speed is the nutrient column. One source says it can deplete a tank quickly, and four of the seven ask for a nutrient-rich substrate while two say the substrate is irrelevant because the plant feeds from the water column. Both readings are satisfied by a root tab, which is why one is in the kit list below.
The benefit is on the same line. Splashy Fish is the source that states it: the plant rapidly absorbs excess nutrients, which is the mechanism behind the claim, made by several of these sources, that fast growing aquatic plants keep algae down. It is competition rather than treatment. A plant taking up nitrate leaves less of it for algae, and Wikipedia’s note that the species grows best in nutrient rich water and substrate is the other side of the same fact.
Modest Fish records where that goes wrong, and it is the older growth rather than the new. Algae settles on leaves that have stopped growing, and its answer is not a chemical: nerite snails or otocinclus to graze it off. The healthy condition of this plant is visible in its newest leaves, and the practical instruction that follows is to cut the old growth out rather than to treat it.
Water wisteria vs water sprite, and the box that prints one plant’s name on the other
| Field | Water wisteria | Water sprite |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A stem plant, family Acanthaceae | A fern, family Pteridaceae |
| Scientific name | Hygrophila difformis | Ceratopteris thalictroides |
| Light | 50 to 80 PAR | 50 to 80 PAR |
| Temperature | 75 to 80 °F | 72 to 77 °F |
| pH | 6.5 to 7.3 | 6.0 to 6.5 |
| Propagation | Cuttings you take | Plantlets it makes |
| Above the water | Flowers, on one source | No flowers: a fern |
The two are confused because the leaves look alike and the confusion is in the sources, not only in the shops. Aquarium Co-Op puts it carefully: the leaves of water wisteria resemble those of water sprite because of their feathery leaf texture and bright green color, however the leaves of water wisteria are a little more broad and sturdy, compared to water sprite’s more thin, lace-like leaf structure. Aquarium Store Depot agrees and adds the part that settles it: water sprite is a type of fern and will not flower when grown above the surface.
That is the real division. One is a stem plant in the acanthus family and one is a fern, which is why the propagation rows differ: cuttings on this plant, plantlets on the other. It is also why only one of them flowers. Aquarium Breeder reports blue-violet flowers on water wisteria grown above the water line.
And then there is the error. Our water sprite record found that Aquarium Breeder’s quick notes box gives the scientific name of water sprite as Hygrophila difformis, with Ruellia difformis and Synnema triflorum in brackets. Those are the three names on this page. They are water wisteria’s accepted name and its two synonyms, confirmed by Wikipedia and printed by Aquarium Breeder itself on its own water wisteria care sheet.
So the same publisher prints this plant’s binomial and both of its synonyms as the name of the other plant, while the text of that page correctly uses Ceratopteris thalictroides throughout. We hold both pages. Neither record resolves it quietly: the water sprite record prints the box and the text side by side, and this one names the three words the box borrowed.
If you are choosing between them, the temperature is the cleanest separator. Our two records share only 75 to 77 °F, so a tank set for one is at the edge of the other.
Water wisteria emersed, and the word four care sheets describe without naming
Four of our sources describe the same event and none of them names it. aqua-fish: in submerged conditions it produces delicate, finely lobed leaves, while in emersed growth its leaves become broader and thicker. Splashy Fish: emersed growth typically produces broader, rounded leaves, while submerged growth results in the highly ornate, feather-like leaves. Aquarium Store Depot: if allowed to grow above the water line, wisteria will grow broad leaves. Aquarium Breeder adds that the immersed leaves are larger than the submersed ones, and that blue-violet flowers form up there.
Wikipedia supplies the word. Hygrophila difformis shows heterophylly, which is the occurrence of different leaf morphology in the same plant. It is one plant with two leaf shapes, not a variety and not a growth stage, and the page carries an image of each.
This matters on the day the plant arrives, because of something Aquarium Co-Op says about its own stock: it is grown out of the water at the farm. A plant bought that way is carrying its emersed leaves, and those leaves are not the ones it will keep. It has to build submersed growth before it does anything else, and the broad leaves it came with will usually be shed in the process.
So a plant that melts in the first two weeks is not necessarily a plant that is dying. That is the most useful thing on this record and no source states it in those words; it is what four of them describe and one of them names.
The light row reads differently in that light, too. aqua-fish records the leaf shape changing with the light as well as with the water line: under intense light the leaves develop a more pronounced lobed structure, and with insufficient lighting the growth becomes elongated with weaker stems. Two sources describe leaf shape as the thing to read, which is a better instrument than either of the PAR figures that disagree.
Water wisteria questions, answered from the record
Is water wisteria a low light plant?
Our sources will not agree. Aquarium Co-Op publishes low to medium light at 10 to 35 PAR and Aquarium Store Depot publishes low to high at 40 to 200, and those two ranges have five PAR between them with nothing in the gap. The four sources that publish a word rather than a number all point up: moderate, bright, moderate to high, good light. This record prints 50 to 80 PAR, where the two overlapping figures overlap, and names the third rather than averaging it away.
What temperature does water wisteria need?
Five of our seven sources publish a band and all five contain 75 to 80 °F, which is the row. The widest is Aquarium Breeder at 68 to 82 and the narrowest aqua-fish at 71.6 to 80.6. The floor is the number to watch: at 75 it is three degrees above the floor of every other plant record on this site.
What pH does water wisteria want?
6.5 to 7.3, the span all five published ranges contain. It is the only plant record here whose pH row does not reach down to 6.0, which makes it the one plant on this site that asks for water on the neutral side rather than the acid side.
Does water wisteria need CO2?
Four sources say no. Aquarium Co-Op says none, Aquarium Store Depot says no, Modest Fish says it can easily be grown without adding compressed CO2, and Aquarium Breeder says not needed. Splashy Fish is the one that leans the other way, calling it optional but beneficial for explosive growth. Given six sources already call the growth fast, the question is whether you want more of it.
Can water wisteria carpet a tank?
No source we hold recommends it. Aquarium Store Depot says it becomes a large background plant quickly. Aquarium Breeder’s quick notes box does list carpet as a placement, and the text of that same page says it is not a good ground cover plant because the spacing between the nodes is too large. This record follows the text, which is the half of that page with a reason attached. If you want a carpet, the plant record on this site whose placement row offers one is java moss, and it grows in low lighting as well.
Why did my water wisteria melt after I planted it?
Probably because of the shape it arrived in. Aquarium Co-Op grows the plant out of the water at its farm, and Wikipedia records that the species shows heterophylly, different leaf shapes on the same plant. Emersed leaves are broad and thick, submersed leaves are finely lobed, and a plant moved under water has to build the second kind. The leaves it came with are commonly shed doing it.
Water wisteria or water sprite: which is which?
They are two different plants in two different families. Water wisteria is a stem plant, Hygrophila difformis, in the acanthus family; water sprite is a fern, Ceratopteris thalictroides. Aquarium Co-Op separates them by leaf: water wisteria’s leaves are a little more broad and sturdy, water sprite’s are thinner and more lace-like. Station 06 has our two records side by side, and the source that prints one plant’s scientific name on the other plant’s page.
How do you propagate water wisteria?
Cuttings, on every source. Splashy Fish gives the most specific version: a stem of at least four inches, cut below a leaf node, with the lower leaves stripped, and new roots within days. Aquarium Store Depot cuts between the nodes. Modest Fish notes that the cutting can be buried or floated, so the trimming that keeps the plant in the background is also how you get the next one.
What substrate does water wisteria need?
The sources split four to two. Modest Fish says it does not matter which type you use, because the plant feeds from the water column, and Aquarium Store Depot calls it a water column feeder. aqua-fish asks for fine gravel, Aquarium Breeder for nutrient-rich with soil as the best choice, Splashy Fish for a nutrient-rich substrate or root tabs in an inert one, and Wikipedia for nutrient rich water and substrate. Both readings can be true, and a root tab satisfies both.
Will my fish eat water wisteria?
Two sources name animals. Aquarium Breeder names goldfish, oscars, rainbow fish, crayfish and crabs as consuming the leaves and uprooting the stems. Aquarium Store Depot names goldfish and then softens it: they can uproot or graze it, though water wisteria will persevere, and there are not many tank mates that cannot be kept with it. Of the five animals, two have records here: our oscar record runs the identical 75 to 80 °F band, so that pairing is refused; our goldfish record stops at 74, so it cannot share water with this plant anyway.
Does water wisteria flower?
Aquarium Breeder reports blue-violet flowers when it is grown above the water line, and Aquarium Store Depot notes the contrast with water sprite, which will not flower above the surface because it is a fern. Wikipedia publishes nothing about the flowers. Underwater the question does not arise.
Is water wisteria good for a beginner?
On the growth row, yes, and every source says so in one word. Wikipedia calls it easy to grow and a very popular plant for the tropical aquarium. The two things that catch people out are on this record rather than in that word: the light figure our sources cannot agree on, and the leaf change in the first weeks that looks like the plant failing.
What water wisteria needs, and the figure nobody agrees on
Three of these are cheap and one of them is the whole disagreement on this record.
- A light you can measure, not describethree sources publish PAR and no figure sits inside all three, so a number on a meter is worth more here than any of the four sources that publish an adjective
- Scissors, and somewhere for the cuttingssix sources call the growth fast and one warns it can deplete a tank of nutrients, so the trimming is not optional and every trimming makes another plant
- Root tabs, if the substrate is inerttwo sources say the substrate does not matter because the plant feeds from the water column and four ask for a nutrient-rich one, and a tab is the cheapest way to satisfy both readings
Every item our records ask for is gathered on the tank setup topic.
Nothing here is a paid link. It is the shortfall between what this record asks for and what a boxed kit contains.
How this record was compiled
- By
- Verified
- Sources
Aquarium Co-Op, water wisteria, Aquarium Store Depot, water wisteria, Modest Fish, water wisteria, Aquarium Breeder, water wisteria care guide, aqua-fish, Hygrophila difformis, Splashy Fish, water wisteria floating plant and Wikipedia, Hygrophila difformis
- Conflicts
Printed rather than resolved: two of our sources publish light ranges with nothing between them, and one source’s quick notes box offers a carpet its own text refuses.
- Not recorded
A hardness row, because the plant schema does not carry one, though station 06 prints the figures; a size, because no source we hold publishes a stem length or a leaf width for the aquarium plant; a lifespan, because a stem plant that is cut and replanted does not have one in any sense a source states; and whether the variegated and pink forms sold under this name behave the same way, because the two sources that list them publish no separate figures for them